Portrayed by Gary Oldman, the corrupt and mentally unhinged Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent has been named as one of cinema's greatest villains.

When Stansfield learns that the holder has been taking a cut and adulterating the remainder, he and his henchmen gun down the man's entire family, with the exception of 12-year-old Mathilda Lando (Natalie Portman), who is able to find refuge with her neighbor, professional hitman Léon (Jean Reno).

As the film progresses, Mathilda implores Léon to teach her his trade so she can kill Stansfield and avenge the murder of her four-year-old brother, the only member of her family she loved.

According to director Luc Besson, the title character's austere nature gave actor Jean Reno "no room to play".

"[8] Another pivotal scene is where Stansfield, who has "a talent for sniffing out a lie",[1] interrogates Mathilda's father, played by Michael Badalucco.

[11] In a five-star review of the film, Mark Salisbury of Empire described Oldman's performance as "astonishingly histrionic";[12] Time's Richard Schickel characterized it as "divinely psychotic".

[9] George Wales of Total Film argued that "you couldn't ask for a better portrayal of batshit craziness", but allowed that "Stansfield might be a little too [over the top] for some tastes".

[25] MSN Movies critic Daniel Bettridge wrote, "Oldman's arguably at his best as the crooked cop in Luc Besson's Leon.

[26] In 2018, financial news site 24/7 Wall Street declared Stansfield one of internet users' "50 most popular movie villains of all time", based on activity across Ranker, IMDb and Wikipedia.