Sebastian Stan

Sebastian Stan is a Romanian-American actor whose career has moved from New York stage training and television supporting parts to international film stardom. Born in Constanța, Romania, on August 13, 1982, he spent part of his childhood in Vienna before moving to the United States. He studied acting at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, a conservatory background that helped shape the disciplined, physically precise style he later brought to both franchise work and character-driven dramas.

Stan first became familiar to television audiences through recurring roles and guest appearances, including Carter Baizen on Gossip Girl, a part that made use of his ability to play charm and ambiguity at the same time. Around the same period he appeared in films such as The Covenant, Hot Tub Time Machine and Black Swan, building a résumé of supporting roles across teen fantasy, comedy and prestige drama. His breakthrough to a global audience came in 2011, when he played James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes in Captain America: The First Avenger. The role became central to his public profile after Bucky was reintroduced as the Winter Soldier in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, then continued through Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Even while Marvel made him widely recognizable, Stan steadily pursued smaller and more varied work. He played Jeff Gillooly in I, Tonya, appearing opposite Margot Robbie in Craig Gillespie’s darkly comic account of the Tonya Harding story. He also appeared in The Martian, Logan Lucky, Destroyer, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Endings, Beginnings, Monday, Fresh and Sharper. These projects showed a performer comfortable shifting between romantic uncertainty, deadpan comedy, menace and emotional vulnerability.