Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Reynolds Bio

Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian and American actor, film producer, and entrepreneur. Known for starring in comedic and superhero films, he has been recognized as the world’s second-highest-paid actor in both 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 $6.6 billion worldwide.

Beyond acting, Reynolds has built a business portfolio that includes ownership stakes in brands and sports franchises. He holds an ownership stake in Mint Mobile and is a co-owner of Welsh soccer club Wrexham, the latter of which is documented in the Emmy Award-winning series Welcome to Wrexham (2022–present).

Early Life and Background

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 as a “moving target” during his upbringing. 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 became involved in acting at the age of thirteen. As a teenager, he attended acting classes—which he later admitted to failing—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 has credited those grocery co-workers as major influences on his career as a performer.

Reynolds attended Prince of Wales Secondary School for grades nine and ten before being expelled for stealing a teacher’s car. He completed grades eleven and twelve at Kitsilano Secondary School alongside actor Joshua Jackson, graduating in 1994. Reynolds later enrolled at Kwantlen Polytechnic University before leaving to pursue acting.

Path to Acting

Reynolds began his professional acting career in 1991 with the Canadian teen soap opera Hillside (1991–1993), which was distributed in the United States by Nickelodeon under the title Fifteen. He played 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), playing Jeffrey, an orphan raised in India who goes on a hunger strike inspired by Mahatma Gandhi.

Throughout the mid-1990s, Reynolds took on small television roles, including appearances in The X-Files, The Outer Limits, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996), and the miniseries In Cold Blood (1996). After becoming discouraged, he left acting at nineteen to enroll at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. A few months later, fellow actor Chris William Martin encouraged him to give acting another chance, and Reynolds relocated with him to Los Angeles.

His breakthrough role came as medical student Michael “Berg” Bergen in the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl (1998–2001). Although the show was neither a critical nor commercial hit, Reynolds’s performance received praise, with Variety noting his “talent and charisma” and his already-apparent “star quality.” He later starred as the titular character in the romantic comedy National Lampoon’s Van Wilder (2002), which was critically panned but achieved box-office success.

Ryan Reynolds Career

Early Career (1991–2003)

From the early 1990s, Reynolds built his résumé through Canadian television and small film parts. His lead role in Two Guys and a Girl (1998–2001) established him as a recognizable face, while National Lampoon’s Van Wilder (2002) cemented his on-screen comedic persona. Other early work included the comedies Coming Soon (1999), Dick (1999), and the heist film Foolproof (2003).

During this period, Reynolds also appeared in The In-Laws (2003), playing Mark Tobias in a comedy that underperformed commercially. He had earned enough recognition by the early 2000s to begin securing leading-man roles in major studio productions.

Breakthrough (2004–2015)

Reynolds made a memorable cameo as a nurse in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) before stepping into the world of superhero films as vampire hunter Hannibal King in David S. Goyer’s Blade: Trinity (2004). To prepare for the role, he trained six days a week, gained 24 pounds of muscle in three months, and followed a 3,200-calorie diet.

He went on to lead or co-star in a string of films across genres: the supernatural horror remake The Amityville Horror (2005), the romantic comedies Waiting… (2005) and Just Friends (2005), the crime thriller Smokin’ Aces (2006), and the science fiction film The Nines (2007), in which he played three distinct characters. He also starred in the romantic comedies Definitely, Maybe (2008), Adventureland (2009), and the hit The Proposal (2009), where his on-screen chemistry with Sandra Bullock drew widespread praise.

In 2009, Reynolds played Wade Wilson / Deadpool / Weapon XI in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Although the film received mixed reviews, the experience deepened his involvement with the Deadpool character. He took on the lead role in Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern (2011), which was both a critical and commercial failure. He later starred as a CIA agent in the action thriller Safe House (2012), opposite Denzel Washington, and lent his voice to DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods (2013) and Turbo (2013). Other notable films in this period included R.I.P.D. (2013), The Voices (2014), Mississippi Grind (2015), and Woman in Gold (2015).

Notable Works and Milestones

Reynolds’s most commercially successful and signature role is the title character in the Deadpool franchise, beginning with Deadpool (2016), which grossed $782 million and earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. He later starred in Deadpool 2 (2018), Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), and the action comedies Free Guy (2021), Red Notice (2021), and The Adam Project (2022). He also voiced Pikachu in Detective Pikachu (2019). Deadpool & Wolverine became his highest-grossing release at $1.338 billion worldwide.

Ryan Reynolds Award Nominations

Reynolds has earned nominations across several major award bodies. He received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his performance in Deadpool (2016). For his work on the Deadpool 2 (2018) soundtrack, he received a Grammy nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, and earned a second nomination in the same category for Deadpool & Wolverine (2024).

Ryan Reynolds Awards Won

Reynolds has been honored with multiple awards throughout his career, including two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program as an executive producer of Welcome to Wrexham. He has also won three MTV Movie & TV Awards, three People’s Choice Awards, and a Saturn Award. On December 15, 2016, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.

In November 2021, Governor General Mary Simon honored Reynolds with a Governor General Performing Arts Award. In August 2023, he was announced as a recipient of the Order of British Columbia, and on December 19, 2024, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of his achievements in film and his philanthropic contributions. In October 2022, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presented him with its Humanitarian Award.

Ryan Reynolds Family

Reynolds is the youngest of four brothers and the son of James Chester Reynolds, a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer who later worked as a foods wholesaler, and Tamara Lee (née Stewart), who worked in retail sales. His paternal grandfather, Chester Reynolds, was a farmer and a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1940 to 1944. Reynolds has publicly shared that his brothers “protected him” from his father, with whom he had a complex relationship.

His father, James, died in 2015 after a twenty-year battle with Parkinson’s disease. Reynolds has said that he used humor to process his grief, and that becoming a parent helped him reconcile his complicated relationship with his father.

Personal Life

Reynolds began dating singer Alanis Morissette in 2002, and the couple announced their engagement in 2004 before mutually ending the engagement in February 2007. Shortly afterward, he began dating actress Scarlett Johansson in April 2007. The couple married in September 2008 in a private ceremony on Vancouver Island and announced their separation in December 2010. Their divorce was finalized in July 2011.

Reynolds first met actress Blake Lively in July 2010 while filming Green Lantern (2011). They began dating in October 2011 and married on September 9, 2012, at Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The couple has four children together—three daughters and a son. The family lives in Pound Ridge, New York. Reynolds attained American citizenship around 2018 and voted for the first time in the 2020 presidential election.