Here is the biography of Oliver Stone:
Oliver Stone was born in New York City to Jacqueline (Goddet) and Louis Stone, a stockbroker. His American father was from a Jewish family, and his mother, a war bride, was French and Catholic. After dropping out of Yale University, Stone became a soldier in the Vietnam War, serving in two different regiments. For his actions in the war, he was awarded a Bronze Star for Gallantry and a Purple Heart.
Returning from the war, Stone did not return to graduate from Yale. His first film was a student film entitled "Last Year in Viet Nam" (1971),followed by the gritty horror film "Seizure" (1974) for which he also wrote the screenplay. The next seven years saw him direct two films: "Mad Man of Martinique" (1979) and "The Hand" (1981),starring Michael Caine. He also wrote many screenplays for films such as "Midnight Express" (1978),"Conan the Barbarian" (1982),and "Scarface" (1983). Stone won his first Oscar for "Midnight Express" (1978),but his fame was just beginning to show.
In 1986, Stone directed the political film "Salvador" (1986) starring James Woods, but his big hit was the Vietnam war film "Platoon" (1986) starring Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, and Francesco Quinn. Berenger and Dafoe received Oscar nominations for their roles as the polar opposite sergeants who each influence the tour of duty of Chris Taylor (Sheen). Stone won his first Oscar for directing this film, which won Best Picture and was a hit at the box office.
After "Platoon" (1986),Stone followed up with the critically acclaimed "Wall Street" (1987). The movie, starring Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas, focuses on the business world of tycoons and stock brokers. The film was well received and won an Oscar for Douglas' portrayal of the villainous Gordon Gekko. Stone returned immediately the following year with "Talk Radio" (1988),which talked of a foul-mouthed radio host (played by Eric Bogosian) who never fails to talk about the serious issues.
Stone's next film, "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989),starred Tom Cruise and talked about the return of an embittered, crippled Vietnam soldier from the war. Although it failed to win Best Picture or Best Actor, Oliver Stone won an Academy Award for Directing, his third win to date. After "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989),Stone took a hand in producing several movies, including the Academy Award-winning film "Reversal of Fortune" (1990).
In 1991, Stone directed two films: "The Doors" (1991),starring Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison, and "JFK" (1991),which Stone himself considers the best of his films. In "JFK" (1991),Jim Garrison tackles the conspiracy behind the murder of America's president John F. Kennedy. The large cast featured such well-known names as Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, John Candy, Joe Pesci, Donald Sutherland, and Walter Matthau. This film represented a change in Stone's works, because it was with this film that he really began to explore the different camera styles and combining them together to create a multi-dimensional way of showing a movie.
Stone's next film, "Heaven & Earth" (1993),was a film about the war from the viewpoint of a Vietnamese girl, and also co-starred Tommy Lee Jones. Despite its new woman's perspective and several positive reviews, it was a box office failure. Stone was unfazed; his next film was perhaps his most notorious film to date. Adapting a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino, Stone made "Natural Born Killers" (1994) starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, and Rodney Dangerfield in his only dramatic performance. The film was received well at the box office, while reviews were very mixed. Because of the violence that people claimed was inspired by the film, it was compared to Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" (1971).
Aside from directing, Stone has worked as a producer on several different films. There was, of course, the successful film "Reversal of Fortune" (1990),which won Jeremy Irons an Oscar and also nominated the director for an Oscar. There was also the highly praised and successful emotional drama "The Joy Luck Club" (1993) which centered around four Chinese immigrant women whose relationships with their daughters is affected by their own lives.
Stone had directed ten films in nine years; now however, he began to slow down. He directed the film "U Turn" (1997) starring Sean Penn and Jennifer Lopez. As
