Stephen Lang facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Stephen Lang
Lang in December 2022
Born	(1952-07-11) July 11, 1952 (age 72) New York City, U.S.
Alma mater	Swarthmore College
Occupation	Actor playwright narrator producer screenwriter
Years active	1981–present
Spouse(s)	Kristina Watson ​ (m. 1980)​
Children	4, including Lucy
Parent(s)	Eugene Lang (father)
Relatives	Jane Lang (sister)

Stephen Lang (born July 11, 1952) is an American actor. He is widely recognized for playing the main bad guy, Colonel Miles Quaritch, in James Cameron's hit movie Avatar (2009). He even won an award for this role, the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor. Lang returned as Colonel Quaritch in the sequel Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).

He has also starred in many other films like Manhunter (1986), Gettysburg (1993), Tombstone (1993), and Don't Breathe (2016). Besides movies, Stephen Lang has had a long and successful career acting on Broadway. He was even nominated for a Tony Award for his role in the play The Speed of Darkness in 1992.

Early life

Stephen Lang was born in New York City on July 11, 1952. He is the youngest child of Theresa and Eugene Lang. His father was a well-known businessman and gave a lot of money to charity.

Lang's mother was Catholic and had German and Irish family roots. His father was Jewish, and Stephen was raised following Jewish traditions. His grandparents on his father's side were Jewish immigrants from Hungary and Russia. Stephen has two older siblings: Jane, who is a lawyer and activist, and David, who worked for their father's company.

Stephen Lang's father believed his children should learn to be independent. Because of this, he gave most of his money (over $150 million) to charity instead of leaving it to his children.

Lang went to elementary school in Jamaica Estates, Queens. He attended George Ryan Junior High School in Fresh Meadows. For high school, he went to George School, a Quaker boarding school in Newtown, Pennsylvania. He graduated a year early in 1969. In 1973, he earned a degree in English Literature from Swarthmore College.

Career

Lang (left) with Senator Daniel Inouye in 2005

Stephen Lang began his acting career with many roles on stage and screen. In 1984, he played Harold "Happy" Loman in a Broadway play called Death of a Salesman. He also appeared in the 1985 TV movie version with Dustin Hoffman.

He played reporter Freddy Lounds in the first Hannibal Lecter film, Manhunter (1986). From 1986 to 1988, he was attorney David Abrams in the TV series Crime Story. He also played the famous baseball player Babe Ruth in the 1991 NBC movie Babe Ruth.

In 1992, Lang was nominated for a Tony Award for his main role in the play The Speed of Darkness. His performance in the film Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) earned him praise from critics. He was also the first actor to play Colonel Nathan Jessup in the play A Few Good Men. This role later became famous when Jack Nicholson played it in the 1992 movie. Lang has won several theater awards, including the Drama Desk and Helen Hayes awards.

In 1992, he also played Hamlet in a Broadway show of Shakespeare's famous play.

In movies about the American Civil War, Lang played Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett in Gettysburg (1993). He then took on the lead role of Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson in the movie Gods and Generals (2003), which was a prequel to Gettysburg.

Lang at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con in San Diego, California

In 2004, Lang performed in Finishing the Picture, the last play written by his friend Arthur Miller. He also performed his own one-man show, Beyond Glory, which was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. He even performed Beyond Glory for soldiers serving overseas.

In 2009, Lang appeared in the film Public Enemies as FBI Agent Charles Winstead. He also played General Hopgood in The Men Who Stare at Goats, alongside actors like Jeff Bridges and George Clooney.

Also in 2009, he narrated the audiobook Road Rage, which included stories by Stephen King. In 2010, he narrated "The Gettysburg Story: Battlefield Auto Tour," an audio guide for the Gettysburg Battlefield. He also narrated a TV documentary called The Gettysburg Story.

Lang played the villain Khalar Zym in the 2011 movie Conan the Barbarian. He also had a main role as Commander Nathaniel Taylor in the TV series Terra Nova, which was produced by Steven Spielberg.

In 2012, he appeared in three episodes of the TV series In Plain Sight, playing Mary Shannon's father. In 2013, Lang was in the film The Monkey's Paw.

Lang in 2014

Stephen Lang has continued to play Colonel Miles Quaritch in the Avatar movie series. He also had a recurring role as Increase Mather in the TV series Salem.

He was part of the cast for the martial-arts TV show Into the Badlands. In 2016, he played The Blind Man in the popular horror movie Don't Breathe, a role he returned to in the sequel Don't Breathe 2 in 2021.

In 2018, he played Linden Braven in the action movie Braven and Shrike in Mortal Engines, which was produced by Peter Jackson.

Personal life

Stephen Lang has been married to Kristina Watson since 1980. They have four children together, including New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang.

