Oliver Stone was born on September 15, 1946, in New York City. He expressed his creative flair for writing plays right from a tender age.
In 1964, Oliver attended Yale University but dropped out after one year. In 1965, Olivier began to teach English at the Free Pacific Institute, a Catholic high school in Saigon, Vietnam. In 1966, Oliver signed up with the US Merchant Marine and moved to Oregon and later to Mexico, where he began to write his first novel, which he titled “A Child’s Night Dream.”
In 1967, Olivier began his career in the military. He was enlisted in the US Army and served in the 25th Infantry Division and later in the 1st Cavalry Division during the Vietnam War. Oliver was wounded twice but was awarded a Bronze Star for Gallantry and a Purple Heart.
After the war, Oliver developed an interest in filmmaking and writing screenplays. To add to his knowledge, he enrolled at New York University in 1971, where he studied Fine Arts. And from then onward, Oliver concentrated on filmmaking. His first project, a short student film, was produced in 1971 and titled “Last Year in Vietnam.”
After graduating in 1971, Oliver struggled a lot to get chances, just like so many other people. He played some comedian roles and took up various jobs, such as working as a cab driver, and production assistant, to support himself while he continued with writing. He even engaged in odd jobs like messenger, sales representative as he struggled financially.
After struggling for a long time, Oliver started his work as a film production assistant and tried to impress already well-established directors with his stories. He won his first academy award for the adaptation of “Midnight Express” in 1978. Even after winning the Academy Award; his film career didn’t speed up. He was criticized for overdramatizing the novel and hurting the sentiments of Turkish people.
Oliver’s persistence landed him in huge success in 1986. He directed the film “Platoon,” which gave him due recognition as a writer and director. The movie was considered one of the best war films ever made. For the movie, Oliver won his first Oscar for directing and the movie won the Best Picture award. From then onward, Oliver never looked back but kept on directing more films. Following “Platoon” was a string of other mostly successful, often controversial films.
Currently, Oliver is a prominent figure in the American movie industry, but he didn’t get there overnight. His persistence during his trial period led to his success story today.
Life is complex. None of us knows anything about tomorrow. The only thing we can all agree on is that tomorrow will be different from today
And most likely, tomorrow will bring us some pains. The best way to win when tomorrow comes is to be determined never to look back or wish for a better situation.
If you confront each day with the determination to win the day if you approach new career with the determination to give to your best, if you believe that the dot will eventually connect itself, then you’ll be confident about your future.
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.”
The only way to be confident about your future is to wake up every day, and look fear in the face, do what you ought to do, move on regardless of any obstacle.
Vincent Van Gogh said, “If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced”.
The only way to be confident about your future is by being ready to paint, whenever somebody or something says you can’t paint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVSBEH48ieI
