featured roles

12 Monkeys. Television Series Science Fiction/Time Travel Drama. Series creators and lead writers Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett. Pilot directed by Jeffrey Reiner. Syfy, winter-spring 2015—.

Even to draw a circle, you have to start somewhere. This story starts in 2043, twenty-six years after a viral contagion killed over 90% of the earth's population. And it starts with James Cole (Aaron Stanford), a survivor of the contagion. A young child, and presumably orphaned, when the plague struck, he became one of the predators and scavengers who lived off what they could take from the land and from other survivors. Cole is feisty, resilient, and a bit overconfident in his own abilities. He has one friend, José Ramse (Kirk Acevedo), to whom he is very loyal. He has few illusions but does have a conscience, which bothers him when he remembers what he has done to survive too many years in a hellish environment. After a chance, and violent, encounter he and Ramse are imprisoned by a group claiming to have perfected the technology of time travel. Understandably, but perhaps delusionally, they want to send someone back in time to alter the chain of events that led to the plague. Tricky business, that. For tenuous reasons having to do with wishful thinking and the exigencies of fate, the group's leader, a physicist, Katerina Jones (Barbara Sukowa) picks Cole for the history-changing endeavor. Being an individual who very much wants to be in charge of his own destiny, Cole, when offered this plum assignment, tells Jones to "Go to Hell!" But he is pressured by Ramse, by the faint chance for redemption from brutalities he has committed, and by the demands of his situation, to accede to the mission. Beginning, thus, as a reluctant time traveller, his outlook changes when he finds the technology actually works, and when he experiences the world as it existed before the plague. Sent back to 2015, he is entranced by the everyday proximity of food, music, art, and, most particularly, well-dressed and clean women—one of whom, Dr. Cassandra Railly (Amanda Schull), is the objective of his first trip and is believed by Jones to be involved in events culminating in the pandemic. Cole decides that this vanished world, and most particularly Cassandra Railly, are well worth saving. mSeason 1 Viewing: Amazon | iTunes | YouTube | hulu mSeason 2 Viewing: Amazon | iTunes | YouTube | hulu mSeason 3 Viewing: Amazon | iTunes | YouTube | hulu mSeason 4 Viewing: Amazon | iTunes | YouTube
We've Forgotten More Than We Ever Knew. Film Drama. Written and Directed by Thomas Woodrow. Released to festival circuit August 2016, and for online viewing November 2017. A man (Aaron Stanford) and a woman (Louisa Krause) walk through a forest in winter. They wear large backpacks and are living off the land. As they go about their hard daily routines of survival, the two work well as a team, though it is clear that is the case only as long as the woman is in charge. The man cares deeply for her and so is willing to accede to this arrangement. They are, we learn, survivors of a sudden event which blotted out virtually the entire population of their world, along with most of their memories of that world. But they are not just randomly wandering about in a daze. They are traveling toward a better life at a place they name "Home." The woman is the breadwinner, hunting the game they need to stay alive. The man is the homemaker, setting up their camps, cooking, repairing gear; he is the Homemaker, the creator of a story about where they came from and the Home they are going to. He defines their world. She acts on it. They have each other, their journey, and their story. That's all. Should they hope for more? They will find a kind of answer, when, in the middle of the wilderness, they come upon an incongruous remnant of a vanished urban civilization—two tall towers comprising what appears to be a large, luxurious hotel. In some respects the structure mimics their vision of Home. It seems deserted, but they find food and water and warmth and shelter. So, after some argument, they decide to stay, hoping for more.

mViewing: Amazon | iTunes | YouTube mExtras: Teaser | Website | Facebook
From season 1. ©2010 The CW Network.

From season 2. Ben Mark Holzberg /
The CW. ©2011 The CW Network.

From season 3. Ben Mark Holzberg/
The CW. © 2013 The CW Network.

