One of Hollywood's leading contenders for the coveted title of "America's Sweetheart" in the mid-1990s, the unconventionally beautiful, raven-haired Sandra Bullock first gained widespread attention as Sylvester Stallone's partner in the satirical sci-fi actioner "Demolition Man" (1993). The daughter of a German opera singer mother and an American voice coach father, she began performing on stage as a child extra in her mother's operas. After college, Bullock landed some Off-Broadway roles and a part in the TV-movies "Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman" (NBC, 1989)