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 an actor from Romania and the United States. He became famous for playing Bucky Barnes, also known as the Winter Soldier. This role was in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies, starting with Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011. He also played the character in the Disney+ show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in 2021.

On TV, Stan was in Gossip Girl (2007–2010) as Carter Baizen. He also played the Mad Hatter in Once Upon a Time (2012). In 2022, he was highly praised for playing Tommy Lee in the Hulu show Pam & Tommy. This role earned him nominations for important awards like the Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

In movies, Stan had a supporting part in The Martian (2015). He also starred in I, Tonya (2017) and Fresh (2022). In 2024, he played a character with a condition called neurofibromatosis in A Different Man. For this role, he won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance and a Golden Globe Award. He also played a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice (2024). This role got him nominations for Best Actor at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and Academy Awards.

Early Life and Education

Sebastian Stan was born in Constanța, Romania, on August 13, 1982. His mother, a pianist, named him after the famous composer Johann Sebastian Bach. His parents separated when he was two years old.

Moving to New York

When Sebastian was eight, he and his mother, Georgeta Orlovschi, moved to Vienna, Austria. His mother worked there as a pianist. Four years later, they moved to Rockland County, New York, in the United States. This happened after his mother married the headmaster of a school there. Sebastian was raised in the Romanian Orthodox Church.

Discovering Acting

During his time at the Rockland school, Sebastian acted in many school plays. These included Harvey, Cyrano de Bergerac, and West Side Story. He also went to the Stagedoor Manor summer camp, where he performed in many camp shows. It was then that he decided he wanted to be a serious actor.

He applied to acting programs at several universities. He went to Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts. This allowed him to study acting for a year at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, England. He finished his studies at Rutgers in 2005. Sebastian Stan became a citizen of the United States in 2002.

Acting Career Highlights

Stan at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival

Sebastian Stan's acting career really started in 2003 with a role on the TV show Law & Order. Before that, he had a small part in the 1994 film 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance.

Early Roles and TV Shows

After Law & Order, he appeared in several movies. These included Tony n' Tina's Wedding, The Architect, and The Covenant (both from 2006). In 2007, he started a recurring role as Carter Baizen on the popular show Gossip Girl.

In 2009, Stan had a main role in the series Kings as Jack Benjamin. The next year, 2010, he was in the ballet thriller Black Swan. He also played the bad guy Blaine in the comedy Hot Tub Time Machine.

Becoming the Winter Soldier

In 2011, Sebastian Stan played Bucky Barnes in the movie Captain America: The First Avenger. This movie was based on the Marvel Comics character. This was his first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). He later signed a contract for nine more Marvel films. In 2021, Stan shared that he was struggling to pay rent about a month after the first Captain America movie came out.

More TV and Film Roles

In 2012, Stan starred in the thriller Gone and the horror film The Apparition. He also began a recurring role in the TV series Once Upon a Time as the Mad Hatter. Critics praised his work in the episode "Hat Trick".

That same year, he appeared in the miniseries Political Animals. He played T.J. Hammond, the troubled son of a former First Lady. This role earned him a nomination for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries. In 2013, Stan performed in the play Picnic in New York.

Continuing the MCU Journey

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Stan returned as Bucky Barnes, now known as the Winter Soldier. This was the first film of his nine-film Marvel 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. He was also in The Bronze as Lance Tucker.

Stan continued to play the Winter Soldier in a small appearance in Ant-Man (2015) and in Captain America: Civil War (2016). In 2017, he co-starred in the comedy Logan Lucky and played Jeff Gillooly in the movie I, Tonya. He also starred in the drama I'm Not Here.

Recent Projects

In 2018, Stan played the Winter Soldier again in Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War. He then appeared with Nicole Kidman in the thriller Destroyer (2018). Stan also played Charles Blackwood in We Have Always Lived in the Castle, based on a famous novel.

Stan's first movie of 2019 was Avengers: Endgame, where he returned as the Winter Soldier. His second film that year, Endings, Beginnings, was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Stan in 2024

Stan starred as Scott Huffman in the war drama The Last Full Measure (released in January 2020). He also appeared in Monday and The Chain. In 2019, he took over a role from his Marvel co-star Chris Evans in the drama film The Devil All the Time, which came out on Netflix in 2020.

In April 2019, Disney announced a Marvel TV series starring Stan and Anthony Mackie. This show, called The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, started on Disney+ in March 2021. In May 2019, Stan joined the cast of the spy thriller The 355, which was released in 2022. Stan then starred as Tommy Lee in the biographical miniseries Pam & Tommy for Hulu. For this role, he was nominated for a 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 with Julianne Moore in the thriller Sharper. The next year, he won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance for playing a man with neurofibromatosis in A Different Man. He also played a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice. For these roles, he received two Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor. He won for A Different Man. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for The Apprentice.

He will play Bucky Barnes again in the MCU movie Thunderbolts*, which is expected in 2025.

Personal Life

Sebastian Stan was in a relationship with actress Leighton Meester until April 2010. They met while working on the TV series Gossip Girl. In May 2022, Stan and British actress Annabelle Wallis were seen together. They made their relationship public in December 2022.

Helping Others

Sebastian Stan supports many charities. One of them is Our Big Day Out, a group in Romania that helps children have a better life. In February 2018, he thanked fans on Instagram for helping with fundraising for this group.

He also works with the Ronald McDonald House. In 2020, he attended their first online event with his Marvel co-star Anthony Mackie. Other charities Stan supports 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

Sebastian Stan has won and been nominated for many awards for his acting.

See also

In Spanish: Sebastian Stan para niños