Fame and fortune aren’t instant. And long before Sylvester Stallone became one of Hollywood’s biggest action stars, he was a struggling young actor in New York City, trying to figure out how to pay his rent.
Everyone has to start somewhere, including Stallone. One of his early jobs was a little different from the on-screen roles that would eventually make him a household name.
Before Rocky and Rambo, Stallone worked cleaning lion cages at the Central Park Zoo.
The major ‘80s action star recently looked back on the unusual job as one of the many things he did while trying to break into the entertainment industry.
In his 2026 memoir, The Steps, Stallone recalled walking past the Central Park Zoo in search of work after returning to New York in 1969.
He asked whether the zoo needed any help, and “fifteen minutes later,” he found himself inside a lion enclosure with “a hose, a scoop and a shovel.”
It was far from glamorous, as Stallone recalled working early mornings, cleaning cages daily, working from 5:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
“If you’ve never been in a lion’s cage after it’s evacuated, let me tell you: It is very pungent. In no time, my eyes began to water from the stench of the natural ammonia in a lion’s urine,” he wrote, per Vanity Fair.
The smell, unsurprisingly, became too much to manage while also balancing the hunt for acting jobs and visiting talent agencies to find acting opportunities.
Stallone lasted in the gig for about three-and-a-half weeks before moving on.
“I liked animals, but I didn’t like reeking as if I had the world’s greatest bladder problem,” he recalled.
It was a far cry from the Hollywood career that awaited him just a few years later, but at the time, Stallone was simply trying to make ends meet while pursuing the dream of becoming an actor.
Stallone recalled going to thousands of acting calls and auditioning for casting agents only to hear rejection after rejection.
He took whatever work he could find, so in addition to his stint at the zoo, his jobs included working as a movie theater usher, while continuing to write screenplays.
His first significant break came in 1974, when he was cast as one of the leads in The Lords of Flatbush, a coming-of-age film alongside Henry Winkler and Perry King, where he even earned his first writing credit for adding additional dialogue.
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His huge career turn happened when he wrote the screenplay for Rocky, the 1976 film about an underdog Philadelphia boxer who gets the opportunity to fight heavyweight champion Apollo Creed.
Interest began bubbling up from agents who wanted to buy the screenplay and cast a more established actor, but Stallone had one non-negotiable: he wanted to play the lead role.
It was a gamble that ultimately paid off, as Rocky became a massive success, winning the Academy Award for Best Picture and earning Stallone nominations for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. Not to mention, it launched one of Hollywood’s biggest and most recognizable film franchises, as Stallone reprised the role in future Rocky films.
He also became a leading man in the action-movie genre, playing another iconic character in a massive franchise: John Rambo.
Before Rocky, Stallone’s official biography notes that he had barely $100 in his bank account when he finally secured the role in 1976, but 50 years later, he’s among just four actors who rake in $2 million per TV episode for his work on Tulsa King.
Stallone portrays Dwight “The General” Manfredi, a New York Mafia captain who is sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to spin up a new criminal organization, after being released from prison after 25 years.
Variety highlighted Stallone as one of the few actors bringing in $2 million per episode, alongside The Morning Show’s Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston.
The Terminal List’s Chris Pratt rounds out the list.
From cleaning lion cages in New York to becoming one of the most recognizable faces in action cinema with an estimated net worth of $400 million, Stallone’s early years serve as an important reminder that even Hollywood’s biggest stars have to start somewhere…anywhere.
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