Nikita. Television Series Spy Thriller Drama. Series creator and lead writer Craig Silverstein. Pilot directed by Danny Cannon. The CW, fall 2010-fall 2013. This series is about corrupt power and those who wield it, oppose it, and facilitate it. For the first three seasons, the story focuses on the operations of a secret and illegal U.S. government espionage agency called, simply, Division. The most visible wielders of Division's power are Percy Rose (Xander Berkeley) and his colleague Amanda (whose last name gets complicated) (Melinda Clarke). Division's initial opponents are Nikita Mears (Maggie Q), an ex-Division agent, and Alexandra Udinov (Lyndsy Fonseca), a mole Nikita has managed to insert into Division as a trainee agent. Two of those who start out as facilitators, Michael (no last name revealed) (Shane West), Nikita's trainer and supervisor when she was in Division, and Seymour Birkhoff (Aaron Stanford), Division's information technology whiz, start out as facilitators but later join forces with Nikita to try and end Division's destructive rampages. Seymour Birkhoff (Aaron Stanford) appears in seasons one and three as Division's information technology whiz, where he is a constant, if not always central, presence. Like the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote, Birkhoff is somewhat on the slender side, considers himself a super genius, and is prone to physically painful but miraculously survivable encounters. Unlike Mr. Coyote, he talks a lot, accompanying his tasks with riffs of snarky one-liners. In season two, he has escaped from Division and, along with Nikita and Michael and Alex, is often at the core of the story, where his actions, sometimes hilarious, sometimes disastrous, are often crucial. Throughout the series, Birkhoff is torn between his desire to protect himself and those he likes and admires and his inclination to chuck the whole nasty business and find his own path to a good life. mSeason 1 Viewing: Amazon | iTunes mSeason 2 Viewing: Amazon | iTunes mSeason 3 Viewing: Amazon | iTunes mSeason 4 Viewing: Amazon | iTunes | The CW mExtras—Comic-Con 2012 Interviews: TV For The Rest of Us | Seat42f | TV Fanatic mMore Extras—Comic-Con 2013 Interviews: KSiteTV | TV For The Rest of Us
Holy Money. Film Thriller. Written by Maxime Alexandre, Philippa Goslett, and Marie Christine Vanden Eede. Directed by Maxime Alexandre. Filming completed November 2007.
Childhood friends Anthony Tregoni (Aaron Stanford) and Dario Baratta (Luca Angeletti) grew up together in London's Italian immigrant community, but the two young men have drifted apart. Although Anthony doesn't feel truly at home in England, he has adopted English ways. Dario has not accepted England and its ways. He thinks Anthony has sold out his heritage to become a pretend Englishman. The two see each other only occasionally, so when Dario dies in a mysterious auto accident, Anthony is astonished to learn that his old friend has bequeathed to him 10 acres of vineyards in Sant'Angelo, Italy, the small backwater home town of the Tregonis and the Barattas. He is even more astonished when immediately after his friend's funeral, he receives an unreasonably generous cash offer to purchase the vineyards. Somewhat to his own surprise he rejects the offer and instead travels to Sant'Angelo to inspect this valuable piece of land. There he discovers that, though his property is in ruins, producing mainly weeds and undrinkable wine, it contains a little chapel which his friend Dario had planned to use as the site of an engineered miracle, guaranteed to make the vineyard's owner rich and the town prosperous. Thus is the pretend Englishman drawn into a world of greed, duplicity, and violence for which he is ill prepared. It will be a true miracle if he survives. mViewing: Amazon UK
Echoes. Television Horror Anthology Series episode. Written by Sean Hood. Directed by Rupert Wainright. Filming completed July 2008. Since childhood, Stephan (Aaron Stanford) has been bedeviled by visions of a fragmented story that involves a lot of blood and clearly will not have a happy ending. The story, in the form of night terrors and daytime hallucinations, always takes place in a particular house whose decor and furnishings date from an era long before Stephan was born. The characters are always the same, a thuggish looking man and a beautiful younger woman. The intensity and frequency of the visions moderated as Stephan grew older, although they never entirely ceased. Now a 27-year-old graduate student, he is an affable and good natured fellow, but one can see in his eyes, and his psychiatrist would confirm, that these frightening echoes from some real or imagined past continue to take a toll. While looking for an apartment Stephan is shown a house he immediately recognizes as the house. One would think he would quickly look for another place to live, but, drawn to his own terrors, he rents the place and moves in. Immediately the dark story returns with its old force. The fragments coalesce into a tale of obsession and murder, and Stephan himself begins to morph into the thug that seems to be lodged in the core of his being. mViewing: Amazon | Netflix | iTunes UK mExtras: Director's Comments | More Director's Comments
How I Got Lost. Film Buddies Drama. Written and Directed by Joe Leonard. Filming completed May 2008. When friends Andrew (Aaron Stanford) and Jake (Jacob Fishel) moved to New York City from small midwest towns, they had exciting plans. Andrew would work in finance and become independently wealthy. Jake, being a talented writer, would make his mark by writing novels. Now, in the summer of 2003, the friends are in their late twenties, the excitment is gone, the plans have not produced the hoped-for results, and their experience of the not so distant events of 9-11 has perturbed some of their basic assumptions about life. Andrew has lost any sense of where he fits or what he's to do in the world. He makes a decent living on Wall Street, enjoys hanging out with his friends, can still be astonished by a pretty girl or a soulful song, but he's become cynical and self-destructive. Jake is working on a novel and gets by writing for a weekly newspaper devoted to sports. He is not as lost as Andrew, but he feels increasingly estranged from his work and has not recovered from his girlfriend's abrupt departure. Toward the end of a long boozy day, Andrew suddenly declares to Jake that it is time to get out of New York City and go somewhere. So they go. The trip brings one of the friends an uncertain but hopeful glimpse of a positive way forward, while the other finds only regret about a past he thought he left behind and despair about what lies ahead. mViewing: Amazon mExtras: Official Site

