Sebastian Stan's Best On-Screen Performances

Over the years, Sebastian Stan has played everything from morally ambiguous eye candy to a brainwashed assassin to mundanely terrifying villains. And he's had a fascinating career, going through some distinct phases based on both his own interests and his constantly evolving image.

Decider once called him "one of TV's most stalwart scene-stealers," a supporting actor who can catch viewers' attention even when they're supposed to be looking at someone else. That's a consistent strength of his, whether it's put to use in indie films or MCU blockbusters. He's called his career the best of both worlds, and his eclectic filmography has gifted us with some incredible characters. Whether he's breaking new ground or knocking a familiar role out of the park, he's always riveting. 

From his work on incredible TV shows to some of the highest-grossing films ever made, let's take a look at Sebastian Stan's best on-screen performances.

Kings often turns up on lists bemoaning shows canceled too soon – and with good reason. The short-lived NBC series reimagines the biblical story of King David in a landscape that looks like contemporary America but comes with a monarchy and a belief in the divine right of kings. Creative, unusual, and visually stunning, it features terrific performances from actors such as Ian McShane and then up-and-comer Sebastian Stan.

Stan plays Jack, the prince who would inherit the crown from McShane's King Silas. His wealthy playboy front hides that he's ambitious, emotionally complex, and — a problem if he wants to rule, as his father makes painfully clear to him — gay. He makes for the best kind of sympathetic semi-antagonist. The A.V. Club dubbed him the strongest among the show's younger actors, saying he gave a "wrenching performance" that proved his considerable acting talent.

As the pop culture site 25 Years Later puts it, "Stan does a beautiful job with this. His performance is subtle, graceful, and glorious. We stan you, Mister Stan." We do, indeed.

The year 2012 brought us Political Animals, a crackling, soapy miniseries about one Clinton-esque family's attempt to make it back to the White House via Elaine Barrish (Sigourney Weaver), former first lady and now secretary of state. Sebastian Stan truly pops in his role as her son, T.J. Hammond, a troubled and hard-partying young man who's still carrying around the damage of having had to come out of the closet — in front of the whole nation — when his father was president.

While T.J.'s character was drawn in broad (and arguably cliché) strokes, Stan excelled at giving him a sense of real depth. He represented the cost of the Hammond-Barrish family's political aspirations, the person who'd suffered the most from the constant spotlight. His portrayal earned him a Best Supporting Actor nomination with the Critics Choice Television Awards, and Vulture's Matt Zoller Seitz singled out his character as deserving a spinoff of his own, saying, "Sebastian Stan's performance is deeply affecting."

Sebastian Stan was already on the map before The Winter Soldier came along in 2014, but there's no denying the movie rocketed him to new prominence, both in and out of the MCU. Bringing back Bucky Barnes? Great. Bringing him back as HYDRA's brainwashed assassin, making him an even bigger part of Steve Rogers' arc, and catapulting him to the status of fan favorite? Even better.

Stan helps make Captain America: The Winter Soldier a standout in the MCU. In a 2018 article dissecting the film's reputation as the best of the franchise, EW's Devan Coggan says, "[The story is] made all the more powerful by Sebastian Stan and Chris Evans' performances here. We first saw their camaraderie and chemistry in The First Avenger, and The Winter Soldier takes advantage of their on-screen bond to devastating effect." Newsday seconds that, noting that Stan — with his "sad, soulful eyes" — "does a lot with a near-silent role." 

Stan helps the movie pack an emotional wallop that makes the film so effective. It would've been easy for the Winter Soldier to be nothing more than an obstacle. Even the best script can't sell an emotion the actors can't convey. But Stan and Evans make it work, and Bucky's reappearance is a revelation rather than a mere callback.

Sebastian Stan's presence in the MCU continued to mount up with 2016's Captain America: Civil War, where Bucky Barnes becomes the unwilling center of a high-stakes conflict of ideals between Iron Man and Captain America. Civil War dives headfirst into the question of how much — if it all — Bucky is responsible for what he did as the Winter Soldier. He was brainwashed and programmed, but as he says, "I still did it." Stan lets us see the weight of Bucky's guilt and his determination to deal with it one way or another.

Empire Online points out how the film shows Bucky caught between two different kinds of past, trying to make a present — and maybe even a future. As the magazine put it, he's mostly as "blank and frosty" as he was in The Winter Soldier, "allowing only the occasional warm glint of '40s sidekick Bucky." But we, like Steve Rogers, wind up feeling like that glimpse of the real Bucky is worth fighting for.

On top of that, we get a chase scene involving Bucky and a magnificent, cinematic motorcycle flip that's one of the best bits of action in the MCU to date. What's not to like?

Released in 2017, I, Tonya is a darkly quirky biopic that follows the life and career of infamous figure skater Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie), who made skating history with her triple axels ... and national headlines with her connection to a conspiracy to kneecap her biggest rival. And in the film, Sebastian Stan plays Jeff Gillooly, her husband and co-conspirator.

Here, Stan's good looks are obscured beneath a goofy mustache, and his charm is twisted out of shape by outbursts of violence. It's a stretch from a lot of his previous work, but Stan was up for the challenge. "What excites me is finding a character that's so far removed from who I am," he told IndieWire.

The role didn't just get him acclaim — it won him advocates. Critic Christy Lemire described him as nailing both the "benign goofiness" and the "positively chilling" bursts of violence. Even more impressively, Cinemalogue argued passionately for him to get a Best Supporting Actor nomination, and their reviewer made a persuasive case for it, writing, "Stan walks a razor thin edge; too much, and he would be a caricature, not enough and it could be construed as almost romanticizing abuse. In one scene, Jeff threatens Tonya in a way that is both incomprehensibly cruel and emotionally manipulative, yet you find yourself wanting to comfort him. That level of fourth-wall manipulation requires incredible nuance and skill."

We Have Always Lived in the Castle follows the gothic story of two sisters, Merricat (Taissa Farmiga) and Constance (Alexandra Daddario), who live an isolated life with their paralyzed uncle (Crispin Glover). Their strange domesticity is shattered by the arrival of their scheming cousin, Charles, played by Sebastian Stan.

The film received decent reviews, but the performances were definitely considered the highlight. And Stan shines in his role as a man who's slimy, menacing, malicious, and impossible to stop watching, full of what The Wrap called "preppy villainy."

Film School Rejects saw the movie as a natural — and great — expansion of the abilities Stan had already proven in films like I, Tonya, saying, "[He] seems to have really nailed the toxic masculinity character. ... Stan brings Charles to a place we've [seen] Stan go before, and it's still very difficult to watch, but it's an excellent reminder that he can do more than the Winter Soldier."

The Devil All the Time is a star-studded country noir film about the collision of a lot of down-and-out characters in the rural town of Knockemstiff. Sebastian Stan plays the ambitious and bent Sheriff Lee Bodecker, whose corruption and love for his sister toxically combines to make him one of the movie's antagonists.

When Chris Evans had to step down from the role, he threw his support behind his MCU co-star, and Stan didn't make him regret that. It's one of his best and most haunting villain roles, with Deadline saying the sheriff is "Stan at his most vicious."

And — especially notable given the physical fitness required for Marvel heroes — Stan changed his looks for the part, knowing he'd have to work hard to get them back again. He gained weight, deliberately taking away some of his Hollywood appeal to get the right feeling for Bodecker. That physicality proves essential, providing to be one of the most indelible images in the film.