Ștefan Răzvan's father was a Muslim Roma from the Ottoman Empire who emigrated north of the Danube, in Wallachia, while his mother was a Romanian peasant from the new country of settlement.

[2][3] Răzvan appears as a political player at the beginning of Michael the Brave's rule in Wallachia (1593–1601), as a close noble ally of the Wallachian prince.

He led the campaigns of the Moldavian army against Tighina, Chilia, Cetatea Albă, and northern Dobruja, then occupied by the Ottomans.

Răzvan became popular among the soldiers and, with their support and the help of the Transylvanian prince Sigismund Báthory, he ousted Aaron the Tyrant (whose image was eroded among the population) on 24 April 1595.

[4] Răzvan's leadership did not last long, because the neighboring political power, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, did not agree with his alliance with Transylvania and Wallachia.