The Cake Eaters. Film Family Drama. Written by Jayce Bartok. Directed by Mary Stuart Masterson. 7-57 Releasing 2009.

If cake eaters are those who have the good things in life, then Dwight ("Beagle") Kimbrough (Aaron Stanford) has eaten very little cake in his twenty-some years. He has chosen family duty over personal dreams, caring for his mother through years of illness when his father, nicknamed "Easy" (Bruce Dern), abandoned that responsibility. Beagle has done what he knows he ought to have done, but he has given up a lot and harbors suppressed anger, especially against those who have made other, more selfish, choices. Beagle is not clever or quick, but he is kind, with a natural inclination to take care of needy people and animals. His pleasures are small and gently eccentric: feeding stray dogs with scraps from his father's butcher shop, dipping tobacco, painting fanciful versions of road-sign icons—"no left turn," "winding road," etc. Beagle's circumscribed life is jolted when his mother dies. His older brother Guy (Jayce Bartok), who left town precipitously three years ago to travel as a rock musician, returns, missing the funeral but vaguely intent on making amends. His father's longstanding adultry is revealed. And when he meets Georgia (Kristen Stewart), an appealing and needy 15-year old stricken with a degenerative neurological condition, Beagle finds his laudable impulses drawing him into the company of those cake eaters whose actions others might consider neither sensible nor acceptable. mViewing: OV Guide | Amazon | Neflix mExtras: Roger Ebert Review | Trailer

Traveler. Television Series Drama. Series creator and lead writer David DiGillio. Pilot directed by David Nutter. ABC summer 2007, first season. Having just been awarded graduate degrees from Yale, good friends Jay Burchell (Matthew Bomer) and Tyler Fog (Logan Marshall-Green) should be celebrating. Instead they are on the run from the FBI, prime suspects in a terrorist bombing. The one person who knows what actually happened and could establish their innocence is their fellow graduate and mutual friend Will Traveler (Aaron Stanford). But Will has disappeared. Moreover, he appears to have exploded the bomb and deliberately implicated Jay and Tyler in the act. Thus begins the series Traveler. Initially, Will appears to be a charming, persuasive, somewhat manipulative fellow who formed an instant friendship with Jay and Tyler and whose interpersonal skills kept their friendship strong and fun. Clearly, all was not as it seemed. To clear their names, Jay and Tyler must avoid their FBI pursuers while searching for the reality of their friend. As the episodes unfold, we learn that the friendly, clever grad student was a fiction. In fact, Will Traveler is a highly trained military operative recruited by a mysterious "Fourth Branch" of the U.S. government to execute one in a series of attacks designed to create a national atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. He was instructed to carry out the bombing in such a way that Jay and Tyler, whose family histories made them ideal patsies, would be killed in the blast and blamed as its perpetrators. But Will is inclined to allow personal attachment to override professional detachment, and, as he got to know Jay and Tyler, he became increasingly uncomfortable with the motives and methods of those he reported to. He disobeyed instructions to kill Jay and Tyler, secured a piece of evidence which could reveal the involvement of the Fourth Branch in the bombing, and made plans to leave the country with his girlfriend Maya (Sonja Bennett). These actions did not endear him to his superiors, who mount an effort to retrieve the damming evidence and eliminate Will. They do succeed in eliminating Maya, which prompts Will to turn from reluctant warrior to grim avenger, determined to bring down those responsible for Maya's death and to expose the Fourth Branch's campaign of fear. mViewing: YouTube mExtras: Wikipedia Article | Aaron Stanford Talks About Traveler | tv.com Interview | MeeVee Interview | The Rest of the Story
The Hills Have Eyes. Film Horror. Written by Alexandre Aja and Grégory Levasseur, based on the original film by Wes Craven. Directed by Alexandre Aja. Fox Searchlight 2006. It's hot. It's desolate. It's isolated. Doug Bukowski (Aaron Stanford), in his white oxford shirt and pressed khakis, should be selling cell phones from his store in Cleveland. Instead he is sweating in an overheated Airstream trailer in the middle of the New Mexico desert, a reluctant participant in a family cross-country road adventure dreamed up by his father-in-law, Big Bob Carter (Ted Levine). This patch of desert, though, is not just uncomfortable. It is deadly, populated by horribly deformed mutant offspring of local miners exposed to radiation during the 1950s atomic tests. Hiding from the outside world, they roam the desert, eating what they can catch, including people. When the Carter family and Doug are trapped and attacked by the mutant clan, there is nowhere to turn for help. Several family members are killed and Doug's baby daughter taken alive for later snacking. Shocked, enraged and desperate, Doug Bukowski, a civilized, anti-gun, liberal retail business owner sets out to find and rescue his daughter. mViewing: GoWatchIt.com mExtras: New York Times Review | Trailer

