Stephen Lang facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Stephen Lang
Lang in 2022
Born	(1952-07-11) July 11, 1952 (age 73) New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Swarthmore College (BA)
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 who has starred in many movies and TV shows. He is most famous for playing the main bad guy, Colonel Miles Quaritch, in James Cameron's hit movie Avatar (2009). For this role, he won an award called the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor. He played the same character again in the sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).

Lang is also known for his roles in other popular films like Manhunter (1986), Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989), Gettysburg (1993), Gods and Generals (2003), and the horror movie Don't Breathe (2016) and its sequel Don't Breathe 2 (2021). On TV, he played Commander Nathaniel Taylor in Terra Nova (2011) and Waldo in Into the Badlands (2015-2018).

Besides his work in movies and TV, Stephen Lang has had a long and successful career on Broadway, which is where many famous plays are performed in New York City. He was even nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his acting in a play called The Speed of Darkness in 1992.

Stephen Lang's Early Life

Stephen Lang was born in New York City. He was the youngest child of Theresa and Eugene Lang. His father, Eugene, was a very successful businessman and also a philanthropist, which means he gave a lot of money to help others. Stephen's mother was Catholic, with German and Irish family roots, and his father was Jewish. Stephen was raised in the Jewish faith. His grandparents came from Hungary and Russia.

Stephen has two older siblings: Jane, who is a lawyer, and David, who worked for their father's company. Stephen's father believed in teaching his children to be independent. He gave most of his money to charity instead of leaving it to his children.

Stephen went to elementary school in Jamaica Estates, Queens. He then attended George Ryan Junior High School. For high school, he went to George School, a Quaker boarding school in Pennsylvania, and finished a year early in 1969. He later graduated from Swarthmore College in 1973 with a degree in English Literature.

Stephen Lang's Acting Journey

Lang (left) with Senator Daniel Inouye in 2005

Stephen Lang started his acting career with important roles. In 1984, he played Happy Loman in a Broadway play called Death of a Salesman. He also appeared in the 1985 TV movie version of the play with famous actor Dustin Hoffman. In 1986, he was in Manhunter, one of the first movies about the character Hannibal Lecter. He also played a lawyer named David Abrams in the TV series Crime Story from 1986 to 1988. In 1991, he played the famous baseball player Babe Ruth in an NBC movie.

In 1992, Stephen Lang was nominated for a Tony Award for his leading role in the play The Speed of Darkness. His performance in the 1989 film Last Exit to Brooklyn was highly praised by critics. He was also the first actor to play the role of Colonel Nathan Jessup in the stage play A Few Good Men. This role later became very famous when Jack Nicholson played it in the movie version.

Stephen Lang has a strong interest in the American Civil War. He played Major General George Pickett in the 1993 film Gettysburg. He then played the lead role of General Stonewall Jackson in the 2003 film Gods and Generals, which was a story that happened before Gettysburg.

He also created and performed a special one-man show called Beyond Glory. In this show, he played different real-life American war heroes. He even performed Beyond Glory for soldiers serving overseas.

Lang at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con in San Diego, California, promoting Terra Nova

In 2009, Stephen Lang took on a big role as the main villain, Colonel Miles Quaritch, in James Cameron's science fiction movie Avatar. This role made him very well-known around the world. That same year, he also appeared in the film Public Enemies as FBI Agent Charles Winstead, and in The Men Who Stare at Goats with actors like Jeff Bridges and George Clooney.

Stephen Lang has also done voice work, narrating the audiobook Road Rage in 2009. He also narrated "The Gettysburg Story: Battlefield Auto Tour," which is a popular audio guide for the Gettysburg Battlefield in Pennsylvania.

In 2011, he played the villain Khalar Zym in the 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.

Stephen Lang continued to take on interesting roles. In 2016, he played a character known as The Blind Man in the horror-thriller movie Don't Breathe. This movie was very popular and received good reviews. He played the same character again in the sequel, Don't Breathe 2, which was released in 2021.

He has also appeared in other films like Hostiles (2017), Braven (2018) with Jason Momoa, and Mortal Engines (2018). Stephen Lang has continued to play Colonel Miles Quaritch in the Avatar sequels, including Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), and is involved in future Avatar movies.

Stephen Lang's Personal Life

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

In 2010, his old college, Swarthmore, gave him an honorary degree to celebrate his successful career in acting. His youngest son, Noah, also received his bachelor's degree at the same ceremony. Stephen Lang has also received other honorary degrees and awards for his contributions to history and the arts.

Filmography

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Twice in a Lifetime	Keith Sobel
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	Sisu 2	0TBA	Post-production
	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