Sharon Yvonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress, film producer and former fashion model. She first achieved international recognition for her performance in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct. She was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for her role in Casino, and has won an Emmy.

Stone was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania. The second of four children, she is the daughter of Dorothy (née Lawson), an accountant and homemaker, and Joseph Stone, a tool and die manufacturer. Stone graduated in 1975 from Saegertown High School in Saegertown Pennsylvania, graduating early in an accelerated study program in conjunction with Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. After graduating high school, she briefly attended Edinboro.

As a teenager, she worked at a fast food restaurant.