"...where Aja's version really leaps beyond Craven's both atmospherically and on the violence scale is in the second hour, which has Doug discovering his inner Rambo as he hunts down the mutants to their hideout in an old government testing 'village'.... Stanford, a long ways from his 'Tadpole' debut, seems to relish Doug's transformation from peacenik to red-eyed revenger...." —Robert Koehler, Variety

Flakes. Film Comedy. Written by Chris Poché and Karey Kirkpatrick. Directed by Michael Lehmann. IFC Films 2007.

Neal Downs (Aaron Stanford) is caught between his dream that's not happening and his everyday life that is. He's a musician. His dream is to create unique take-no-prisoners rock music, but most of his time is spent working at Flakes, a funky one-of-a-kind breakfast cereal bar in New Orleans' French Quarter. His girlfriend, Miss Pussy Katz (Zooey Deschanel) wants him to free more time for his music, but Neal knows that the time he does spend at his sound studio has so far produced nothing with the authenticity and originality he so prizes.

In fact, he's finding more of those qualities at Flakes, where he enjoys practicing the perhaps simpler skills of serving an array of flakey customers and discussing the esoterica of breakfast cereal with the aficionados who hang about the place. He could remain content to drift along in life's middle lane waiting for his musical groove to kick in, but Miss P will not let him follow that route. She loves him too much to let his dream wither. After all, it's part of her dream too. Then, even his work at Flakes is threatened when blatantly corporate competition, calling itself "The New Original Flakes," moves in across the street. Neal can no longer drift. If he does, he could loose the woman he loves, the job he's fond of, and a dream that has always told him who he is. mViewing: GoWatchIt.com

" One of the more spot-on cinematic attempts to convey the flavor of New Orleans as a place that embraces eccentricity as a way of life, Flakes is a tasty indie comedy that's all the more palatable for offering an affectionate glimpse at a pre-Katrina Big Easy. ...Whether they're squabbling or sweet-talking or pontificating, Stanford and Deschanel play well together. Perhaps more important, they also keep their characters from coming off as impossibly presumptuous or self-righteous." —Joe Leydon, Variety

Live Free or Die. Film Crime Comedy. Written and Directed by Gregg Kavet and Andy Robin. Thinkfilm 2007.

