American actor and playwright Stephen Lang is best known for his roles as Lou in “The Speed of Darkness” on Broadway and Colonel Jessep in “A Few Good Men” on Broadway. His Off-Broadway credits include John Patrick Shanley’s “Defiance,” Anne Nelson’s “The Guys,” and his own play, “Beyond Glory,” for which he won multiple accolades. Lang has also enjoyed success in the theater and received praise for his role in James Cameron’s “Avatar.” Stephen Lang was encouraged to be self-reliant and ambitious by his parents, Theresa and Eugene Lang, a well-known businessman and philanthropist. Prior to beginning his acting career, he completed his education at Swarthmore College. Before landing his first film part, he started out as a stage actor and made numerous performances in well-known stage productions. He has won numerous honors for his work in theater, including the Drama Desk and Helen Hayes prizes. He was able to reproduce his success in his cinema career as well, and he went on to become well-known for playing moving character roles. He has also been active on television, where he has taken part in a number of guest parts as well as main and recurring roles in several television programs.
Early Childhood & Life
Eugene Lang, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, and his wife Theresa welcomed their youngest child, Stephen Lang, into the world on July 11, 1952 in New York City. He grew up with his two siblings, Jane, who went on to become a well-known lawyer and activist, and David, who went on to become a corporate leader.
His father amassed millions of dollars via the development of technology and left a sizable portion of his inheritance to charity via the well-known “I Have a Dream” foundation. He did not leave his children a large sum of money since he wanted them to grow into independent adults. The liberal arts college in Manhattan with the name Eugene Lang is named after Lang’s father.
In the beginning, Lang attended a primary school in Jamaica Estates, Queens. After that, he went to George Ryan Junior High. He attended the boarding school George School for high school, where he received his diploma in 1969. The next year, 1973, he graduated from Swarthmore College with a degree in English literature.
The Career of Stephen Lang
The drama “Death of a Salesman” was revived on Broadway in 1984, and Stephan Lang made his Broadway debut as Harold Loman. He worked on the movie “Manhunter” two years later. He portrayed lawyer David Abrams in the television series “Crime Story” from 1986 to 1988. Soon after, he starred as the show’s lead in NBC’s “Babe Ruth.”
Lang appeared in the play “The Speed of Darkness” in 1992, for which he received a Tony Award nomination. Then he made an appearance in “A Few Good Men” on Broadway.
In 1993, he received roles in the films “Gettysburg” and “Western Tombstone.” The actor appeared in a variety of movies between the middle and the end of the 1990s, including “Tall Tale,” “The Amazing Panda Adventure,” “Loose Women,” “An Occasional Hell,” “Fire Down Below,” and “The Story of a Bad Boy.”
In 2000–2001, he had five appearances in the television show “The Fugitive.” He made an appearance in the “Gods and Generals” prequel to “Gettysburg” in 2003. Lang made an appearance in Arthur Miller’s final play, “Finishing the Picture,” which was written two years after Miller’s passing. He soon appeared in the drama “Beyond Glory.”
He performed Colonel Littlefield in the play “Defiance” by John Shanley in 2006. He appeared in three episodes of the miniseries “The Bronx Is Burning” a year later.
The American actor starred in Michael Mann’s 2009 film “Public Enemies” as FBI Agent Charles Winstead. The audiobook “Road Rage,” which mixes the short stories “Throttle” by Joe Hill and Stephen King and “Duel” by Richard Matheson, was narrated by him that same year.
The audio tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield in the Gettysburg National Military Park, “The Gettysburg Story: Battlefield Auto Tour” (2010), which was narrated by Stephen Lang, quickly rose to the top of the sales charts.
Conan the Barbarian, a “sword and sorcery” film, was directed by Lang in 2011. He also had a major role in the TV show Terra Nova that year. The following three episodes of “In Plain Sight” included him. The actor appeared in the 2013 horror movie “The Monkey’s Paw” on Chiller TV.
He portrayed Increase Mather in the WGN America television series “Salem” from 2014 to 2015. Lang has been a cast member of the television series ‘Into the Badlands’ since 2015.
In Fede Alvarez’s 2016 horror-thriller “Don’t Breathe,” he portrayed “The Blind Man.” It was confirmed a year later that he had been cast in the currently in post-production “Mortal Engines” film. Lang played a supporting role in the action thriller movie “Braven” in 2018.
Bigger Works of Stephen Lang
Stephen Lang starred as the main antagonist Colonel Quaritch in the epic science fiction film “Avatar” in 2009. Sam Worthington, Michelle Rodriguez, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, and Lang co-starred in this James Cameron-written, directed, and produced movie.
The movie “Avatar” shattered multiple box office records when it was in theaters and surpassed James Cameron’s “Titanic,” which had previously held the record for twelve years, to become the highest-grossing film of all time. In addition to receiving numerous nominations for other notable accolades, Lang’s portrayal in the movie earned him the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Individual Life of Stephen Lang
Since June 1st, 1980, Stephan Lang and Kristina Watson have been wed. Watson is a costume designer and teacher. The couple’s son Noah, who works as a producer, is one of their four children. Noah and Lang collaborated on the films “Sun Belt Express” and “The Monkey’s Paw.”
Lang received an honorary degree from Swarthmore College on May 30, 2010, in recognition of his work in theater, film, and television. In the same ceremony, Noah, the actor’s son, received his bachelor’s degree.
He started serving on the Woodstock Film Festival jury in 2015.
Estimated Net Worth of Stephen Lang
The estimated net worth of Stephen Lang is around $1 million.
Trivia
For the hit television series Desperate Housewives, Rex Van De Kamp, this actor was given priority consideration. Steven Culp ultimately filled the position.