Ryan Reynolds is the total package: whip smart, wicked funny, and very talented. He's comfortable being super-babe and Hollywood superstar Blake Lively's husband, but he's equally at ease as the fast-talking, potty-mouthed superhero Deadpool. So get ready to have a sarcastic comeback for these 25 facts about Ryan Reynolds.
Ryan Reynolds Facts
01. Canuck
Like his most famous character, Ryan Reynolds is Canadian; to be exact, he hails from Vancouver. Reynolds also identifies his politeness as his most Canadian attribute: "Generally I care for other people. I always say 'excuse me,' 'thank you,' and 'I'm sorry, " he says.
Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
02. Workplace Romance
Reynolds met his wife Blake Lively on the set of Green Lantern. She played his love interest, and it appears they must have had some pretty steamy chemistry off set too. They were both with other people at the time the movie was being filmed, but the two found their way back to one another.
03. Baby Nerves
Lively praises Ryan as "the father of [her] dreams," but Reynolds was initially anxious about being a parent.“Early on, I thought, am I going to be a good father? But I'm so much more patient than I ever imagined. I can comb a doll's hair for six hours and suddenly remember to blink." He now has two daughters with Lively, James and Ines.
Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
04. Not All Heroes Wear Capes
Although Reynolds is currently best known for his role as Deadpool, less people might know about the pink Deadpool suit he donated for cancer research via an Omaze campaign. Apparently "Deadpool" wanted the world to know he has a "big old heart-on."
05. Soap
Reynolds' first role was on a YTV teen soap opera entitled Hillside, which was renamed Fifteen when Nickelodeon aired it in the US.
06. King to Merc
While he was playing Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity, a Fox executive gave Reynolds some Deadpool comics, noting that King's wisecracking was similar to Deadpool's: "Seeing as you're essentially playing this guy anyway, maybe you should play him for real," the exec said. This of course led to an iteration of Deadpool in the pretty dang terrible X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but it has now contributed to the beloved Deadpool adaptation.
New Line Cinema, Blade: Trinity (2004)
07. Big Leagues
In 2010, Reynolds was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
08. Game On
Reynolds will star in and co-produce an upcoming version of Clue, an adaptation of the popular board game that was previously made into a movie in 1985. That version of Clue famously had multiple endings that would be shown to different audiences.
Sgt. Michael Connors, Wikimedia Commons
09. Going Strong
Despite recent rumors that Reynolds and his wife Blake Lively are separating, Reynolds assures the media they are still happily married.
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10. The Barn
Reynolds has a farm in upstate New York that serves as a getaway for both creativity and family time. He even actually conducted an interview with GQ on "the barn" while his wife was almost due with their second child.
11. Funny and Vulnerable
Reynolds opened up to GQ about his relationship with his deceased father, who died of Parkinson's in 2015. Reynolds stated that they were estranged before his father's death, and now they're "really estranged." But, jokes aside, he admitted, "I actually had that sort of epic moment that only happens in films, where I saw him before he died and closed the loop as much as I could." He later said in the same interview, "The hardest part for me is that he was always kind of a mystery. I just don't feel like I ever had a real conversation with him."
Stephen Shugerman, Getty Images
12. Improv
X-Men Origins: Wolverine was another casualty of the Writers Guild of America strike, so all of Deadpool's dialogue in the film was written by Reynolds. Reynolds only had vague cues of what to express in the stage directions, e.g. "Deadpool shows up, talks really fast, and makes a lot of jokes." Reynolds also added lines to the Deadpool script, such as Deadpool's comment on the studio not being able to afford more X-Men. Reynolds added this line after Fox removed a few million dollars from the budget just prior to production.
dtstuff9, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
13. Pony up
In the comics, Deadpool is a big fan of comic Bea Arthur, and there's a rumor that Reynolds paid $20,000 to use her image for the Deadpool film, though Reynolds says he just talked to her estate and made a donation to charity.
Cpl. Alexandra Vazquez, Wikimedia Commons
14. Home
If you like Reynolds' voice, you can hear it in an Air Canada ad. Reynolds was personally motivated to do the ad since its theme was home travelling with you wherever you go: "Being a Canadian who travels all over the world, I understand how my home made me who I am and the special regard people everywhere have for Canada."
Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
15. Star Power
Reynolds received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2016. He later noted on Twitter that the all caps on his name on the star make it seem like he is yelling at people for eternity. That's some classic Reynolds humor right there.
16. No Fear
Some actors have worries of being typecast in certain roles and becoming relegated to a specific role in the public's mind, which might prevent them from being selected for other film roles. Reynolds does not fear being typecast as Deadpool, and says that he "would love to play Deadpool for as long as they would let me play Deadpool."
Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
17. Nerves
By the time Deadpool completed production, Reynolds' biggest worry was disappointing the fans. He credits Blake Lively for keeping him sane as he went through the promotion circuit, including Comic-Con. As he said, "By the time we were in post, we’d been to Comic-Con, and people went crazy for it. The expectations were eating me alive.”
18. Work Ethic
Reynolds sets goals for himself, and trained hard over months and many early mornings to complete the 2008 NYC marathon.
19. Marathon Man
Reynolds was motivated to compete in the 2008 NYC Marathon in order to raise funds for Parkinson's research, the disease that killed his father. Additionally, Reynolds acknowledged that he wanted to test himself: "Marathon running, for me, was the most controlled test of mettle that I could ever think of…It's you against Darwin."
Everett Collection, Shutterstock
20. Need for Speed
A Confederate Hellcat motorcycle is Reynold's preferred method of transportation. His love for motorcycles also dictates his regular dress code. Reynolds has to pair his ride with practical clothes that "won't make skin come off like a cheap suit" if he were to take a spill. Ew, thanks for that image, Ryan.
21. Who Needs Paleo?
While many people might preach the values of a paleo diet, which cuts out grain, Reynolds simply avoids carbs after 8pm if he needs to gain muscle or get leaner for a certain role. Reynolds also makes sure to eat all carbs directly post-workout. As he says, "Never do any of that carve-starve crap."
Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
22. Blue Blood
Reynolds is the youngest of four brothers. His father was a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer (AKA a Mountie) and one of his brothers also followed the same path. Reynolds is convinced that he would have become a Mountie if he wasn't an actor.
Ryan Reynolds
23. Second Fiddle
Reynolds' decision to star in Green Lantern was a move made by an actor trying to get on with his life. Prior to signing on for Green Lantern, Reynolds wrote a letter to Fox advising that he would do Green Lantern only if they were not ready to make a proper Deadpool film: "I'm gonna take this movie Green Lantern if you guys aren't gonna make Deadpool. I'm at the altar, about to say 'I do' to somebody else, but tell me you want to spend the rest of your life with me, because I want to spend the rest of my life with you." When Fox responded that they couldn't greenlight Deadpool and that it likely would never be greenlit, Reynolds committed to Green Lantern.
Warner Bros., Green Lantern (2011)
24. Grand Prank Auto
When he was in high school, Reynolds got kicked out for stealing a car. Bad ass right? Well, the story is a little more complicated than that. Reynolds and his friends played a prank on a hated teacher where they literally picked up his car and moved it around the block. The thing is, though, in Canada, if you move someone's car more than ten feet, it's a felony. What ever happened to "all in good fun?"
Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
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