American writer and director. A successful stockbroker and publisher of an investors newsletter, he attended a film school in New York where me hade two short films and began writing screenplays by 1973. The cinematic high priest of point of view films for the Baby Boomer generation, Stone is one of the most controversial filmmakers in Hollywood with many who object to his revisionist view of contemporary history. A five time Academy Award winner, Stone’s films include “Midnight Express,” 1978, “Salvador,” 1986, “Platoon,” 1986, “Born On The Fourth of July,” 1989, “JFK,” 1991 and “Nixon,” 1995.
Stone won an Oscar for Best Screenplay in 1978 for “Midnight Express” and has written the noted screenplays for, “Conan the Barbarian” in 1982 and “Scarface” in 1983. He was nominated for eight Academy Awards and four Oscars for the war drama “Platoon” in 1986.
The only child of stockbroker Louis Stone and his socialite wife Jacqueline, Stone spent his privileged but emotionally lacking childhood in New York City. In 1960 he was sent to The Hill School in Pennsylvania where he “never fit in,” and received the shocking news in his second year that his parents were divorcing and that his allegedly successful father was deeply in debt. Accepted to Yale in 1965, he dropped out after his freshman year to teach English as a civilian in Vietnam. Needing to experience the “bottom of life,” Stone enlisted in the Army back in the US and was shipped back to Vietnam where he served 15 months in the 25th Infantry division where he was wounded in the neck, receiving the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart for Service. After his discharge, Stone returned to the US in 1968 and enrolled in New York University’s film program under the tutelage of filmmaker Martin Scorcese. Graduating in 1971, he made his directorial debut with the Canadian horror film “Seizure” in 1973. Spending the next seven years surviving on odd jobs while writing screenplays, he won the Oscar for Best Screenplay in 1978 for “Midnight Express.”
Two screenplays later (“Scarface,” 1983 and “The Year of the Dragon,” 1985), Stone directed and wrote “Salvador,” in 1986 and made his first successful attempt at directing. Later that year, his searing film on Vietnam, “Platoon,” catapulted him into the spotlight as a major player in the film industry, winning him Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture. “Wall Street,” and “Talk Radio,” followed in 1987, with “Born on the Fourth of July” winning him a second Oscar for Best Director. Stone’s 1991 film “JFK” created a national controversy unlike almost any other in the history of cinema, with its three-hour journey into the study of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The controversy of the film eventually led to the release of some of the documents kept under lock and key on the assassination.
Stone’s marriage to Najwa Sarkis ended in divorce. His second marriage to Elizabeth Cox on 6/07/1981 also ended in divorce; their sons Sean, born 1985 and Michael, born 1992 both live with their mother. Stone lives with his companion Chong Son Chong, a Korean émigré, in Santa Monica, CA. Their daughter Tara was born in 12/1995.
Beverly Hills police arrested Stone 6/09/1999 for allegedly driving under the influence and the possession of hashish. He was released on $12,500 bail and received a court date of 7/16/1999.
In May 2005 he was found to be in possession of marijuana. He pleaded no contest on August 10, 2005 in Beverly Hills and was fined $100.
Link to Wikipedia biography