Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian actor. Reynolds portrayed Michael Bergen on the ABC sitcom Two Guys and a Girl (1998-2001), Billy Simpson in the YTV Canadian teen soap opera Hillside (1991-1993), as well as Marvel Comics characters Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity (2004) and Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and the upcoming spin-off film Deadpool (2016). He has starred in films such as Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, Finder’s Fee, Just Friends, Definitely, Maybe, The Proposal, The Amityville Horror, The Change-Up, Smokin’ Aces, Adventureland, Buried, and Safe House.
He also portrayed the Hal Jordan version of the DC Comics superhero Green Lantern in Green Lantern (2011) and made cameos in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and Ted. In 2013, he starred in the lead voice role as the title character in Turbo.
Early life
Ryan Rodney Reynolds was born on October 23, 1976, in Vancouver, British Columbia. His father, Jim, is a food wholesaler, and his mother, Tammy, is a retail salesperson. He is of Irish ancestry and was raised as a Roman Catholic. The youngest of four brothers, he graduated from Kitsilano Secondary School in Vancouver in 1994. He later attended Kwantlen Polytechnic University, also in Vancouver, until dropping out. Two of his elder brothers work as police officers in British Columbia, one of whom is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police member.
Career
Reynolds’ career began in 1990, when he starred as “Billy” in the Canadian-produced teen soap Hillside, distributed in the United States by Nickelodeon as Fifteen. In 1996, he co-starred with Melissa Joan Hart in the TV movie Sabrina the Teenage Witch. As an adult, Reynolds starred in the National Lampoon movie Van Wilder and the American television series Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, playing medical student Michael “Berg” Bergen. In 1993-94 he had a recurring role in The Odyssey as Macro. He also cameoed in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle as a nurse, appeared in The In-Laws with Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks, as well as the Canadian production Foolproof.
In 2005, he played a waiter named Monty in Waiting…, and as music executive Chris Brander in the romantic comedy Just Friends alongside Amy Smart and Anna Faris. Reynolds played the protagonist in the 2008 film Definitely, Maybe. He has also appeared in the second season finale of the television series Scrubs. In 2007, Reynolds guest-starred as Brendan’s friend Hams in the episode “Douchebag in the City” of the TBS sitcom My Boys. In 2009, he portrayed Andrew Paxton, starring opposite Sandra Bullock, in The Proposal, and Mike Connell in Adventureland.
Although he has performed primarily in comedies, Reynolds underwent intense physical training to play an action role as the character of Hannibal King in the 2004 film Blade: Trinity. Reynolds played George Lutz in the 2005 remake of the 1979 horror film The Amityville Horror. Additionally, he played an FBI agent alongside Ray Liotta in the 2006 crime action film Smokin’ Aces.
In a March 2005 interview, Reynolds spoke of his interest and involvement in a possible film adaptation of Deadpool with screenwriter David S. Goyer, as well as the possibility of playing the incarnation of The Flash known as Wally West in an adaption of the popular DC Comics character in the upcoming movie project. Reynolds portrayed Deadpool in the X-Men spinoff X-Men Origins: Wolverine and was announced to portray him again in a spin-off, Deadpool. It was later confirmed that the Deadpool film will be a reboot, ignoring the events that took place in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and establishing a new backstory for the character; being made possible by the reset timeline in X-Men: Days of Future Past. In December 2014, it was announced that the film would be released in early 2016.
He also starred in the Spanish and American thriller Buried, which screened at the Sundance film festival.
In June 2010, Reynolds was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Reynolds portrayed the Hal Jordan version of superhero Green Lantern in Warner Bros.’ film Green Lantern, released on June 17, 2011 in 3D. This made him one of the few actors to headline in films based on both Marvel and DC characters. In 2012, he portrayed an agent in Safe House, alongside Denzel Washington.
Reynolds portrayed Nick Walker in the Universal Pictures film adaptation of Dark Horse Comics’ R.I.P.D. (Rest in Peace Department), which was released in 2013.
Relationships
In 2002, Reynolds began dating Canadian artist Alanis Morissette. They announced their engagement in June 2004. In February 2007, representatives for Morissette and Reynolds announced they had mutually decided to end their engagement. Morissette said her album Flavors of Entanglement was created out of her grief after the breakup. The song “Torch” was written about Reynolds. Soon after the end of his relationship with Morissette in 2007, Reynolds began dating American actress Scarlett Johansson. The couple announced their engagement in May 2008, and married on September 27, 2008 in a quiet ceremony near Tofino, British Columbia. On December 14, 2010, Reynolds and Johansson announced that they had separated. Reynolds filed for divorce in Los Angeles on December 23, 2010; Johansson filed her response simultaneously. The divorce was finalized on July 1, 2011.
Reynolds first met his Green Lantern co-star Blake Lively while filming in early 2010. In October 2011, it was reported that they had begun dating. In June 2012, Reynolds and Lively purchased a home in Bedford, New York. The couple married on September 9, 2012, at Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. They have one daughter, James, born in December 2014.
In the media
In October 2008, Reynolds wrote for The Huffington Post regarding his plan to run the New York City Marathon for his father, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Reynolds appeared in People? ‘s Sexiest Man Alive lists in 2008 and 2009, and was awarded the top honor in 2010. In April 2011, he was ranked #15 on People’s Most Beautiful 2011 list.
On February 12, 2012, Reynolds appeared on the BBC’s Top Gear as the Star In a Reasonably-Priced Car. He posted a time of 1:43.7.