1994–2013: Film debut and Broadway roles at the 2007
Drama League Awards After an appearance in the 1994
Michael Haneke 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), though 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 first 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 showrunner
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
Wonderland spin-off 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.
2014–2019: MCU films and I, Tonya In
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Stan reprised his role as Bucky Barnes, with his character now renamed
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, and starred in the drama ''
I'm Not Here''. Also that year he co-starred in
Craig Gillespie's biopic
I, Tonya portraying
Jeff Gillooly alongside
Margot Robbie as
Tonya Harding. 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 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 southern gothic crime 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).
2020–present: Critical recognition ,
Maria Bakalova,
Ali Abbasi, Stan and
Jeremy Strong at the NYC premiere of
The Apprentice (2024) Stan next starred as
Tommy Lee opposite
Lily James as
Pamela Anderson in
Hulu's
biographical miniseries
Pam & Tommy (2022) centering around their
personal sex tape which was stolen in 1995. Lucy Mangan of
The Guardian described their performances as "astonishing" adding, "They each achieve the feat of uncannily resembling – aesthetically, vocally, and in every mannerism – the real-life people, without descending into mimicry." For his performance he was nominated for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie and the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. He also starred in the
Hulu thriller film
Fresh (2022) opposite
Daisy Edgar-Jones. Sophie Butcher of
Empire praised their chemistry adding, "Stan in particular is having a ball, unleashing the kind of unhinged energy we’ve seen most recently from him in
Pam & Tommy". 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 simultaneous
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 and
BAFTA Award for Best Actor. In June 2025, Stan was invited to join the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Stan reprised the role of Bucky Barnes twice in 2025, in
Captain America: Brave New World and
Thunderbolts*, and is set to do so again in
Avengers: Doomsday (2026). By January 2026, he was cast as
Harvey Dent in
The Batman: Part II (2027). In addition to his acting work, Stan has served as a producer on the Romanian feature
A River’s Gaze (2026), and as executive producer on
A Different Man (2024). In April 2026, the film
Fjord, a Romanian film and directed by
Crisitan Minghui and starring Sebastian Stan was selected for competition on the
79th Cannes Film Festival. == Acting credits ==