Aaron Stanford

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title: "Aaron Stanford" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1976-births", "living-people", "people-from-westford,-massachusetts", "male-actors-from-middlesex-county,-massachusetts", "american-male-film-actors", "american-male-television-actors", "rutgers-university-alumni", "21st-century-american-male-actors"] description: "American actor (born 1976)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Stanford" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actor (born 1976) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Aaron Stanford
image	Aaron Stanford - Nikita (cropped).jpg
image_size	220px
caption	Stanford at 2013 Comic-Con
birth_date
birth_place	Westford, Massachusetts, U.S.
education
occupation	Actor
years_active	2001–present
::

| name = Aaron Stanford | image = Aaron Stanford - Nikita (cropped).jpg | image_size = 220px | caption = Stanford at 2013 Comic-Con | birth_date = | birth_place = Westford, Massachusetts, U.S. | education = | occupation = Actor | years_active = 2001–present Aaron Stanford (born December 27, 1976) is an American actor known for his roles as Pyro in the X-Men films X2 (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), and Doug in the remake of The Hills Have Eyes (2006). On television, he also starred as Birkhoff in Nikita (2010–2013) and as James Cole in 12 Monkeys (2015–2018), based on the 1995 film of the same name.

Early life and education

Stanford was born in Westford, Massachusetts, the son of Judith (née Dupras), an English professor, and Don Stanford, who works in publishing. His brother David is a musician. Stanford attended Westford Academy in Westford Massachusetts for high school and met his first acting teacher there. He initially attended SUNY Purchase, but transferred to Rutgers University Mason Gross School of Arts. He graduated in 2000, magna cum laude.

Career

Stanford's first major film role was in the low-budget indie film Tadpole (2002), in which he portrays Oscar Grubman, a precocious 15-year-old with a crush on his stepmother, played by Sigourney Weaver. For this performance he earned a nomination for the Golden Satellite Award. In 2001 and 2002 he appeared multiple times on the television series Third Watch as Russian teen Sergei. That same year, he was named as one of *Daily Variety*s "Top Ten Actors to Watch" and included on *Entertainment Weekly*s "It List". In 2004 he appeared in Christopher Shinn's play Where Do We Live at the Vineyard Theatre. Stanford also starred as Anthony LaPaglia's son in the 2004 film Winter Solstice.

Director Bryan Singer was impressed with Stanford's performance in Tadpole, and cast him as Pyro in the 2003 blockbuster X2, a sequel to X-Men. He continued the role in the third installment, X-Men: The Last Stand, released in May 2006. Both movies are based on the Marvel Comics series X-Men.

Stanford also starred in ABC's midseason replacement Traveler, a drama about two friends who believe they are set up by their good friend (Stanford) to make them look like the conspirators of a terrorist attack.

Stanford appeared in the 2006 remake of Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes. He also won the "One To Watch" award at the 2006 Young Hollywood Awards. And in that same year, he starred in the New Hampshire–based comedy, Live Free or Die, playing a wannabe tough-guy criminal named John Rudgate. Aaron also was the voice actor for Pvt. Polonsky in Call of Duty: World at War. In 2009, he played a troubled poker genius in a season eight episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, as well as Horace Cook Jr. in an episode of AMC's acclaimed show Mad Men. In 2010, he joined the CW's Nikita as Birkhoff. His character from the film The Hills Have Eyes appears in the 2012 video game Call of Duty: Black Ops II via Zombies Mode.

Stanford played the lead role of James Cole in the television adaptation of the movie 12 Monkeys, which premiered in January 2015 on Syfy. He also was cast in the AMC series Fear the Walking Dead as the recurring character Jim, first appearing in the episode that aired on August 26, 2018.

In 2024, Stanford reprised his role as Pyro in the Marvel Studios film* Deadpool & Wolverine*. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Stanford said that he was "shocked and thrilled" to get the call to return and also voiced his delight at getting to wear a superhero costume, something he did not get to do in either of his previous performances. "In the original X-Men films, Pyro gets really shortchanged in terms of a costume", he told EW. "In X2 [...] the SWAT team bursts in in the middle of the night and we have to flee. So for half the movie, I'm in my jammies. [...] And in X3, I was just dressed in an ensemble from Hot Topic [...] to have [Pyro] be in a proper superhero costume that was actually taken from the comics themselves was very cool."

Filmography

Film

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Tadpole	Oscar Grubman	Nominated—Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical—Satellite Award
Hollywood Ending	Actor
25th Hour	Marcuse
2003	X2	John Allerdyce / Pyro
Rick	Duke
2004	Winter Solstice	Gabe Winters
Spartan	Michael Blake
2005	Runaway	Michael Adler
Standing Still	Rich
2006	The Hills Have Eyes	Doug Bukowski	Bloodiest Beatdown—Fangoria Chainsaw Award
Live Free or Die	John "Rugged" Rudgate
X-Men: The Last Stand	John Allerdyce / Pyro
2007	Flakes	Neal Downs
The Cake Eaters	Dwight "Beagle" Kimbrough
2008	Holy Money	Anthony
How I Got Lost	Andrew Peterson	NY Emerging Talent Award—Big Apple Film Festival
2016	We've Forgotten More Than We Ever Knew	Daniel
2017	Furthest Witness	Kyle Braddock
Clinical	Miles Richardson
2020	Horse Girl	Hades
2023	Finestkind	Skeemo
2024	Deadpool & Wolverine	John Allerdyce / Pyro
::

Television

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001–2002	Third Watch	Sergei	5 episodes
2007	Traveler	Will Traveler	8 episodes
Numb3rs	Brett Chandler	Episode: "Hollywood Homicide"
2009	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Josh Snow	Episode: "All In"
Mad Men	Horace Cook Jr.	Episode: "The Arrangements"
Fear Itself	Stephen	Episode: "Echoes"
2010–2013	Nikita	Seymour Birkhoff / Lionel Peller	Main role, 64 episodes
2015–2018	12 Monkeys	James Cole	Lead role, 47 episodes
2016	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Tom Holtby / Johnny Appleseed	2 episodes
2018	Fear the Walking Dead	Jim Brauer	6 episodes
2020	Perry Mason	George Gannon	4 episodes
2022	Westworld	Peter Myers	2 episodes
2023	Star Trek: Picard	Sneed	Episode: "Disengage"
2025	Tracker	Ricky	Episode: "Nightingale"
2025	Criminal Minds	Kyle Mackey	2 episodes
::

Video games

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
2008	Call of Duty: World at War	Private Polonsky
::

References

References

1. "Shawn-Ashmore.com // The Ashmore Archives".
2. "Search Results".
3. Elmouzaieg, Yassmin. (September 6, 2024). "Knights, Camera, Action: Aaron Stanford's rise from Mason-Gross to Marvel Cinematic Universe". The Daily Targum.
4. LaSalle, Mick. (July 26, 2002). "The angst angle / Teen really loves his stepmother in 'Tadpole'". SFGate.
5. "Tadpole (2002) Movie Review from Eye for Film".
6. Schager, Nick. (March 31, 2005). "Review: Winter Solstice".
7. Handelman, Jay. (May 10, 2007). "Stylish 'Traveler'".
8. Andress, Justin. (May 19, 2016). "Why Aaron Stanford Studied Combat Vets for his Role on '12 Monkeys’".
9. Surette, Tim. (July 20, 2018). "Fear the Walking Dead Adds 12 Monkeys' Aaron Stanford". TV Guide.
10. George, Joe. (July 23, 2024). "Deadpool & Wolverine: Aaron Stanford Explains How Pyro Has Changed Since X2". Den of Geek.

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