Ryan Reynolds is one of the most prominent and beloved actors working in Hollywood in recent memory. Reynolds is known for his roles in The Proposal (2009), Free Guy (2021), and the Marvel Deadpool trilogy (2016-2024).
Recently, Ryan Reynolds has branched into sports, as a co-owner of Welsh soccer (known as football outside of the U.S) club Wrexham A.F.C., alongside fellow actor Rob McElhenney. Reynolds’ involvement in the club is depicted in the documentary series Welcome to Wrexham.
Where is Ryan Reynolds from?
Ryan Reynolds is Canadian, and is one of the country’s most famous exports. The actor was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to Scots-Irish parents. His family are as stereotypically Canadian as it gets, as his father, James Reynolds, was a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman, known colloquially as a “Mountie” — an iconic emblem of the country. His paternal grandfather, Chester Reynolds, was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1940-1944, as a member of the Alberta Social Credit Party.
Ryan Reynolds was raised in British Columbia, and later in Vanier, Ontario (now Ottawa). Reynolds started his early acting career in his home country, starring in Canadian TV shows such as Hillside and The Odyssey. At the age of 19, Reynolds dropped out of Kwantlen Polytechnic University, British Columbia, to move to Los Angeles in the U.S. to work as an actor full-time.
Ryan Reynolds is often confused with Ryan Gosling, a fellow Canadian actor who also started as a child actor in their home country — not to mention the shared first name. Similar to Reynolds, Gosling grew up in Ontario, where Reynolds resided for some of his adolescence, before moving to Florida at the age of 12 to star in The Mickey Mouse Club.