Updated
- Sebastian Stan has two movies out this fall: “A Different Man” and “The Apprentice.”
- We looked at the critics’ scores on his 33 movies on Rotten Tomatoes.
- Not surprisingly, his top-rated movie is “Avengers: Endgame.”
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Sebastian Stan has had one of the most interesting careers in Hollywood. He got his start on TV playing roles like Carter Baizen in “Gossip Girl,” TJ Hammond in “Political Animals,” and the Mad Hatter in “Once Upon a Time.” At the same time, he was cast as Bucky Barnes, the lovable best friend of Steve Rogers in 2011’s “Captain America: The First Avenger.”
Thirteen years later, Stan is still playing Bucky, aka the Winter Soldier — “Thunderbolts” is out in 2025 — and has appeared in multiple billion-dollar films in the role. He’s also been nominated for an Emmy for playing Tommy Lee in “Pam & Tommy,” appeared in multiple best picture nominees, and has been receiving awards buzz for his roles in two films this year: “A Different Man” and “The Apprentice.”
Here’s how critics have received all 33 of Stan’s films throughout his career.
Stan’s worst-reviewed movie by critics is the 2012 horror film “The Apparition,” which has a measly 3%.
A group of college students, including Stan’s character Ben, attempt to recreate the “Charles Experiment,” which sees them stare at a drawing of a dead man named Charles to summon his spirit. It works, and they slowly get picked off one by one.
“The entity is a ghostly presence amid an even ghostlier absence. This is truly distressed real estate,” wrote The Boston Globe’s Mark Feeney.
In 2006, he appeared in another horror film, “The Covenant,” as the film’s antagonist Chase.
A group of high school boys who are descended from ancient witches have to contend with the fact that their magic is slowly killing them. They also must confront a new foe, Chase, who threatens all of them.
“Flying scenes, frat-boy face-offs and pyrotechnic punch-ups are punctuated by excruciating expository dialogue,” wrote Nigel Floyd of Time Out.
That same year, he appeared in “The Architect” as the main character’s son, Martin.
An architect is forced to come to terms with his life — his wife is bored, his son doesn’t care about following in his footsteps, and his daughter is growing up too fast — while contending with the fact that one of his projects has led to community decay.
“Despite his obvious earnestness, first-time director and cowriter Matt Tauber is ill-equipped to mine emotions this complex,” wrote Michael Booth for the Detroit Free Press.
Stan co-starred with Amanda Seyfried in the 2012 thriller “Gone.”
A woman, Jill, is dealing with the aftermath of her brutal kidnapping a year prior, including that no one believes it actually happened. After her sister goes missing, she fears that her kidnapper has struck again.
Derek Malcolm of the London Evening Standard wrote, “It’s one of those Hollywood movies that goes in one eye and out the other.”
In the 2009 film “Spread,” Stan plays Harry, the best friend of a narcissistic gigolo, Nikki, played by Ashton Kutcher.
After Nikki, a gigolo who lives without a care in the world, meets Heather, he becomes fixated on her — to the detriment of everything else in his life.
“Shallow, melodramatic, pretentious and wildly misguided, it’s also ambitious, entertaining and rather funny,” wrote Tom Huddlestone of Time Out.
In 2022, Stan appeared in the female-led spy thriller “The 355,” playing a CIA agent, Nick.
Three spies (and one field psychologist) from around the world team up to take down a crime lord in possession of a device that could effectively destroy the world. Stan plays Nick, a CIA agent and boyfriend of Jessica Chastain’s character.
“If you’ve ever seen a mediocre action movie with a surprisingly stacked cast, then you’ve basically seen this,” wrote Mashable’s Kristy Puchko.
In “I’m Not Here” (2017), Stan plays the younger version of J.K. Simmons’ character Steve.
An older Steve is forced to look back at his life and figure out why he’s been left old and alone.
“There isn’t a moment of ‘I’m Not Here‘ that didn’t have me fervently wishing I wasn’t here,” wrote the New York Post’s Sara Stewart.
In the 2015 sports comedy “The Bronze,” Stan plays the arrogant Team USA gymnastics coach and gold medalist Lance Tucker.
