Ryan Reynolds has emerged as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading men, with two very distinctive recent hit projects that surpassed the $300 million mark at the global box office: the romantic comedy The Proposal, opposite Sandra Bullock, in which he played a guy forced to marry his boss to curtail her deportation, and the fantasy-adventure X-Men Origins: Wolverine, in the role of Deadpool.
In 2011, Reynolds was seen starring in the Universal Pictures comedy The Change-Up and in the title role in DC Comics’ Green Lantern. He also recently starred in the mystery thriller Buried, a 2010 Sundance favorite in which his character, Paul Conroy, a contractor working in Iraq, wakes up in a coffin, buried alive after an attack by a group of dissidents. In the cinematically challenging film, Reynolds is the only actor to appear on camera for the duration of the 95-minute run time.
Reynolds recently wrapped production on Universal Pictures’ R.I.P.D., which he is starring in and producing.
Reynolds starred in two other Sundance entries: Greg Mottola’s Adventureland, the amusement park-set comedy with Kristen Stewart, which premiered at the 2009 festival and was also nominated for Best Ensemble Cast at the 2009 Gotham Awards, and The Nines, in the triple role of a troubled actor, a television showrunner and an acclaimed video-game designer whose lives are intertwined in unsettling ways.
His other recent films include the comedy Paper Man, in which he starred as an imaginary superhero friend of a struggling novelist; Definitely, Maybe, in which he played a political consultant and parent to Abigail Breslin, with a questionable past; the complex drama Chaos Theory, in which he played a man experiencing a crisis after he finds out he is sterile and his child is not his own; Joe Carnahan’s crime thriller Smokin’ Aces, in which he starred as a morally centered FBI agent out to prevent a gangland hit; and a remake of the classic cult horror film The Amityville Horror.
Reynolds hails from Vancouver, British Columbia, where he harbored an affection for acting at a young age. After establishing himself on television in the sitcom Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place and in a variety of guest spots and telefilms such as In Cold Blood, he caught moviegoers’ attention with his lead role in Walt Becker’s irreverent 2002 comedy National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, which led to larger roles in such films as Blade: Trinity and the romantic comedy Just Friends.
Reynolds recently entered the production side of things, partnering with Allan Loeb in the production company DarkFire. They have two pilot deals in place: a comedy series titled Guidance and an animated series titled And Then There Was Gordon, both slated for FOX.
In addition to landing numerous leading roles, Reynolds also serves on the board of directors for The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. In November 2007, Reynolds ran the New York City Marathon in honor of his father, who has long suffered from the ravages of Parkinson’s disease. Reynolds’ marathon run raised more than $100,000 for Fox’s foundation.
Biography courtesy of Universal Studios in conjunction with the film, Safe House.