In 2010, Swarthmore College gave him an honorary degree to celebrate his work in theater, TV, and film. His youngest son, Noah, also graduated from the same college at the same ceremony. Lang also has an Honorary Doctorate from Jacksonville University.

In 2015, Lang was a judge for the Woodstock Film Festival. In 2018, he received the Empire State Archives and History Award. This award recognizes people who have made great contributions to understanding and using history.

Filmography

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Twice in a Lifetime	Keith Sobel
	Death of a Salesman	Harold "Happy" Loman
1986	Band of the Hand	Joe Tegra
	Manhunter	Freddy Lounds
1987	Project X	Watts
1989	Last Exit to Brooklyn	Harry Black
1991	Hard Way, TheThe Hard Way	The Party Crasher
	Another You	Rupert Dibbs
1993	Guilty as Sin	Phil Garson
	Gettysburg	Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett
	The Making of Gettysburg	Himself/Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett	Video documentary
	Tombstone	Ike Clanton
1994	Murder Between Friends	Kerry Myers
1995	Tall Tale	Jonas Hackett
	Amazing Panda Adventure, TheThe Amazing Panda Adventure	Dr. Michael Tyler
1996	Loose Women	Prophet Buddy
	Gang in Blue	Moose Tavola
	Occasional Hell, AnAn Occasional Hell	Alex Laughton
1997	Shadow Conspiracy	The Agent
	Niagara, Niagara	Claude
	Fire Down Below	Earl Kellogg
1998	Escape: Human Cargo	Aramco Contractor
	A Town Has Turned to Dust	Sheriff
1999	The Story of a Bad Boy	Spygo
2000	Trixie	Jacob Slotnick
2001	The Proposal	Simon Bacig
2002	D-Tox	Jack Bennett
	The Making of Tombstone	Himself/Ike Clanton
2003	I Inside, TheThe I Inside	Mr. Travitt
	Code 11-14	Justin Shaw
	Gods and Generals	Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
	Gods and Generals: Journey to the Past	Himself/Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
2006	Treatment, TheThe Treatment	Coach Galgano
	We Fight to Be Free	James Craik
2007	Save Me	Ted
2008	From Mexico with Love	Big Al Stevens
2009	Public Enemies	Charles Winstead
	Men Who Stare at Goats, TheThe Men Who Stare at Goats	General Hopgood
	Avatar	Colonel Miles Quaritch	Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Villain Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Fight (with Sam Worthington) Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (with Sam Worthington) Nominated—Scream Award for Best Villain
2010	Christina	Inspector Edgar Reinhardt
	False Creek Stories	Narrator
	White Irish Drinkers	Patrick Leary
2011	Conan the Barbarian	Khalar Zym
	Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You	Barry Rogers
2013	Officer Down	Lieutenant Jake LaRussa
	Pawn	Charlie
	The Gettysburg Story	Himself/narrator	Documentary
	Pioneer	John Ferris
	The Monkey's Paw	Tony Cobb
	Girl on the Train, TheThe Girl on the Train	Det. Lloyd Martin
2014	The Nut Job	King	Voice
	In the Blood	Casey
	Jarhead 2: Field of Fire	Major James Gavins
	A Good Marriage	Holt Ramsey
	Gutshot Straight	Duffy
	23 Blast	Coach Farris
2015	Exeter	Father Conway
	Band of Robbers	Injun Joe
	Gridlocked	Korver
	Beyond Glory: Tour of Duty	Various roles	Documentary
	Isolation	William
2016	Don't Breathe	Norman Nordstrom / The Blind Man
	Beyond Valkyrie: Dawn of the 4th Reich	Major General Emil F. Reinhardt
2017	Hostiles	Colonel Abraham Biggs
	Justice	Mayor Pierce
2018	Braven	Linden Braven
	Mortal Engines	Shrike
	The Gandhi Murder	Sunil Raina
2019	VFW	Fred Parras
	Rogue Warfare	President
	Rogue Warfare 2: The Hunt	President
2020	Rogue Warfare: Death of a Nation	President
	Death in Texas	John
2021	The Seventh Day	Archbishop
	Don't Breathe 2	Norman Nordstrom / The Blind Man	Also executive producer
2022	The Lost City	Fantasy Villain	Credited as Slang
	Mid-Century	Frederick Banner	Also executive producer
	Old Man	Old Man
	The Independent	Gordon White
	My Love Affair with Marriage	Jonas	Voice
	Avatar: The Way of Water	Colonel Miles Quaritch
2023	Muzzle	Leland
	The Featherweight	Bill Gore
2025	Avatar: Fire and Ash	Colonel Miles Quaritch	Post-production
2029	Avatar 4	Colonel Miles Quaritch	Filming
TBA	Hellfire	0TBA	Post-production

Television

Radio

Web

Video games

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Stephen Lang para niños