Sylvester Stallone

Italian Stallion
Like many other Hollywood actors, success did not come early for Stallone. The young actor spent six years playing bit roles before taking a bite at stardom as Rocky Balboa in the 1976 underdog classic Rocky. Inspired by a match between the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner, an obscure, but tenacious opponent, Stallone wrote the script for Rocky and mirrored the doggedness of the unknown Wepner in the titular character Rocky.