Sylvester Stallone

Hollywood loves an underdog tale, but nobody wrote it better than Sly Stallone himself. Down to his last few dollars in the mid-seventies, he refused to sell his Rocky script unless he got to throw the punches on screen. The gamble paid off with Best Picture gold, turning a bloke with a crooked grin and a bruised drawl into cinema royalty. For decades, he traded blockbuster blows with Arnold Schwarzenegger and blew up the eighties box office as John Rambo.

Most action icons fade out once the joints start creaking, but Stallone just keeps finding another round. Between reviving the old gang in The Expendables and earning fresh awards buzz for Creed, he proved he can still deliver serious drama. These days, he is ruling streaming telly in Tulsa King and letting reality cameras into his family mansion. Even in his late seventies, the man refuses to hear the bell.