Above all, John "Rugged" Rudgate wants to be seen as awesome, a figure of fear and respect. This is an impossible dream for a scrawny 28-year-old never-has-been working a minimum wage job at the clam shack in a small northern New England mill town. Nevertheless he has convinced himself that, if he plays his cards right, he could become known as the most serious badass in Rutland, New Hampshire. Yes, what Rugged presents as big-time scores, others experience as small-time scams. Yes, Rugged's confrontations with tough guys invariably end in his humiliation, and yes, his tales of payback are pure fiction. Yes, his rent is overdue, his van is falling apart, his score with the ladies is zero. Still, with a positive attitude and an entrepreneurial spirit well shielded from reality, Rugged pursues his vision. When he decides for once to attempt actual revenge for a public humiliation, a chain of events ensues in which the world Rugged has created conspires with some unfortunate and violent realities to achieve, for a brief glorious moment, Rugged's dream. mViewing: Amazon mExtras: Review | Trailer & Clips

Runaway. Film Drama. Written by Bill True. Directed by Tim McCann. Filming completed September 2004.
Michael Addler (Aaron Stanford) is a young man running in two directions at once: toward hope and safety for himself and his 8-year-old brother Dylan(Zack Savage), and at almost equal speed toward despair and obliteration for them both. He has kidnapped his brother to save him from certain sexual abuse by their father(played by Michael Gaston), has fled as far as his resources allow, and has stopped to take a job to earn money for a longer journey, maybe to Alaska. Outwardly, to his avuncular boss Mo (Peter Gerety) and his fast-mouthed co-worker Carly (Robin Tunney), he's a nice attractive kid without much of a life. Inwardly he is tormented by dreams and memories of a psychologically brutal family life, and by something else that impels him to maintain contact, at what he knows is an unsafe distance, with the psychologist (played by Terry Kinney) who helped him. Who told him about Alaska. Who opened his eyes. For now, Michael's plan seems to be working. He's kept a low profile and has kept Dylan hidden. His savings are growing. He's developed more than a friendship with Carly, someone who, damaged like himself, might understand and be a companion on the further journey. He knows, though, that he is still too close to home, and when the police begin nosing around looking for him, he panics and finds, with shattering results, that no one can run in two directions at once. mViewing: GoWatchIt.com | YouTube mExtras: Trailer | Clips
"A slacker psycho thriller that will keep audiences off balance 'til the bitter end, "Runaway" manages to use the questions it raises -- via narrative inconsistencies and character quirks -- to pack more powder into its explosive payoff. Pic will find favor not just at fests but with younger auds in general, especially those craving a bit of the off-beat. Teenaged moviegoers in particular may relate to the alienated, James Deanish persona of Michael Adler, played with convincing, fractured charm by Aaron Stanford. " —John Anderson, Variety
Standing Still. Film Romantic Comedy. Written by Matthew Perniciaro and Timm Sharp. Directed by Matthew Cole Weiss. Freestyle Releasing 2006.
College friends, now in their mid-twenties, arrive in Los Angeles for the wedding of two of their old classmates. They gather for pre-wedding festivities, and amongst snappy repartee and booze-fueled adventures, all are in one way or another trying to decide whether to continue playing low-stakes games of chance in the singles bar of life or move to the big casino, where the ante is larger and the consequences double. Rich Evers (Aaron Stanford) is one of these. He is a reasonably successful screenwriter and enjoys the loving companionship of a beautiful woman, Samantha (Melissa Sagemiller). Samantha is happy with their relationship, but she wants more than good sex and good times. She wants a serious commitment from Rich. Very soon. Amidst the celebratory highjinx, Rich examines his own feelings for Samantha and confronts a future that is here sooner than he might have wished. mViewing: GoWatchIt.com
Winter Solstice. Film Drama. Written and directed by Josh Sternfeld. Paramount Classics 2005.
The elder of two brothers living with their widowed father in a suburban community, Gabe Winters (Aaron Stanford) is 22 years old. He lives at home, shares household chores, works as a stock clerk at a local supermarket, hangs out with his girl friend, is going nowhere. He wants something more. Though he can't clearly see what "more" might be, he knows he won't find it by staying at home, and he decides to move away, quite far away. His announcement that he is leaving shakes his father (Anthony LaPaglia) and younger brother (Mark Webber) from a stasis that began with a death and has gone on too long. No superheroes here, just people trying to make sense of the adventure of life with its inevitable collateral damage. mViewing: GoWatchIt.com mExtras: Broader Description, Review, Images | Roger Ebert Review
Rick. Film Dark Comedy, Satire. Written by Daniel Handler. Directed by Curtiss Clayton. Vitagraph Films 2004. Duke (Aaron Stanford) is the Big Boss at Image Corporation. He is too successful, too young, too lecherous. He is on top, and he intends to stay there, much to the frustration of the title character, Rick (Bill Pullman), an associate vice president of Image and Duke's subordinate in the corporate pecking order. Rick is several decades older than Duke and not as successful as he would like to be. When Big Boss becomes involved with Rick's teenage daughter Eve (Agnes Bruckner), the conflict between the two men is heightened, with farcical and tragic results. mViewing: GoWatchIt.com mExtras: Clip
Tadpole. Film Romantic Comedy. Written by Heather McGowan and Niels Mueller. Directed by Gary Winick. Miramax, 2002. Stanford plays Oscar Grubman, a cosmopolitan and unusually sophisticated 15-year old prep school student who is, unfortunately, in love with his stepmother, Eve (played by Sigourney Weaver). He is not unaware of the potential for disaster in this situation. The film follows his wobbling and often hilarious journey to the inevitable confrontation of desire and reality. mViewing: GoWatchIt.com mExtras: Expanded Description | Indiewire Review | Trailer
Life During Wartime. Stage Drama/Comedy. Written by Keith Reddin. Directed by Kevin Kittle. Off Off Broadway. Currican Theatre, NYC. Inertia Productions, 2000. This black comedy pits an inexperienced, eager, and impressionable young man, Tommy, (Aaron Stanford), against his cynical and felonious boss, Heinrich (Eric Walton). Tommy falls in love with one of his company's customers, an older single mother, and is faced with a life-altering moral choice when he discovers that Heinrich's company plans to rob her. mExtras: Expanded Description and Review

