6 iconic Sharon Stone photos as she turns 68 – from her first role as an extra to Hollywood star

In 1980, when Sharon was 22, she starred as an extra in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories. The comedy-drama also starred Woody, Charlotte Rampling, and Jessica Harper.

In 2021, four decades after working with the controversial director, Sharon shared on SiriusXM's The Michelle Collins Show: "I can say that the, while the [Allen v. Farrow] documentary may very well be a hundred percent true, it is not my experience."

She added: "[I] had a super professional and a particularly wonderful experience working with him."

Soon after working on Stardust Memories, Sharon landed her first speaking part in Deadly Blessing. After that appearance, the actress' career took off.

In 1992, after a decade of major success, Sharon starred in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct alongside Michael Douglas. The film follows Michael as San Francisco detective Nick Curran as he investigates the murder of a rock star.

Incidentally, the detective starts an intense relationship with the prime suspect, Catherine Tramell, played by Sharon.

Basic Instinct was a box office hit, making more than $353 million worldwide. The thriller launched the actress into stardom and earned Sharon her first Golden Globe nomination.

Sharon starred opposite Robert De Niro in the epic crime drama, Casino, directed by Martin Scorsese. The film, for which Sharon won a Golden Globe and earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination, wasn't an easy shoot.

"There's a scene in the movie where we're sitting across a table arguing, and [Robert] says to me, 'You're a good actress, you know that?'" Sharon recalled to Business Insider in August 2025. "And I remember in that scene when he said it, how furious it made me because it was my dream to do it, and then he challenged me at the table."

She went on: "I remember thinking, 'Oh, buddy. Not today, pal.' He knew every button to go for with me because he is the greatest observational actor. He can crawl under your skin and get in there."

Outside of her legendary career, Sharon is a public icon too. In the 1990s, she became one of the most famous sex symbols in the industry – and even posed nude for a 1990 Playboy cover.

In 2014, Sharon opened up about the title to Oprah Winfrey. The actress said: "It's a pleasure for me now. I mean, I'm gonna be 56 years old. If people want to think I'm a sex symbol, it's, like, yeah. Think it up. You know. I mean, like, good for me."

A year later, at 57, Sharon once again posed nude for a magazine cover. She told Harper's Bazaar: "At a certain point you start asking yourself, 'What really is sexy?' It's not just the elevation of your boobs. It's being present and having fun and liking yourself enough to like the person that's with you."

In 1984, Sharon married television producer Michael Greenburg, who worked on The Vegas Strip War and on Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold. The two separated in 1987 and finalized their divorce in 1990.

Three years later, Sharon met William J. MacDonald, another Hollywood producer, on the set of her film Silver. The two got engaged in 1993, but separated one year later.

That same year, Sharon met another industry leader, Bob Wagner, while working on the film The Quick and the Dead, which starred Gene Hackman and Russell Crowe. Sharon and Bog quickly got engaged, but never married.

In 1998, eight years after her first divorce was finalized, the actress married Phil Bronstein, the executive editor of The San Francisco Examiner and later San Francisco Chronicle. After two years of marriage, the couple adopted their son, Roan.

But, just a short time later, Phil filed for divorce from Sharon and won custody of Roan. Although the actress sought permission to move Roan to Los Angeles, a San Francisco judge said that: "Should Roan move to Los Angeles, the sense of loss would be overwhelming for him."

Since her split with Phil, Sharon hasn't had any relationships of note, although she has experienced her fair share of bad online dates. 

"I didn't want to just go on Tinder and [expletive] somebody. Do you know what I mean? It's so easy to [expletive] somebody. You don't have to go on Tinder; you go to [expletive] Coffee Bean. It's not hard," she explained to The Times in 2024.

After adopting Roan in 2000, Sharon went on to adopt two more children. She was unable to have children of her own due to her endometriosis. In July 2022, Sharon opened up about her fertility struggles, writing on a People Instagram post about Peta Murgatroyd's miscarriage: "I lost nine children by miscarriage." 

In 2005, Sharon adopted her second son, Laird. A year later, she adopted her third son, Quinn. 

Opening up about parenting to People in 2018, the actress said: "When you decide to take on this big adventure of being a single parent, you don't know what it's going to be like."

She continued: "You think, how am I ever going to do this all? It's just a lot. Even with the help that we're so blessed to be able to have, your hair's still going down the drain in the shower. It's just a lot."