Former bronze medalist Hope Greggory, who has been coasting on her minor celebrity ever since the Games, decides to coach young gymnastics superstar Maggie in order to receive a $500,000 inheritance from her dead coach.
“This ostensibly edgy comedy didn’t wring a single laugh out of me until maybe fifteen minutes before the finale,” wrote Glenn Kenny for RogerEbert.com.
Stan plays Frank, one corner of a love triangle and a free-spirited “bad boy,” in the 2019 film “Endings, Beginnings.”
After a bad breakup turns Daphne’s world upside-down, she finds herself drawn to two polar opposite men who happen to be best friends: Jack, a stable and serious writer, and Frank, a free-spirited guy always down for adventure.
Paste Magazine’s Amy Amatangelo wrote, “‘Endings/Beginnings‘ swerves toward an uplifting and positive conclusion [that] doesn’t feel natural or earned. By then, one can only hope those familiar, poorly lit faces made the viewing worthwhile.”
Stan has a small role as Leo in “The Education of Charlie Banks” (2007).
Charlie and Danny are childhood best friends who are now roommates in college. But when Mick, someone with a dark link to their hometown, decides to come stay with them, Charlie is worried he’s planning revenge.
“Though painted with broad strokes and marred by dialogue howlers during key moments, ‘Education‘ tracks Charlie’s emerging sense of identity and perspective,” wrote Film Comment Magazine’s Nicolas Rapold.
Stan secured the role of the romantic lead, Mickey, in 2020 film “Monday.”
Two strangers, Mickey and Chloe, meet while living in Athens and almost immediately have intense chemistry before embarking on a weekend-long relationship that turns into something more.
“Try though the actors may, they’re unable to make us care about characters who are primarily defined by their lousy decisions and who lack the spark to draw us closer to their flame,” wrote Ty Burr of The Boston Globe.
He plays Scott Huffman, a Pentagon staffer tasked with investigating a Medal of Honor request in 2019’s “The Last Full Measure.”
Scott Huffman, a Pentagon employee, investigates the life and death of Vietnam airman William H. Pitsenbarger, whose family has submitted a Medal of Honor request, only to find out there’s way more to the story.
“Here’s a true story about a young soldier’s exceptional bravery and sacrifice made into a pretty average war movie, insubstantial and TV-ish despite the appearance of some decorated Hollywood veterans,” wrote Cath Clarke for The Guardian.
Stan’s first credit on Rotten Tomatoes is 2005 film “Red Doors,” in which he plays high school senior Simon.
The film mainly focuses on the Chinese-American Wong family as they navigate their own ups and downs while dealing with their distant father, Ed.
G. Allen Johnson of the San Francisco Chronicle called it “A gentle, pleasant film about people you genuinely like.”
He plays Blaine, a classic ’80s ski patrol bully in the 2010 film “Hot Tub Time Machine.”
When four middle-aged friends reunite at the ski resort they used to frequent in their younger days, they’re dismayed to find it rundown. They decide to get drunk and drown their sorrows in a hot tub, which takes them back to 1986.
“An irreverent, guilty pleasure, frat boy comedy, it blows a big fat raspberry at sci-fi fans and tells them to stick their Flux Capacitors where the sun don’t shine,” wrote Anna Smith of Metro.
In “Ricki and the Flash,” released in 2015, Stan plays one of Ricki’s three kids, Joshua, whose wedding she’s not invited to.
Ricki (Meryl Streep) abandoned her family to pursue her dreams of becoming a rock star, but years later she is forced to reckon with what it did to the three kids she left behind, including her son Joshua who didn’t even tell her that he’s engaged.
“Ricki’s life may be chaotic but the film hits the high notes when it counts, in rambunctious, crowd-pleasing fashion,” wrote Mark Kermode of The Observer.
In the 2020 Netflix film “The Devil All the Time,” Stan plays a dirty sheriff named Lee Bodecker who will do anything for his family.
“The Devil All the Time” follows a cast of characters living in small-town Ohio in the ’60s, focusing on the saga of Arvin, an orphan played by Tom Holland.
