biography of Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Rodney Reynolds

 (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian and American actor, producer and businessman. Known for starring in comedic and superhero films, he was the world's second-highest-paid actor in 2020 and 2024, and his works have grossed $6.5 billion worldwide. Reynolds is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, as well as nominations for two Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Reynolds began acting at the age of thirteen, taking on small roles in various television series. He had his first lead role in the teen soap opera Hillside (1991–1993) and later secured the lead role in the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl (1998–2001). Reynolds later starred in a range of films, including the commercially successful romantic comedies National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), Waiting... (2005), and The Proposal (2009), the critically unsuccessful superhero films Blade: Trinity (2004), and Green Lantern (2011), and the biographical drama Woman in Gold (2015).

Reynolds achieved his greatest commercial success with the Deadpool franchise, starring as the titular character in Deadpool (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018), and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). His performance in the first received a Golden Globe nomination, while the lattermost emerged as his highest-grossing release. He has since appeared in the sci-fi horror Life (2017), and action films like 6 Underground (2019), Free Guy (2021), and The Adam Project (2022). Reynolds has also lent his voice to animated films, including The Croods franchise (2013–2020), Turbo (2013), and Detective Pikachu (2019).

In 2017, Time included Reynolds in its list of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was named People's Sexiest Man Alive in 2010, and was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017. A businessman, he holds an ownership stake in Mint Mobile and is a co-owner of Welsh soccer club Wrexham; the latter is documented in the Emmy Award-winning television series Welcome to Wrexham (2022–present). Divorced from actress Scarlett Johansson, Reynolds has been married to Blake Lively since 2012; he has four children with the latter.

Ryan Rodney Reynolds  was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, on October 23, 1976. His father, James Chester Reynolds, served as a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman before retiring and transitioning to work as a foods wholesaler.  His mother, Tamara Lee (née Stewart), worked in retail sales. Reynolds has three older brothers and has described himself not as a younger brother to them, but a "moving target" due to his brothers often getting physical, and him being unable to retaliate. He has also shared that his brothers "protected him" from their father, with whom he had a complex and somewhat estranged relationship. Reynolds's paternal grandfather, Chester, was a farmer who represented Stettler in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1940 to 1944.  Reynolds is of Irish descent and was raised Catholic in Vancouver's Kitsilano neighbourhood as well as in Vanier, Ontario (now part of Ottawa). 

Reynolds has been involved in acting since the age of thirteen. As a teenager, he attended acting classes—which he failed—and briefly held a day job as a busboy at a restaurant, while also working night shifts at a local grocery store in Vancouver. He described his co-workers in the latter as "the funniest people on Earth" and called them "some of my biggest impressions [...] as a performer"  Reynolds attended Prince of Wales Secondary School for grades nine and ten before getting expelled for stealing a teacher's car.  He attended grades eleven and twelve at Kitsilano Secondary School alongside actor Joshua Jackson, graduating in 1994. Reynolds initially took on minor roles in various television series but became discouraged and left acting at nineteen to enroll at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. A few months later, he encountered fellow actor Chris William Martin, who encouraged him to give acting another chance and relocate with him to Los Angeles

MINI BIO ; 

Ryan Rodney Reynolds was born on October 23, 1976 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the youngest of four children. His father, James Chester Reynolds, was a food wholesaler, and his mother, Tamara Lee "Tammy" (Stewart), worked as a retail-store saleswoman. He has Irish and Scottish ancestry. Between 1991-93, Ryan appeared in Fifteen (1990), a Nickelodeon series taped in Florida with many other Canadian actors. After the series ended, he returned to Vancouver where he played in a series of forgettable television movies. He did small roles in Glenn Close's Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (1995) and CBS's update of In Cold Blood (1996). However, his run of luck had led him to decide to quit acting.

One night, he ran into fellow Vancouver actor and native Chris William Martin. Martin found Ryan rather despondent and told him to pack everything: they were going to head to Los Angeles, California. The two stayed in a cheap Los Angeles motel. On the first night of their stay, Reynolds' jeep was rolled downhill and stripped. For the next four months, Ryan drove it without doors. In 1997, he landed the role of Berg in Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place (1998). Initially, the show was reviled by critics and seemed desperate for any type of ratings success. However, it was renewed for a second season but with a provision for a makeover by former Roseanne (1988) writer Kevin Abbott. The show became a minor success and has led to additional film roles for Ryan, most notably in the last-ever MGM film, a remake of The Amityville Horror (2005). Ryan was engaged to Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, another Nickelodeon veteran, between 2004-2006.

He has been married to Blake Lively since September 9, 2012. They have three daughters and a son. He was previously married to Scarlett Johansson.

Reynolds began his career in 1991 in the Canadian teen soap opera Hillside (1991–1993), which was distributed in the United States by Nickelodeon under the title Fifteen. He portrayed Billy Simpson—a character who turned to bullying to cope with family issues and romantic rejections.  He made his feature film debut in the coming-of-age drama Ordinary Magic (1993) by playing Jeffrey, an orphan raised in India, who is inspired by Mahatma Gandhi to go on a hunger strike in a small town in Canada. Directed by Giles Walker, the film generally received both mixed and disappointing reviews; Variety's Paul Lenti thought that the script's "overall facile characterizations and predictable plot development detract from real tension".  Between 1993 and 1994, Reynolds took on the dual roles of Macro and Lee in the children's half-hour television series The Odyssey. 

