Stone was born on March 10, 1958 in Meadville, Pennsylvania. The second of four children, she is the daughter of Dorothy (née Lawson), an accountant and homemaker, and Joseph William Stone II, a tool and die manufacturer and factory worker.

Stone graduated in 1975 from Saegertown High School in Saegertown, Pennsylvania. Stone won the title of Miss Crawford County in Meadville, and was a candidate for Miss Pennsylvania.

Sharon Stone's Family Tree