Ryan Rodney Reynolds was born on October 23, 1976 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and was the youngest of four boys. His father, James Chester Reynolds, was a food wholesaler, and his mother, Tamara Lee “Tammy” (Stewart), worked as a retail-store saleswoman.
According to Ryan himself, he was extremely nervous and sensitive as a kid who found solace in the school productions that he participated in. His talent was quickly recognised and at the young age of 12, he landed his first professional acting job in the Nickleodeon teen drama called Hillside (later renamed to Fifteen). The show, which also featured several other Canadian actors, ran until 1993.
After the series ended, he returned to Vancouver but struggled to get his career off the ground only getting a few small roles in a series of forgettable television movies, together with a guest spot on The X-Files. His run of bad luck with roles forced Reynolds to take odd jobs to make ends meet, even working a late-night shift at a supermarket at one point. He eventually even considered quitting acting. But fate would have other plans for him.
A chance encounter with a friend and fellow Vancouver actor Chris William Martin changed his future forever. After being convinced by Martin, Reynolds decided to move to Los Angeles with him in the late 1990s. Here he scored his first acting gig in 1998 as medical student Michael “Berg” Bergen in Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place. In 2001, shortly after the show stopped airing, Reynolds made the leap to movies, scoring a title role in the cult classic National Lampoon’s Van Wilder.
For several years thereafter, Reynolds appeared in a string of lackluster films including Blade: Trinity (2004), The Amityville Horror, Waiting…, Smokin’ Aces and more. It was around this time that Reynolds began dating Canadian singer Alanis Morissette and they announced their engagement in June 2004. However, in February 2007, they mutually decided to end their engagement. Soon thereafter he began dating American actress Scarlett Johansson, who he married in September 2008. They eventually split around two years later.
It wasn’t until 2009 that his career truly took off when he first played the role of the mercenary Deadpool in the box office hit X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That same year also saw Reynolds portray Andrew Paxton, opposite Sandra Bullock, in The Proposal, and Mike Connell in Adventureland. While neither of these movies were stellar successes, Reynolds charm shone through and his popularity continued to grow exponentially.
Ever the comic book fan, Reynolds took the title role of The Green Lantern in 2011 alongside Blake Lively; who he started dating and eventually married in September 2012. He worked in several movies back-to-back in the following years and even lent his voice to several animated characters along the way.
However, it wasn’t until 2016 that he would finally see his secret dream realised – to truly bring Deadpool to life on the big screen. The movie was in development for 16 years and was produced by Reynolds; with him in the starring role of the “Merc with a mouth”. The movie went on to become the highest-grossing R-rated feature of all time and led to a Golden Globe nomination for its star. Later that year, Reynolds was also honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Form there onwards Reynolds string of less than stellar films seemed to have come to an end with nearly every movie thereafter seeing great commercial success. These include Deadpool 2, Detective Pikachu and Netflix’s Underground 6. Reynolds will also be starring alongside Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot in Netflix’s upcoming thriller Red Notice, a movie that is already shaping up to be a hit.