In 1996, Reynolds made cameo appearances in television shows The X-Files and The John Larroquette Show, playing in the episodes "Syzygy" and "Napping to Success", respectively. That year, he co-starred with Melissa Joan Hart on the television film Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996)—based on the comic book series of the same name—in which he played the titular character's love interest, Seth.Reynolds portrayed Bobby Rupp, the boyfriend of murdered teenager Nancy Clutter, in the two-part miniseries In Cold Blood (1996), an adaptation of Truman Capote's 1966 nonfiction novel of the same name. He returned to feature films with the dark comedy The Alarmist (1997), portraying Howard, the teenage son of Gale (Kate Capshaw). After both are harmed at their home, Tommy (David Arquette) begins to suspect Heinrich's (Stanley Tucci) involvement. The film received mainly negative reviews from critics. Reynolds appeared twice more in The Outer Limits, playing the character Paul Nodel in episodes from 1997 and 1998. 

His breakthrough role was as medical student Michael "Berg" Bergen in Two Guys and a Girl (1998–2001; initially titled Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place  Although the show was neither as critically or commercially successful as contemporary shows, Reynolds's performance received praise, with Variety—in a retrospective review—noting that his "talent and charisma [were] apparent" and that his "star quality was already in place".  He later took on the minor roles of Henry Lipschitz and Chip in the comedies Coming Soon (1999) and Dick (1999), respectively.  In the horror comedy Boltneck (2000), Reynolds starred as Karl, a bullied teenager who is killed and later revived by a "science nerd" named Frank Stein, while he portrayed Quigley in the drama thriller Finder's Fee (2001). He played the titular character in the romantic comedy National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), which was critically panned but achieved box office success  Reynolds portrayed Mark Tobias in the commercially unsuccessful action comedy film The In-Laws (2003). In the film, he is about to marry Melissa (Lindsay Sloane), before her father finds out that Mark's father is a CIA operative.  He starred alongside Kristin Booth in William Phillips's heist film Foolproof (2003).

TRIVIA : 

