Sebastian Stan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sebastian Stan
Stan at the 2024 Berlinale
Born	(1982-08-13) August 13, 1982 (age 42) Constanța, Socialist Republic of Romania
Citizenship	Romania United States
Education	Rutgers University, New Brunswick (BFA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2003–present

Sebastian Stan (born August 13, 1982) is a Romanian-American actor. He gained recognition for his role as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe media franchise beginning with the film Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and including the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021).

On television, Stan played Carter Baizen in Gossip Girl (2007–2010) and the Mad Hatter in Once Upon a Time (2012), and starred in the miniseries Political Animals (2012). In 2022, he received critical acclaim for playing Tommy Lee in the Hulu miniseries Pam & Tommy earning nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

On film, Stan had a supporting role in The Martian (2015), and starred in I, Tonya (2017) and Fresh (2022). He played a man with neurofibromatosis in A Different Man (2024), for which he won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. For his portrayal of a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice (2024), Stan earned Best Actor nominations at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Academy Awards.

Early life

Stan was born 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

Stan at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival

After an appearance in the 1994 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.

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, portrayed Jeff Gillooly in Craig Gillespie's biopic I, Tonya, and starred in the drama I'm Not Here.

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 in 2024

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 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). Stan next starred as Tommy Lee in Hulu's biographical miniseries Pam & Tommy; for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. He also starred in the thriller film Fresh (2022).

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 two 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 Award for Best Actor.

He will reprise the role of Bucky Barnes in the MCU film Thunderbolts*, releasing in 2025.

Personal life

Since his appearance in the television series Gossip Girl in the role of Carter Baizen, the actor was in a relationship with the leading actress Leighton Meester until April 2010. After a joint photo at fellow actor Robert Pattinson's birthday party in May 2022, Stan and British actress Annabelle Wallis made their relationship public from December 2022.

Philanthropy

Stan is a supporter of many charitable organizations, including Our Big Day Out, a nonprofit based in Romania that helps provide children with a higher quality of life. In February 2018, he thanked fans on behalf of the organization for participating in fundraising and awareness on Instagram.

He is also associated with the Ronald McDonald House. In 2020, he attended the charity's first Virtual Gala with his Marvel co-star Anthony Mackie. Other charities supported by Stan include Dramatic Need and Save the Children.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance	Kid in Subway
2004	Tony n' Tina's Wedding	Johnny Nunzio
2005	Red Doors	Simon
2006	Architect, TheThe Architect	Martin Waters
	Covenant, TheThe Covenant	Chase Collins
2007	Education of Charlie Banks, TheThe Education of Charlie Banks	Leo Reilly
2008	Rachel Getting Married	Walter
2009	Spread	Harry
2010	Hot Tub Time Machine	Blaine
	Black Swan	Andrew / Suitor
2011	Captain America: The First Avenger	James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes
2012	Gone	Billy
	Apparition, TheThe Apparition	Ben Curtis
2014	Captain America: The Winter Soldier	Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
2015	Ant-Man		Uncredited cameo; post-credits scene
	Bronze, TheThe Bronze	Lance Tucker
	Ricki and the Flash	Joshua Brummel
	Martian, TheThe Martian	Dr. Chris Beck
2016	Captain America: Civil War	Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
2017	Logan Lucky	Dayton White
	I, Tonya	Jeff Gillooly
	I'm Not Here	Steve
2018	Destroyer	Det. Chris
	We Have Always Lived in the Castle	Charles Blackwood
	Black Panther	Bucky Barnes / White Wolf	Uncredited cameo; post-credits scene
	Avengers: Infinity War
2019	Avengers: Endgame
	Endings, Beginnings	Frank
	Last Full Measure, TheThe Last Full Measure	Scott Huffman
2020	Devil All the Time, TheThe Devil All the Time	Lee Bodecker
	Monday	Mickey
2022	355, TheThe 355	Nick Fowler
	Fresh	Steve
2023	Sharper	Max
	Ghosted	God
	Dumb Money	Vlad Tenev
2024	A Different Man	Edward Lemuel / Guy Moratz	Also executive producer
	The Apprentice	Donald Trump
2025	Thunderbolts*	Bucky Barnes	Post-production
	Blue Banks	—	Producer only

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

Theatre

Video games

Music videos

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Sebastian Stan para niños