supporting roles

Clinical. Film Psychological Drama/Thriller. Written by Luke Harvis and Alistair Legrand. Directed by Alistair Legrand. Netflix, Campfire. Released for online streaming or download January 2017.

Miles Richardson (Aaron Stanford) is collateral damage in this cautionary tale about the perils of psychiatric treatment. The focus is Jane Mathis, M.D. (Vinessa Shaw), a psychiatrist specializing in post-trauma therapy. She herself is undergoing therapy after having been attacked and injured by one of her patients. The therapy appears to be working, though she still has flashbacks to, and nightmares about, the attack. She has resumed her practice, albeit just with patients who have rather boring troubles. She has met a man she is comfortable with, Miles, a police officer who himself has undergone years of therapy after a failed marriage. Then Jane, in a fit of overconfidence, takes on a new patient, Alex (Kevin Rahm)) with much more challenging problems. After that, Jane's life spirals out of control. Neither her psychiatrist's efforts at intervention nor Miles' unwavering support, including a proposal of marriage, are able to break her fascination with her new patient or banish the demons that have invaded her life. mViewing: Netflix mExtras: Trailer | Review

X-Men: The Last Stand. Film Comic Book Adaptation. Written by Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn. Directed by Brett Ratner. Twentieth Century Fox, 2006. Pyro gets quite a lot of screen time and not much talk time as the chief aide to mutant-supremacist leader Magneto (Ian McKellen). The mutation giving John Allerdyce (Aaron Stanford) the ability to control fire made him different. But to what purpose? At Professor Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) refuge and school for those with equally bizarre mutant powers, he rebelled against that well-intentioned teacher's authority. John wanted to be noticed, but he was not energized by doing good. Now, known as Pyro, this outsider has found somewhere he belongs and someone he can believe in. He is still a wise-ass with a temper to match his fiery gift, but his former rebelliousness has beeen replaced with extreme loyalty to Magneto. That loyalty does not waver as he and the other mutants of Magneto's Brotherhood face his former teachers and schoolmates in a battle whose outcome will determine the mutants' place in the larger human community. mViewing: GoWatchIt.com
X2: X-Men United. Film Comic Book Adaptation. Written by David Hayter, Michael Dougherty, and Dan Harris. Directed by Bryan Singer. Twentieth Century Fox, 2003.

