Stephen Lang is a Tony Award-nominated American actor and playwright.
He started in Broadway theatre but is more widely known for his film roles in Gods and
Generals and Avatar.
From 2004 to 2006, Lang was a co-artistic director of Actors Studio.
Personal life Lang was born in New York City, the youngest
child of Theresa and Eugene Lang, a prominent German American entrepreneur and philanthropist.
He has two elder siblings - Jane, an attorney and activist, and David, who served as an
executive at REFAC, the company Eugene founded in 1952.
Lang's father has donated much of his net worth to charity and will not leave an inheritance
to his children, believing they each needed to learn to become self-sufficient.
Lang's mother was of Irish Catholic descent, and his father is Jewish.
Lang attended school in Jamaica Estates, Queens.
For high school he attended George School, a Quaker boarding school in Newtown, PA.
He graduated from Swarthmore College in 1973 with a degree in English Literature; on May
30, 2010, Swarthmore awarded him an Honorary Degree from College in recognition of his
distinguished career in theatre, television, and film.
His youngest son, Noah, received his bachelor's degree during the same ceremony.
He also holds an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Jacksonville University and was
an artist in residence at Northeastern University in 2011.
Lang has been married to Kristina Watson, a costume designer and teacher, since June
1, 1980.
They have four children.
Career Lang played Harold Loman in the 1984 Broadway
revival of Death of a Salesman and the 1985 television film with Dustin Hoffman as Willy
Loman, and appeared in the first Hannibal Lecter film Manhunter, as reporter Freddy
Lounds.
He played attorney David Abrams in the television series Crime Story.
He played the title role in the NBC movie Babe Ruth.
He later played the "One Armed Man" in the 2000 revival of The Fugitive starring Tim
Daly.
The series was a modest success but lasted only one season because of its large production
budget.
In 1992, he was nominated for a Tony Award for his lead role in The Speed of Darkness.
His film role in Last Exit to Brooklyn garnered him widespread critical acclaim, but its limited
release prevented the film from reaching a wider audience.
On stage, he was the first to play the role of Colonel Nathan Jessup in A Few Good Men,
a role made famous on film by Jack Nicholson.
He is the winner of over half a dozen theatre awards including the Drama Desk and Helen
Hayes awards.
In films, he played Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett in Gettysburg and as the lead role of Thomas
"Stonewall" Jackson in the Gettysburg prequel Gods and Generals, both from director Ronald
F. Maxwell.
He considers Gods and Generals to be his finest performance.
Arguably, his most famous film role, before Avatar, was his portrayal of the villainous
Ike Clanton in the successful Western Tombstone with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer.
Shortly before Arthur Miller's death in February 2005, Lang appeared in his long-time friend's
last play, titled Finishing the Picture.
It premiered in 2004 at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, where Lang had the second run of
his own play Beyond Glory, which had premiered in Arlington, Virginia, early in 2004, and
his Tony-nominated portrayal for The Speed of Darkness.
Lang also performed Beyond Glory, a one-man show, for troops deployed overseas.
In 2006, he played the role of Colonel Littlefield in John Patrick Shanley's play Defiance.
He brought Beyond Glory to Roundabout's Off-Broadway Laura Pels Theatre in 2007.
Since its New York City premiere, Beyond Glory has been nominated for a Drama Desk Award
and a Lucille Lortel Award both for outstanding solo performance.
Lang has a role in the ESPN mini-series The Bronx is Burning, as well as roles in independent
features Save Me and From Mexico With Love.
He plays a lead role in James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar as the villainous Colonel Quaritch.
In 2009, he appeared in Michael Mann's film Public Enemies as Texas Ranger Charles Winstead,
the man widely considered to have fired the shots that killed John Dillinger and in Grant
Heslov's The Men Who Stare at Goats alongside Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Ewan McGregor
and George Clooney.
Also in 2009, he narrated the audiobook Road Rage—which combines the short stories "Duel"
by Richard Matheson and "Throttle" by Stephen King and Joe Hill—and guest-starred in the
Law & Order: Criminal Intent Season 8 finale, "Revolution" in the role of Axel Kaspers.
In 2010 he performed the narration for "The Gettysburg Story: Battlefield Auto Tour,"
the top-selling audio tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield at Gettysburg National Military
Park in Gettysburg, PA.
Written and produced by filmmaker Jake Boritt and based on works by historian Gabor Boritt
it tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in
Gettysburg National Cemetery.
Lang is also the narrator of the companion Public Television documentary The Gettysburg
Story presented by Maryland Public Television.
Lang played the villain Khalar Zym in the 2011 Conan the Barbarian reboot starring Jason
Momoa.
He also played one of the leads, Nathaniel Taylor, in the Steven Spielberg-produced TV
series Terra Nova.
In February 2012, he signed on to play Mary Shannon's estranged father in a three episode
arc on the final season of the USA television series In Plain Sight.
Lang starred in the 2013 horror film The Monkey's Paw.
Lang has been confirmed as reprising his role as Colonel Miles Quaritch in the upcoming
sequels to Avatar.
He plays Increase Mather, in a recurring role, on WGN America's first original scripted series,
Salem.
Filmography
Film Television
Video games References
External links Stephen Lang at the Internet Movie Database
Stephen Lang at the Internet Broadway Database Interview on Beyond Glory at the Pritzker
Military Museum & Library