Leonie Cooper of NME wrote that it’s “two and a half hours of unrelenting sadness, anxiety, and distress — but impossible to stop watching.”
“Sharper,” released in 2023, is a complicated crime thriller.
In “Sharper,” Stan plays a con artist, Max, who works with his lover, Madeline (Julianne Moore) to con billionaires, but when one of their marks catches feelings, lines get blurred.
Robert Levin of Newsday called the film a “fun thriller with lots of twists.”
Stan plays an FBI agent named Chris in “Destroyer” (2018).
Nicole Kidman plays an LAPD detective who has a past with Silas, a gang leader, who she believes is active again after 16 years. Stan plays Chris, her former FBI partner and boyfriend who worked with her during Silas’ first crime spree.
“A masterful performance by Kidman, who has proven over the last few years that she has deep reserves of talent,” wrote Wenlei Ma for News.com.au.
In “The Apprentice,” which will be released on October 11, Stan plays a young Donald Trump.
“The Apprentice” focuses on the rise of Trump in the 1970s as he became a power player in New York real estate under the tutelage of Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong.
“Stan does a bang-up job capturing Trump’s verbal cadence and tics, his hand gestures, and his smirk, which seemed a lot less obvious in the 1970s and ’80s than they are now,” wrote Peter Howell for the Toronto Star.
In his MCU debut, Stan took on the role of Steve Rogers’ best friend, Bucky Barnes, in 2011’s “Captain America: The First Avenger.”
When the puny Steve Rogers volunteers to become a science experiment for the US Army, he’s turned into the super-strong and near-invulnerable Captain America, who dedicates his life to defeating the Nazis in World War II, with the help of Agent Peggy Carter, best friend Bucky, and the rest of the Howling Commandos.
“[Director Joe] Johnston should be saluted for old-fashioned heart in a cynical age, while Marvel should be confined to barracks for cynical marketing,” wrote Empire Magazine’s Colin Kennedy.
In “Fresh,” released in 2022, Stan plays the rare charming cannibal.
“Fresh,” which dropped on Hulu in March 2022, stars Daisy Edgar-Jones as Noa, a young woman who is sick of dating apps and decides to take a chance on Steve (played by Stan), a guy she met at the grocery store. Unsurprisingly, there’s more to Steve than he lets on.
“The final act comes with perhaps too many surprises on the menu, but the film is so much fun that I didn’t mind the extra courses,” wrote Shirley Li of The Atlantic.
Stan first worked with director Jonathan Demme in “Rachel Getting Married.”
“Rachel Getting Married” stars Anne Hathaway as Kym Buchanan, a young woman who is released from rehab in order to attend her sister Rachel’s wedding.
“Hathaway’s performance has been deservedly nominated for an Oscar. Whether or not she wins, here’s hoping the associated kudos saves her from ever having to do another ‘Bride Wars,'” wrote Sandra Hall of the Sydney Morning Herald.
2023’s “Dumb Money” is the story of the GameStop short squeeze that took place in 2021. Stan plays the founder of trading website Robinhood, Vlad Tenev.
“Dumb Money” is a “Big Short”-esque look at the GameStop stock squeeze, where Wall Street and other ultrawealthy investors lost billions of dollars when they bet against the video game retailer, while the Reddit forum WallStreetBets was making the price go sky-high.
“Paul Dano heads a sprawling cast as the guy leading the rebels with pitchforks on behalf of GameStop, resulting in a film that’s smart and satisfying enough to earn every dollar it makes,” wrote Brian Lowry for CNN.
Stan has a small role in 2010’s “Black Swan.”
“Black Swan” is a psychological thriller about a ballerina, Nina (Natalie Portman), whose grip on reality begins to slip after she’s made the lead ballerina in a performance of “The Swan Queen.” Sebastian plays a man who Nina meets at a bar while she’s trying to access her inner darkness.
“By the end, Nina’s quest for perfection — and Portman’s blazing performance — will leave you breathless,” wrote Caryn James for Marie Claire.
Seven years after his MCU debut, he was still playing Bucky in 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War.”
Earth’s mightiest heroes are scattered throughout the planet — and space — to team up with the Guardians of the Galaxy for the first time to take down Thanos, their most formidable foe of all time, before he can obtain all six Infinity Stones and wipe out half the population of the universe.
