featured roles

• The Cake Eaters. Film family drama. Written by Jayce Bartok. Directed by Mary Stuart Masterson. Filming completed June 2006.
  

  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.

  
   
• 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.   Official Site.
   
• 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.   Official Site.    New York Times Review.
  

  "...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. Filming completed January 2005.
  

  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.

  " 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.   Official Site.

  
   
• 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.   Further Information.

  " 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. More Information & Images
   
• 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. Broader Description, Review, Images
   
• 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.   On-Line Review.    Images.
   
• 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. Expanded Description and Review
   
• 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. Expanded Description and Review

supporting roles

• 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.
   
• 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

other roles

• 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.
   
• 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 trading technique.
   
• 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.
   
• 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 2001-2002 season, 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.