Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#393
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Sebastian Stan represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 33 years in, and Sebastian is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Sebastian Stan appears in 43 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Sebastian. Avengers: Endgame is the clearest case: a film rated 8.5 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for mystery, crime, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Matt Reeves, Anthony Russo, Julius Onah and others, Sebastian Stan helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Avengers: Endgame (2019) as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier · Avengers: Infinity War (2018) as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier · Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King (2020) as Self - Actor, "Avengers: Endgame"
Career snapshot
Ranked #393 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
43
1995–2028
Career length
33 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.5
Avengers: Endgame
Average Nutevio score
6.4
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.2
Avengers: Endgame
Most frequent director
Anthony Russo
6 films together
Longest collaboration
6×
With Anthony Russo
Most common genre
Drama
18 titles
Average runtime
1h 46m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.0
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.9
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1990s
7.0 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.0
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.0
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance.
Most productive era
2010s
20 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.01 film | 6.31 film | 6.87 films | 6.19 films |
| Action | — | 5.61 film | 7.49 films | 5.87 films |
| Thriller | — | — | 6.05 films | 6.75 films |
| Comedy | — | 5.61 film | 6.45 films | 6.95 films |
| Crime | — | — | 6.32 films | 4.73 films |
| Romance | — | 5.92 films | — | 6.53 films |
| Horror | — | 5.61 film | 6.12 films | 7.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
199571 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Subway Kid (uncredited).
Highest rated performance · Career peak
8.5 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
The current state of the argument, as Harvey Dent.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
43 of 43 films
as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
Directed by Anthony Russo
as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
Directed by Anthony Russo
as Scott Huffman
Directed by Todd Robinson
as Self - Actor, "Avengers: Endgame"
Directed by Unknown
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Mihai Gheorghiu
Fjord (2026)
Performance score8.2
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Mihai Gheorghiu gives Sebastian Stan a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Performance score8.2
Avengers: Endgame asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Performance score8.2
Avengers: Infinity War asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Scott Huffman
The Last Full Measure (2020)
Performance score7.9
The Last Full Measure asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Scott Huffman is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Mihai Gheorghiu
Start here. Fjord is the clearest statement of what Sebastian Stan does — accessible, 146 minutes, and rated 7.7 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Sebastian at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
A deliberate change of key after Fjord — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Same director as Avengers: Infinity War, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
The Last Full Measure (2020)
Keeps the action register of Avengers: Endgame but asks for a colder reading of it.
Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King (2020)
A deliberate change of key after The Last Full Measure — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Anthony Russo
Director
6 films together
Notably Avengers: Endgame
Jonathan Demme
Director
2 films together
Notably Rachel Getting Married
Craig Gillespie
Director
2 films together
Notably I, Tonya
Michael Haneke
Director
1 film together
Notably 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance
Renny Harlin
Director
1 film together
Notably The Covenant
David Mackenzie
Director
1 film together
Notably Spread
Steve Pink
Director
1 film together
Notably Hot Tub Time Machine
Darren Aronofsky
Director
1 film together
Notably Black Swan
Joe Johnston
Director
1 film together
Notably Captain America: The First Avenger
Heitor Dhalia
Director
1 film together
Notably Gone
Peyton Reed
Director
1 film together
Notably Ant-Man
Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably The Martian
Karyn Kusama
Director
1 film together
Notably Destroyer
Ryan Coogler
Director
1 film together
Notably Black Panther
Stacie Passon
Director
1 film together
Notably We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Todd Robinson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Last Full Measure
Antonio Campos
Director
1 film together
Notably The Devil All the Time
Mimi Cave
Director
1 film together
Notably Fresh
Simon Kinberg
Director
1 film together
Notably The 355
Benjamin Caron
Director
1 film together
Notably Sharper
Dexter Fletcher
Director
1 film together
Notably Ghosted
Aaron Schimberg
Director
1 film together
Notably A Different Man
Ali Abbasi
Director
1 film together
Notably The Apprentice
Jake Schreier
Director
1 film together
Notably Thunderbolts*
Julius Onah
Director
1 film together
Notably Captain America: Brave New World
Matt Reeves
Director
1 film together
Notably The Batman: Part II
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Anthony Russo
Director
6 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 6 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Avengers: EndgameCraig Gillespie
Director
2 films together · 7.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
I, TonyaJonathan Demme
Director
2 films together · 6.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Rachel Getting MarriedRidley Scott
Director
1 film together · 7.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The MartianDarren Aronofsky
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Black SwanRyan Coogler
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Black PantherJake Schreier
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Thunderbolts*Todd Robinson
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Last Full MeasurePeyton Reed
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ant-ManAntonio Campos
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Devil All the TimeMimi Cave
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
FreshJoe Johnston
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Captain America: The First AvengerMichael Haneke
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
71 Fragments of a Chronology of ChanceAli Abbasi
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The ApprenticeAaron Schimberg
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Different ManDexter Fletcher
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GhostedBenjamin Caron
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SharperJulius Onah
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Captain America: Brave New WorldHeitor Dhalia
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GoneSteve Pink
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hot Tub Time MachineSimon Kinberg
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The 355Karyn Kusama
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DestroyerDavid Mackenzie
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SpreadRenny Harlin
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The CovenantStacie Passon
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
We Have Always Lived in the CastleMatt Reeves
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Batman: Part IISix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Avengers: Infinity War
as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Monday
as Mickey
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Avengers: Infinity War
as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Black Panther
as James 'Bucky' Barnes / Winter Soldier (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Fjord
as Mihai Gheorghiu
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Sebastian Stan has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
33 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Drama Legend
Awarded
18 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Avengers: Endgame
as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Avengers: Infinity War
as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Monday
as Mickey
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
as Charles Blackwood
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Avengers: Endgame
as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Thunderbolts*
as Bucky Barnes
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Dumb Money
as Vlad Tenev
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Avengers: Doomsday
as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
David Krumholtz
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Harry Dean Stanton
Works with the same directors — Ridley Scott
Ted Levine
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
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Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
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Reference
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