“Never has the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ seemed like more of a universe, in ways both good and bad. ‘Infinity War‘ — the title is almost too apt — is far from a perfect movie, but it is probably close to the best movie it could have been,” wrote The Atlantic’s Christopher Orr.
“A Different Man” was released on September 20, 2024.
In “A Different Man,” Stan plays a man named Edward who has the genetic condition neurofibromatosis. After he gets surgery to “fix” himself, he becomes obsessed with an actor named Oswald (played by Adam Pearson, who actually does have this condition), who has the same condition and is going to play Edward in a play based on his life.
LA Weekly’s Erin Maxwell wrote, “Although ‘A Different Man’ will confound many with its bleak twists and polarizing take on humanity, Stan’s performance in the surrealist outing is stellar.”
He returned to his thriller/horror roots with 2018’s “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” playing Charles, a shady cousin of the main characters.
The Blackwood sisters are ostracized from the rest of society, as their whole town believes they are witches who poisoned their own parents. When their charismatic cousin Charles comes to town, Constance and Merricat disagree on his intentions and what to do with him.
“The film adaptation of ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle‘ understands Shirley Jackson’s novel as a tale of male abuse and female rage,” wrote Roxana Hadadi for Pajiba.
After Bucky’s assumed death at the end of the first “Captain America” film, he returns as a Hydra assassin nicknamed the Winter Soldier in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (2014).
After the events of “The Avengers,” Steve Rogers (aka Captain America) is working for SHIELD, a US governmental agency. But when his boss, Nick Fury, discovers a huge conspiracy, he’s seemingly killed and Steve is forced to go on the run. At the same time, he discovers his best friend from the ’40s, Bucky, didn’t actually die during WWII, and was instead discovered by the Nazis. He was tortured and brainwashed into becoming a mindless killing machine: The Winter Soldier.
Kate Erbland of MTV wrote, “‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘ neatly and entertainingly puts into motion some big changes in the Marvel universe, while still sticking to its own charms — no easy feat, but one fit for a hero.”
The 2017 film “I, Tonya,” in which Stan plays Tonya Harding’s husband Jeff Gillooly, also has a 90%.
Based on the real story of figure skater Tonya Harding, the film follows her life from childhood and learning how to skate, all the way to the infamous night when Nancy Kerrigan was attacked and beaten.
“‘I, Tonya‘ is far from your typical biopic, and it’s all the better for it. Buoyed by sharp, fun storytelling and Oscar-worthy performances, it’s exactly the type of movie this story deserved,” wrote CultureMap’s Alex Bentley.
In “The Martian” (2015), Stan plays Chris, one of the astronauts who is forced to leave Matt Damon’s character Mark behind on Mars.
Mark Watney is a botanist and a member of the Ares III mission to Mars. When a storm separates him from his crew, he’s left behind and must figure out a way to survive on the red planet alone.
“Despite being marketed under the mainstream bait of a ‘space movie,’ ‘The Martian‘ is, more than anything, a love letter to science, without ever feeling like a boring textbook,” wrote Complex’s Kristen Yoonsoo Kim.
In Steven Soderbergh’s 2017 heist film “Logan Lucky,” Stan plays NASCAR driver Dayton White.
Channing Tatum and Adam Driver costar as the Logan brothers who devise a plot to rob a NASCAR speedway, but, in classic Soderbergh style, there are many twists and turns along the way.
“A singular filmmaker returns from a cinematic sabbatical in qualified triumph. We’re lucky to have him,” wrote Donald Clarke of The Irish Times.
But Stan’s all-time highest-rated film is 2019’s”Avengers: Endgame,” which sees him make a triumphant return in the last third of the movie as Bucky.
After Thanos dusts half the universe, the original six Avengers (along with some new allies) go on a “time heist” through their own past to find all six Infinity Stones and return all their lost loved ones to the present.
“The only complaint about ‘Avengers: Endgame‘ is that it raises the bar so high that there may well never be a superhero movie to match it,” wrote Matthew Norman of the London Evening Standard.
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