Sebastian Stan

Early life and education

Stan was born August 13, 1982, in Constanța, then in the Romanian SR. He was named by his pianist mother after the composer Johann Sebastian Bach. His parents divorced when he was two years old. When he was eight, he and his mother, Georgeta Orlovschi, moved to Vienna, Austria, where she was employed as a pianist, following the Revolutions of 1989. Four years later, they moved to Rockland County, New York, after his mother married the headmaster of a school in the United States. He was raised in the Romanian Orthodox Church.

During Stan's years at the Rockland school, he starred in productions including Harvey, Cyrano de Bergerac, Little Shop of Horrors, Over Here!, and West Side Story. He also attended the Stagedoor Manor summer camp, where he was cast in many camp productions. It was then that he decided to take acting seriously and began applying to acting programs at several universities. He attended Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts, which enabled him to spend a year abroad studying acting at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, England. He graduated from Rutgers in 2005. Stan became a United States citizen in 2002.

Career

1994–2013: Film debut and Broadway roles

After an appearance in the 1994 Michael Haneke film 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance, Stan's career began in earnest in 2003 with a role on Law & Order. This was followed by several film appearances, including Tony n' Tina's Wedding, The Architect, and The Covenant (both 2006), followed by a recurring role on Gossip Girl as Carter Baizen, beginning in 2007. Stan then had a lead role in the 2009 series Kings as Jack Benjamin. In 2010, he appeared in Darren Aronofsky's ballet thriller Black Swan and played the role of antagonist Blaine in the comedy Hot Tub Time Machine. In 2011, he portrayed Bucky Barnes in the film Captain America: The First Avenger, which was based on the Marvel Comics character. This was his first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, (MCU); it was not part of the nine-picture contract he later secured with Marvel Studios. In a 2021 interview, Stan recalled that about a month after the Captain America film was released, he was struggling to pay his rent.

In 2012, Stan starred in the thriller Gone and the supernatural horror film The Apparition; he also began a recurring role in the TV series Once Upon a Time as the Mad Hatter. A review by The A.V. Club described his work in "Hat Trick", his premiere episode in that series, as "excellent" and placed the episode in their list of the 30 best episodes of 2012 from the series that did not make their top list. It was initially reported the role would be recast for the spin-off series Once Upon a Time in Wonderland due to Stan's commitment to the MCU, but Edward Kitsis revealed that, in response to fan backlash and out of respect for Stan's performance, the character would not be recast and the series would instead proceed without the character. The same year, he also appeared in the USA Network miniseries Political Animals as the troubled gay son of a former First Lady, which earned him a nomination for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries. In 2013, Stan played Hal Carter in the Roundabout Theater Company's production of William Inge's Picnic at the American Airlines Theater in New York.

2014–2019: MCU films and ''I, Tonya''

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Stan reprised his role as Bucky Barnes, with his character now re-named Winter Soldier; this was the first film of his nine-film contract. In 2015, he played Joshua Brummel in Ricki and the Flash; he also co-starred in The Martian as NASA scientist Dr. Chris Beck and in The Bronze as Lance Tucker. Stan next reprised his role as the Winter Soldier in Ant-Man (cameo appearance) (2015) and Captain America: Civil War (2016). In 2017, Stan co-starred as NASCAR driver Dayton White in Steven Soderbergh's caper comedy, Logan Lucky, and starred in the drama I'm Not Here. Also that year he co-starred in Craig Gillespie's biopic I, Tonya portraying Jeff Gillooly alongside Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding.

In 2018, Stan again portrayed Winter Soldier in both Black Panther (as an uncredited cameo), and Avengers: Infinity War. He then appeared opposite Nicole Kidman in the thriller film Destroyer (2018). Stan portrayed Charles Blackwood in We Have Always Lived in the Castle, a film adaptation of Shirley Jackson's novel of the same name. Stan's first film of 2019 was Avengers: Endgame, released in April, in which he reprised his role as Winter Soldier. His second film that year, Endings, Beginnings, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Stan starred as protagonist Scott Huffman in the Vietnam War film drama, The Last Full Measure (released in January 2020). In addition, Stan appeared in Monday and The Chain. In February 2019, he replaced his MCU co-star Chris Evans in the southern gothic crime drama film The Devil All the Time, which premiered on Netflix in 2020. In April 2019, Disney confirmed that they would be releasing a Marvel television series starring Stan and Anthony Mackie, called The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which began airing on Disney+ on March 19, 2021, and ran through April 23, 2021. In May 2019, Stan joined the cast of the spy thriller, The 355 (released in 2022).

2020–present: Critical recognition

Stan next starred as Tommy Lee opposite Lily James as Pamela Anderson in Hulu's biographical miniseries Pam & Tommy (2022) centering around their personal sex tape which was stolen in 1995. Lucy Mangan of The Guardian described their performances as "astonishing" adding, "They each achieve the feat of uncannily resembling – aesthetically, vocally, and in every mannerism – the real-life people, without descending into mimicry." For his performance he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. He also starred in the Hulu thriller film Fresh (2022) opposite Daisy Edgar-Jones. Sophie Butcher of Empire praised their chemistry adding, "Stan in particular is having a ball, unleashing the kind of unhinged energy we’ve seen most recently from him in Pam & Tommy".

In 2023, Stan starred alongside Julianne Moore in Apple TV+ and A24's thriller, Sharper. The following year, he won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance for playing a man with neurofibromatosis in A Different Man, and portrayed a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice. For both roles, he received simultaneous Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama, respectively. He won for A Different Man. For The Apprentice he was nominated for the Academy and BAFTA Award for Best Actor. In June 2025, Stan was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Stan reprised the role of Bucky Barnes twice in 2025, in Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*. He will also play the character in Avengers: Doomsday. By January 2026, he was cast as Harvey Dent in The Batman: Part II (2027).

Acting credits

Film

Television

Theatre

Video games

Music videos

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Sebastian Stan

References

References

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15. (December 27, 2012). "Beyond the top 30: Our favorite episodes of shows that didn't make the cut, part one".
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35. D'Alessandro, Anthony. (May 5, 2021). "''The 355'': Simon Kinberg Femme Action Ensemble Going Earlier In 2022".
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41. (November 30, 2023). "Donald Trump biopic: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong and Maria Bakalova cast in The Apprentice". The Guardian.
42. Nordyke, Kimberly. (January 5, 2025). "Golden Globes: Full List of Winners".
43. Lewis, Hilary. (January 23, 2025). "Oscars: Full List of Nominees".
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53. Hipes, Patrick. (2017-02-16). "Bleecker Street Inks U.S. Deal For Steven Soderbergh's ''Logan Lucky'', Sets August Release".
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55. Kay, Jeremy. (May 6, 2016). "J.K. Simmons stars in ''I'm Not Here''".
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