Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Rodney Reynolds is a Canadian and American actor, entrepreneur and film producer. Known for starring in comedic and superhero films, he was the world's second-highest-paid actor in 2020 and 2024. Reynolds has received numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as nominations for two Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. His films as a leading actor have grossed $6.6billion worldwide.
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 then played the lead role in the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl. Reynolds later starred in a range of films, including the commercially successful romantic comedies National Lampoon's Van Wilder, Waiting..., and The Proposal, the critically unsuccessful superhero films Blade: Trinity, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Green Lantern, and the biographical drama Woman in Gold.
Reynolds achieved his greatest commercial success as the titular character in the Deadpool franchise, starring in Deadpool, Deadpool 2, and Deadpool & Wolverine. 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, and action films like 6 Underground, Free Guy, and The Adam Project. Reynolds has also lent his voice to animated films, including The Croods franchise, Turbo, and the animated character Pikachu in Detective Pikachu.
In 2017, Time included Reynolds in its list of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was named Peoples 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. Divorced from actress Scarlett Johansson, Reynolds has been married to Blake Lively since 2012; he has four children with the latter.
Early life and education
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, 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.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.
Career
1991–2003: Career beginnings
Reynolds began his career in 1991 in the Canadian teen soap opera Hillside, 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 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 mixed reviews; Varietys 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 1995, Reynolds made his first The Outer Limits appearance in "If These Walls Could Talk". 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 —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, an adaptation of Truman Capote's 1966 nonfiction novel of the same name. He returned to feature films with the dark comedy The Alarmist, portraying Howard, the teenage son of Gale. After both are harmed at their home, Tommy begins to suspect Heinrich's 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. 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 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 and Dick, respectively. In the horror comedy Boltneck, 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. He played the titular character in the romantic comedy National Lampoon's Van Wilder, which was critically panned but achieved box office success. Reynolds portrayed Mark Tobias in the commercially unsuccessful action comedy film The In-Laws. In the film, he is about to marry Melissa, 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.
2004–2009: Romantic comedies
Reynolds had a cameo appearance as the nurse in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, which Entertainment Weekly described as a "single, though memorable scene". Later that year, he made his voice acting debut in the animated television series Zeroman, lending his voice to former secret agent Ty Cheese. Reynolds played the role of Hannibal King in David S. Goyer's Blade: Trinity, a vampire hunter who joins Blade and Abigail Whistler to battle Dracula and the vampire clan. To prepare for the role, Reynolds focused on gaining muscle mass, training six days a week and adhering to a 3,200-calorie diet. He gained of muscle in three months. Despite being a success at the box office, grossing $132million on a $65million budget, the film was negatively received by critics.Reynolds starred as George Lutz in the supernatural horror film The Amityville Horror —an adaptation of the 1977 novel and remake of the 1979 film of the same name. He portrayed a man who moves into a supposedly haunted house with his wife, Kathy, and her children. Colliders Shawn Van Horn liked his performance, stating that he was "funny and charming, but toned down, as if he's not performing for a camera". Reynolds then starred as a charismatic waiter named Monty in Rob McKittrick's comedy Waiting.... In the romantic comedy Just Friends, he played Chris Brander, an overweight high schooler trying to escape the "friend zone" with his best friend, during a Christmas visit to his hometown. To portray this character, he wore a fat suit and makeup. He later played FBI agent Richard Messner in the crime action film Smokin' Aces alongside Ray Liotta. In the science fiction film The Nines, Reynolds played three distinct characters—Gary, Gavin, and Gabriel—in three separate storylines, exploring themes of reality, identity, and the nature of existence.
In 2008, Reynolds played Frank Allen in Chaos Theory, directed by Marcos Siega. He portrayed a highly disciplined efficiency expert whose marital crisis prompts a shift towards an unpredictable and spontaneous lifestyle. Critics acknowledged Reynolds's performance even though the film itself received poor reception, with The Seattle Times commenting that he "has the sort of blandly dazzling It's a fine performance; too bad it's lost in a muddled movie." His next role was in the romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe, in which he played Will Hayes, a man in the middle of divorce proceedings who is questioned by his daughter about how he and her mother first met. In Fireflies in the Garden, he portrayed a successful novelist who comes back to his Midwestern family, only to discover that his mother has died in a car accident.
Reynolds starred in Greg Mottola's romantic comedy Adventureland, in which he played Mike Connell, a technician and part-time musician who is having an affair with Em. The film was praised by many critics; Collider retrospectively called his performance one of the most underrated of his career. He later played the role of Wade Wilson / Deadpool / Weapon XI in the superhero film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. As early as 2005, Reynolds had expressed interest in and involvement with a potential Deadpool film adaptation, again collaborating with Goyer. The film received mixed but generally negative reviews from critics; Reynolds himself described developing it as a "frustrating experience", arguing that "it's the wrong version Deadpool isn't correct in it". Reynolds starred as Andrew Paxton in Anne Fletcher's commercially successful romantic comedy The Proposal. Critics praised the on-screen chemistry between Reynolds and co-star Sandra Bullock. He played Captain Excellent in the negatively-received comedy drama film Paper Man.