Sebastian Stan Fan

Variety

Sebastian Stan is getting candid about his time with Marvel.

During a recent interview on the “Stronger Podcast,” Stan, who played Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, across seven Marvel films, said the blockbuster giant “really helped” him grow as a person and actor. However, now, at 43 years old, he’s trying to expand past the comic book action.

“I have to try to offer something different than before,” Stan said. “And I’ve never favored one role over another. The Marvel stuff, I’ll always, till the end of time, [feel it] really helped me grow as a person and helped me grow as an actor and it taught me relationships and [I worked with] Robert Downey [Jr.] and Scarlett [Johansson] and all these people I looked up to. It was a business. It was a family and it gave me a sense of belonging, and it’s always there for that, but it was only the step one for me.”

Stan added that he feels “lucky” that his more refined work in films like “The Apprentice” and “A Different Man” came later in life. He added he looks at “young guys like Timothée Chalamet and Austin Butler” and sees them achieving things “I could not have done at their age.”

Due to his Romanian heritage, Stan also noted it took some time to fit in with the American movie industry.

“There was a significant part of my youth that I had to spend to get Americanized or to fit in and really find my way in a different way,” he explained. “But it’s really now that I feel I’m finally getting to do the stuff I’ve always wanted to do.”

2025 was a breakout year for Stan in terms of award recognition. His leading performance in “A Different Man” earned him a Golden Globe. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for best actor for his portrayal of Donald Trump in “The Apprentice.”