One of the threads in the larger tapestry of X-Men 2 follows John Allerdyce (Aaron Stanford), a troubled young man with a quick temper and a genetic mutation allowing him to control fire. He attends a school run by and for mutants who, like Allerdyce, possess strange and frightening powers. The school promotes a peaceful and beneficial relationship between mutants and the rest of humanity, but when it is invaded by forces who would destroy all mutants, Allerdyce, his fellow students, and his teachers (the X-Men) must join forces with the Brotherhood of Mutants, who advocate total domination over non-mutants. As the two groups battle together against a relentless and cunning foe, Allerdyce's dark side emerges, and he is drawn toward his ultimate identity as Pyro, an ally of the Brotherhood. "A lot of the old guys [from X1] are back but there is this character Pyro played by Aaron Stanford; he is really really good." --Brian Cox (who plays Stryker in X2) quoted in Latino Review mViewing: GoWatchIt.com mExtras: Hollywood Interview | Clip

other roles

Comedy Bang! Bang!. Television Comedy. IFC, June and October 2016. Two single-episode guest appearances.
Season 5, episode 3, short title Tony Hale Wears a Blue Flannel Shirt..., aired June 10, 2016. In a brief skit 10 minutes into the episode, Aaron Stanford is barista Tom Holtby, a contestant in a TV game show titled You Made Your Bed, Now Lie In It. The contestants each make a bed , get into their bed, and then tell a lie. Veteran police detective Frank O'Brien (Jon Polito) judges whether they are lying or not. Sounds simple enough, but Holtby is a pathetically incompetent liar and is eliminated from the competition in the first round.
Season 5, episode 11, short title Kaley Cuoco Wears a Black Blazer..., aired October 28, 2016. In scenes throughout the episode, which was shown a few days before the 2016 presidential election, Aaron Stanford is Johnny Appleseed with a cooking pot on his head. A forceful and somewhat contentious fellow, he battles alongside other American folk heroes to retrieve The Scepter of American Greatness from Loki (David Anders), the Norse god of mischief, who appears in a puff of smoke and a flash of greenish light to taunt the heroes. Recovery of the Scepter proves to be difficult, as Loki seems to score much higher on the cleverness scale than any of the heroes. mSeason 5, episode 3 Viewing: Google Play | iTunes | Amazon mSeason 5, episode 11 Viewing: Google Play | iTunes | Amazon mNote on Viewing: Season 5 was split into two 10-episode segments, which led to multiple ways of, and multiple mistakes in, identifying each episode. Use episode titles as a guide when you try these links.
Mad Men. Television Drama. AMC, September 2009. Single-episode guest appearance. Account manager Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) has brought a prospective client to the Sterling Cooper ad agency. He's a Dartmouth classmate and the son of a shipping magnate, with plenty of money to spend. Horace (Ho-Ho) Cook, Jr. (Aaron Stanford) is confident, polished, and clueless. With his father's money, he could lead a carefree playboy's life, but he wants more than that. He wants to build something that people will admire and invest in, something that his father will respect. Ho-Ho has fixated on the game of jai-alai to realize his ambition. He is certain that jai-alai can be more popular than baseball. It has drama, athleticism, speed, high likelihood of serious injury, attractive superstars (or at least one superstar)—all the important elements. He wants Sterling Cooper to create and implement an extensive promotional program to realize jai-alai's potential. Ho-Ho sees himself becoming the father of a new major sport. The agency's creative director Don Draper (Jon Hamm) thinks the idea is idiotic and tries to dissuade Ho-Ho from his project. But Ho-Ho, insulated from reality by his father's wealth, does not listen. mViewing: Amazon mExtras: Mad Men Blog Interview
Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Television Drama. USA Network/NBC, July and August 2009. Single-episode guest appearances.
Sometimes being too good at something too early is a curse. As a youngster Josh Snow (Aaron Stanford) was so skillful at playing poker that he attracted backers, starting with his father, eager to fund his gaming and control his life. Josh is now in his twenties. He appears cocky and confident and in control, but that is his poker face, masking his anger over a life going nowhere. He has lost his wife to cancer, leaving him emotionally adrift. He is still under the control of someone else; this time it's Lou Cardinale (Boris McGiver), sports bar owner and gambling impresario. When Josh stops winning, losing large amounts of Lou's money, Lou decides that instead of playing poker, Josh should help collect gambling debts, something that will produce a more certain return on investment. Now Josh can't even play the game he loves. He knows he still has the gifts of a poker prodigy: deft hands, facility with numbers, an ability to read people and to prevent others from reading him. He plots to use these talents to get back in the game. He will be the player and no longer the played. His scheme does involve a violent criminal act, but he can handle that. Unfortunately for Josh, wily ol' detective Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) is assigned the case, and when Josh tries to play Goren. Well…you know. mViewing: Amazon
