Aaron Stanford

Aaron Stanford
Stanford at 2013 Comic-Con
Born	(1976-12-27) December 27, 1976 (age 40) Westford, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2001–present

Aaron Stanford (born December 27, 1976) is an American actor best known for his roles as Pyro in X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand, and Doug in the 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes. From 2010 to 2013, he starred as Birkhoff in Nikita. He currently stars as James Cole on the television series 12 Monkeys, based on the 1995 film of the same name.

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 the SUNY Purchase, but transferred to Rutgers University Mason Gross School of Arts. He graduated in 2000, magna cum laude.

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. In the 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.