• He first became a fan of Deadpool when he found a comic where Deadpool describes himself as looking like "Ryan Reynolds crossed with a Shar-Pei".
• Failed his high-school drama class due to non-attendance.
• In November 2008, he ran in the New York City Marathon on behalf of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. His father was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1995.
• When his first daughter was born, a good friend of his (whom he described as close enough to him to be there when the baby was born), tried to sell pictures of her to a tabloid magazine. A furious Reynolds confronted the friend, confirmed the story was true, then told him that their friendship was destroyed and they would never see or speak to each other ever again. The tabloid did not use the pictures because it would have left them open to a massive invasion of privacy lawsuit.
• Has a fear of flying since he once went skydiving and his parachute failed to open at the first attempt.
• Gained 25 pounds of muscle for his role as Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity (2004).
• On April 12, 2015, he was involved in a hit-and-run incident between filming of Deadpool (2016) in Canada. While walking through a parking garage, he was struck by the car of a paparazzo who then fled the scene. Reynolds sustained only minor injuries and later joked about the incident on Twitter.
• He did not enjoy working on Green Lantern (2011). He admits to having a poor working relationship with director Martin Campbell. He has also said that the film's critical and financial failure was a huge relief because he didn't want to play Hal Jordan again.
• Is the youngest of four brothers. Two of his brothers are policemen. His paternal grandfather, Chester "Ches" Reynolds, was a Canadian politician and member of the Social Credit Party of Alberta. Chester was an MLA in Alberta from 1940 to 1944.
• On Halloween 2015, he went Trick-or-Treating with children as the character Deadpool, promoting his role as the title character in Deadpool (2016).
• Has expressed great interest in portraying the DC Comics character The Flash if Warner Bros. should ever decide to do a film adaptation of the comic book.
• Married fiancée Scarlett Johansson in a private Canadian ceremony on September 27, 2008.
• In 2002, he badly injured his back jumping from a bridge in Zurich, Switzerland.
• One of the few actors to star in films based on comic books from both the Marvel Comics (X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and the Deadpool (2016)) and DC Comics (Green Lantern (2011)) catalogs.
• Turned down the role of Xander Harris on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), which went to Nicholas Brendon, reportedly for his own unpleasant high-school experiences. Star Sarah Michelle Gellar refused to believe this when she was told during a "Buffy" trivia quiz promoted by SheKnows.com.
• He was awarded a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto, Ontario in 2014.
• Became engaged to his girlfriend of two years, Canadian singer Alanis Morissette in June 2004; in June 2006 they announced that their engagement was off.
• In early 2001, he met actress Rachael Leigh Cook and the two immediately hit it off. However, Rachael had to fly to Britain shortly after to film Blow Dry (2001). Ryan ended up surprising her, pulling out of his filming schedule, and following her all the way to London. It was a success and they ended up dating for a year.
• He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on December 15, 2016. Actress-singer Anna Faris was one of the guest speakers at the ceremony.
• Was named the "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine during the same time that his wife Scarlett Johansson was named as "Babe of the Year" by GQ magazine.
• Can do a standing back flip.
• He was traveling in Indonesia with his former fiancée, Alanis Morissette, when the tsunami struck. They were uninjured since they were staying on the opposite end of the island from where the tsunami hit.
• Co-owns, with fellow actor Rob McElhenney, the Welsh football team Wrexham, which they bought in 2020.
• While T-Mobile recently purchased Mint Mobile, Ryan still maintains creative control over the company's advertising agency with his reported 25% stake in the company.
• On May 12, 2018, Reynolds attended a Fußball-Bundesliga match between Hertha BSC and RB Leipzig while promoting Deadpool 2 (2018) in Berlin, Germany. Talking to sports journalist Jens Westen of Sky Germany before the game, Reynolds revealed that he was an avid soccer player from age 6 to 16. He said while he played with much ambition, he had to realize early on that he would never be good enough to pursue a career as a professional athlete.
• Can speak English and French and knows some conversational Italian, Spanish and Irish.
• Merited a place in Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People" issue with an homage written by Dame Helen Mirren.
• Used to work in a grocery store.
• Received a Youth in Film Award nomination for Best Actor for his work on Nickelodeon's teen drama Fifteen (1990).
• Lives in the ultra-trendy Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Feliz. Giovanni Ribisi, Bo Barrett, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pine, Brad Pitt, Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Stuart, Michael Cera, Robert Pattinson, and Hannah Telle are among the other actors who also call Los Feliz home.
• Ryan Reynolds played Seth in Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996) where he made mention of the show in the movie Deadpool 2 (2018). Producer and Author Mike Sims is a huge fan of the Deadpool movies and works with a writer of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996), Barney Cohen on the television pitch The Lazarus Game.
• Is a huge fan of the Green Bay Packers.
• His ancestry is Irish, Scottish, one-eighth Luxembourgish (from Luxembourg), English, Cornish, and more distant Dutch and German. Some of his forebears were American-born, including his paternal grandfather, who was born in Chicago to a Canadian father from Peterborough and an American (Irish-American) mother from New Orleans. His paternal grandmother was born in Kansas. His maternal grandfather, Neil Alexander Stewart, was a prominent doctor.
• On the television series episode If These Walls Could Talk (1995), he played a ghost trapped in a haunted house. Ironically, in The Amityville Horror (2005), he plays a living man trapped in a haunted house.
• When he was a toddler, a newspaper gave out his address for no apparent reason, accompanying a photo of him at the local pool.
• Attended high school with Joshua Jackson in Vancouver, Canada.
• Often is in a feud with Hugh Jackman.
• Ryan alleges that he and Paul Anka are friends and get together occasionally.
• Attended Kwantlen College for a few months before leaving to pursue his acting career.
• Is the only actor to appear in all 65 episodes of Fifteen (1990).
• He and Chris William Martin are the only two actors who appeared in both the first and the last episodes of Fifteen (1990).
• Accompanied musician Alanis Morissette to the 2003 Canadian Juno Music Awards.
• Attended the World Celebrity Pro-Am golf tournament in Haikou, China.
• Shares his birthday, all but the year of birth, with Emilia Clarke.
• Son-in-law of Ernie Lively and Elaine Lively.
• Taylor Swift is godmother to daughter James whom Ryan had with Blake Lively.
• Brother-in-law of Eric Lively, Bart Johnson, and Robyn Lively.
• Former son-in-law of Karsten Johansson and Melanie Sloan.
• Former brother-in-law of Vanessa Johansson, Hunter Johansson, Adrian Johansson and Christian Johansson.

  Acting credits and accolades

  Main articles: Ryan Reynolds filmography and List of awards and nominations received by Ryan Reynolds

  According to review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, Reynolds's most acclaimed films include Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), Adventureland (2009), Buried (2010), The Whale (2011), Mississippi Grind (2015), Deadpool (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018), The Croods: A New Age (2020), Free Guy (2021) and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) 

  His work has made him the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program for executive-producing the series Welcome to Wrexham. He received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his role in Deadpool (2016).  For the soundtrack of Deadpool 2 (2018), he received a Grammy nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.  He was later nominated again for the soundtrack of Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). His other accolades include three MTV Movie & TV Awards, three People's Choice Awards and a Saturn Award.

  On December 15, 2016, Reynolds received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevar Mary Simon, governor general of Canada honoured Reynolds with a Governor General Performing Arts Award on November 26, 2021. In August 2023, Reynolds was announced as a recipient of the Order of British Columbia, British Columbia's highest honou  He and his fellow honourees were scheduled to receive the award at a ceremony in Victoria in November 2023 On December 19, 2024, Reynolds was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, recognizing both his achievements in film and his philanthropic contributions.

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