Aaron Stanford

Aaron Stanford (born December 27, 1976) is an American actor known for his roles as Pyro in the X-Men films X2, 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 Varietys "Top Ten Actors to Watch" and included on Entertainment Weeklys "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 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. His character has a far more prominent role than he did in X2 or The Last Stand, acting as one of Cassandra Nova's right-hand men. 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 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 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 TrackerRickyEpisode: "Nightingale" Criminal Minds Kyle Mackey 2 episodes InvasionPastor AllenEpisode: "Marilyn"2026Chicago FireThomas MarrEpisode: "Reckoning, Part I"Chicago MedThomas MarrEpisode: "Reckoning, Part II"Chicago P.D.Thomas MarrEpisode: "Reckoning, Part III"CIARobert DavisEpisode: "Rare Earth"

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