Numb3rs. Television Drama. CBS, October 2007. Aaron Stanford plays an actor in a single-episode guest appearance. Brett Chandler's (Aaron Stanford) big success as a film actor is reflected in his big life style. The 25-year-old phenom appears devoted to generous excess. With wide smile and open gesture he welcomes friends, associates, and hangers on to share his house, cars, booze and beauties at a neverending party at his mansion in the Malibu hills. Bright coastal light shines on all, promising endless good times, until the corpse of a young woman is found floating in Brett's Jacuzzi tub. Her death was not an accident, and the ensuing investigation, featuring the series' signature use of mathematcs, reveals that the star's generosity is prompted more by implicit blackmail than love of celebration, and his entourage resembles a pack of hungry jackals more than a posse of buddies. mViewing: Amazon
Where Do We Live. Stage Drama. Written and directed by Christopher Shinn. Off Broadway. Vineyard Theatre NYC, 2004. Where Do We Live examines the unlikely linkages among a disparate collection of New Yorkers during late July to early October 2001. Aaron Stanford plays Dave, a drug dealer by choice. Dave appears in one manic scene at the apartment of Shedrick (Burl Moseley), a young black man to whom he supplies drugs for resale. Dave has no pressing economic reason to be in this business. He lives with his wealthy parents in their upscale New York City apartment. He has gravitated to the drug scene because he likes it. He likes the product too, rolling into Shed's apartment full of ecstacy and and ready to bump cocaine at the least provocation, or no provocation at all. He's got a new supply of cocaine for Shedrick to sell, and he shows off a new knife with which he can, maybe, intimidate. But he can afford to be generous, letting Shed keep both the new cocaine and the money from sales of the previous batch. All very cool to Dave. Stanford also appears as a dancing cowboy at a gay club and as a young stock trader who loses a colleague in the 9/11 attacks.
Spartan. Film Drama. Written and directed by David Mamet. Warner Bros., 2004. Michael Blake (Aaron Stanford) is a preppy Harvard student and the boy friend of the President's daughter. In a fit of pique accompanied by bad language he decided to break up with her, but now he's changed his mind, or at least regrets his language. His timing could not be worse. The President's daughter is missing from her dormitory room at Harvard, and as near panic spreads among those responsible for her safety, they call in a kind of ultimate warrior (Val Kilmer). One of his first actions is to question Blake, whose answers, elicited under unusual circumstances, provide the initial focus for a search that reveals an expanding circle of greed, deceit, and corruption extending far beyond the insular and leafy environs of Harvard Yard. Blake's role is a brief one, confined to the early part of the film.
25th Hour. Film Drama. Written by David Benioff from his novel The 25th Hour. Directed by Spike Lee. Touchstone, 2002. The film follows Monty Brogan's (Edward Norton) last day of freedom before he begins a 7-year sentence for selling heroin. One of Monty's best friends, bond trader Frank (Barry Pepper), plays a prominent part in the story. In the scene introducing Frank, Marcuse (Aaron Stanford) is seen as an overconfident colleague obnoxiously criticizing Frank's job performance. mViewing: Bond Traders Scene
Hollywood Ending. Film Comedy. Written & Directed by Woody Allen. Dreamworks Pictures, 2002. A film director attempts to make a movie while stricken with psychosomatic blindness. Woody Allen plays the director. Aaron Stanford plays the male lead in the movie-within-a-movie, a 1940s gangster tale titled The City That Never Sleeps. He appears, usually in gangster garb, in numerous on-set scenes. This is a background role with few spoken lines. You can play Where's Waldo Aaron in the following collection of clips from the movie. mViewing: Aaron Stanford Scenes
Third Watch. Television Drama. NBC, 2001-2002. In an ensemble drama about the professional and personal lives of NYC Police, EMT, and Fire Department personnel, Stanford played Sergei, the teenage son of police officer Sully's (Skip Sudduth) Ukrainian-born wife (Savannah Haske). Sergei liked loud music, had a serious attitude problem, and spoke with a Ukrainian accent. The role was occasional and recurring during the second and third (2000-2002) seasons, with Sergei appearing when the program focused on Sully's personal life. Sergei and his mother were killed by Russian gangsters during the sixth episode of the 2002-2003 season. mViewing: Amazon s2 ep15


From season 1. ©2010 The CW Network.

From season 2. Ben Mark Holzberg / The CW. ©2011 The CW Network.

From season 3. Ben Mark Holzberg/ The CW. © 2013 The CW Network.