Profile: Sharon Stone

Basic instinct for trouble

For someone Mensa would label a genius, she sometimes does the dumbest things

In the fantasy world of Hollywood, where women are still valued more for their looks than their brains, Sharon Stone has always been something of an enigma. Like Andie MacDowall and Michelle Pfieffer, her drop-dead-gorgeous looks made for an easy transition from model to movie star. Yet Stone has an IQ of 154.

Her big break came late for an actress, in her 30s. But Stone again defied convention by setting up her own production company and demanding script approval. And yet, while this made her one of the industry's biggest earners, it also led to tosh such as Sliver and The Specialist. In short, for someone Mensa would label a "genius", Stone sometimes does the dumbest things... such as last week in Cannes.

There, she responded to the earthquake which left at least 68,000 dead in China, by saying: "I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else. And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? That when you're not nice bad things happen to you?"

Cue an aftershock, in which China labelled Stone "public enemy of all mankind" and banned her films (though the good folk of Chengdu had not been queuing up to see Catwoman). Her adverts for Christian Dior were removed in China, and she was forced to issue an apology.

It will be little solace to Stone that, thanks to her most (in)famous celluloid moment, when she unveiled a special guest star in Basic Instinct, she is used to making a show of herself in public.

Although her name has a distinctly back-of-an-envelope-in-the-agent's-office sound, the actress was born Sharon Vonne Stone on March 10, 1958, in Meadville, in small-town Pennsylvania, one of four children to Joseph, a toolmaker, and Dorothy.

Although she worked part-time at a McDonald's, Stone's intelligence saw her first skip a grade then win a transfer from high school to the curiously-named Edinboro University of Pennsylvania at the age of 15. But when her natural good looks secured the Miss Crawford County title, Stone moved to New Jersey to become a model. In four days she had a contract from the Ford Modelling Agency and work followed in Burger King, Clairol and Maybelline TV commercials.

After a brief stint in Paris, Stone headed to New York in 1980, determined to become an actress. Her first gig was as 'Pretty Girl On Train' in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories, and a string of bit parts followed on TV and in the movies, including Magnum PI, Remington Steele and Police Academy 4. But her breakthrough was as Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife in the 1990 sci-fi hit Total Recall, for which she learned martial arts and toned up an already head-turning body. Casting agents followed the trail of male audience drool to her door and bigger roles followed.

None was more controversial than Catherine Tramell, the bisexual serial killer of Basic Instinct. Geena Davis, Meg Ryan, Melanie Griffith and Julia Roberts are all said to have turned down the part – and it is hard to imagine any of them agreeing to flash their non-acting credentials in the notorious interrogation scene.

Stone herself seems unsure about whether removing her underwear was a good idea. She initially said it was "fun" but later described slapping director Paul Verhoeven after a screening, claiming: "I knew that we were going to allude to the concept that I was nude, but I did not think that you would see my vagina." The controversy didn't stop People magazine listing her as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world and Playboy rating her the 24th sexiest star of the century.

These were Stone's golden years: in 1995 alone she had a rare female Western lead in Sam Raimi's The Quick And The Dead and her career highlight playing Ginger McKenna in Martin Scorsese's Casino; Stone didn't look out of place alongside Robert De Niro and was rewarded with a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.

Unfortunately for Stone, the only way was down. She clearly wanted to test herself with tougher material, such as playing a convicted killer in Last Dance, but the critics were unimpressed and the box office untroubled.

Health troubles followed in 2001 when Stone had a brain haemorrhage. She later said: "I think I actually died. But I realised then that, hey, that's not too bad, either, and that has given me a case of the eternal giggles." Stone is now a Buddhist, albeit one who has had a brush with the Church of Scientology.

She has married and divorced three times and has three adopted sons. But even at 50, Stone remains one of the favourite subjects of Hollywood gossip and has been romantically linked to Scottish comedian Craig Ferguson, among others. She has also hinted at homosexual tendencies, and arguably her best recent role was as a lesbian in If These Walls Could Talk 2. The show's success tempted Stone to do more TV and she was rewarded with an Emmy for The Practice.

Stone's attempts at a cinematic revival have been a failure, however. She had a small role in the acclaimed Broken Flowers, with Bill Murray, but her biggest hope, Catwoman, bombed spectacularly. In what must surely have been desperation, she even agreed to do Basic Instinct 2. Despite a good first weekend in the US, word of mouth was so bad the film soon sloped off to make back some cash on DVD.

Scots director Michael Caton Jones and one of Britain's great acting hopes David Morrissey were also casualties – though the presence of misfit footballer Stan Collymore on set should have been a warning to them all. Although Stone says she would love to direct Basic Instinct 3, this looks an idle threat.

Today, she has a couple of films in the can and may yet enjoy a second career as a mature leading lady – at the moment her hopes are pinned on Dirty Tricks, in which she plays the wife of Richard Nixon's attorney general, alongside Brad Pitt and Jim Broadbent as Tricky Dicky himself.

Stone has undoubtedly been more successful in her charitable roles. She is a spokesperson for the American Foundation for Aids Research and appeared in a commercial to raise awareness of strokes. In March 2006, she even went to Israel to promote peace with the now president Shimon Peres.

Her personal persuasiveness is not in doubt. She effectively hijacked the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2005 to raise £500,000 to buy mosquito nets for Tanzania – in the face of criticism that many nets were stolen at the airport and made into wedding dresses.

W Somerset Maughan said: "In Hollywood, the women are all peaches. It makes one long for an apple occasionally." Stone may have left a bad taste in Chinese mouths, but she's still Golden Delicious.

"She's one of the smartest women in show business, one of the most devoted friends and one of the most vivacious forces because she's so in love with the making of movies." Actor James Woods on Sharon Stone.

You've been Googled
• "I was, like, 40 at birth. When I wasn't even a year old, I spoke, I was potty trained, I walked and I talked. That was it. Then I started school and drove everybody crazy because they realised I had popped out as an adult. I had adult questions and wanted adult answers." Stone on Stone.

• She has a scar on her neck from a childhood horse-riding accident when she rode into a clothes line.

• Stone wore a fat suit in Alpha Dog, starring Bruce Willis, left, in which she played Olivia Mazursky, the mother of a real-life murder victim.

• The release of Basic Instinct 2 was reportedly delayed by a row between Stone and the producers. They wanted less of it, she wanted more. A group sex scene was cut to get a Restricted rating in the US.