Ryan Phillippe's Real Name: Ryan Phillippe

Quick answer: Ryan Phillippe is known professionally as Ryan Phillippe. Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television, via Encyclopedia.com, gives his full name as Matthew Ryan Phillippe and records that he was born September 10, 1974 (Encyclopedia.com). He is an American actor known for Cruel Intentions, 54, Gosford Park, and Crash.

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress heading is "Phillippe, Ryan, 1974-," with a variant "Phillippe, Matthew Ryan, 1974-." The Encyclopedia.com biography supplies the fuller form Matthew Ryan Phillippe and the September 10, 1974, date, and it gives his birthplace as New Castle, Delaware, while noting that some sources say Philadelphia. This page records that conflict and keeps the public name in the title. The same reference work identifies his parents as Richard, a chemical technician, and Susan, who operated a home day care center, and notes a 1991 Nintendo commercial among his earliest work. It also records a pronunciation, "Phil-a-pea," and lists photography, cartooning, writing, basketball, and bicycling among his interests.

Career highlights

Encyclopedia.com lists a regular role as Billy Douglas on the ABC soap One Life to Live (1992–93), then early films including Crimson Tide (1995) and White Squall (1996). He became more widely known as Barry in I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Shane O'Shea in 54 (1998)—the credit cited in his Library of Congress record—and Sebastian Valmont in Cruel Intentions (1999), opposite Reese Witherspoon. That reference work records that the two married on June 5, 1999; Encyclopaedia Britannica, in its Witherspoon entry, says the marriage lasted until 2008.

Later ensemble films brought major awards attention: Encyclopedia.com lists a Screen Actors Guild Award, shared with the rest of the company, for Gosford Park (2001) and another SAG ensemble award for Crash (2004), in which he played Officer Hanson, the role also mentioned in Britannica's Crash article. Subsequent credits in that filmography include Igby Goes Down, Flags of Our Fathers, and Breach.

Name notes for searchers

Ryan Phillippe is the professional name. A reference work and a Library of Congress variant give the fuller form Matthew Ryan Phillippe. The surname is sometimes misspelled Phillipe in credits. Searchers looking for Sebastian Valmont, or for Witherspoon's former husband, are usually aiming at the same person.