Ryan Reynolds's Real Name: Ryan Rodney Reynolds

Quick answer: Ryan Reynolds's real name is Ryan Rodney Reynolds. He was born on October 23, 1976, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Real name and early life

Biography.com lists his full name as Ryan Rodney Reynolds. Reynolds is his family surname and Rodney his middle name. He was born and raised in Vancouver and started acting at 13.

His first lead role was on the Canadian teen soap Hillside (1991–1993). He then moved to US television as a lead in the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl (1998–2001).

Quick facts

• Real name: Ryan Rodney Reynolds
• Known as: Ryan Reynolds
• Born: October 23, 1976, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• Known for: Actor
• Notable work: National Lampoon's Van Wilder, Waiting..., The Proposal, Blade: Trinity
• Sources checked: Biography.com

Career highlights

Reynolds became a film star with comedies such as National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), Waiting... (2005), and The Proposal (2009). He also played superheroes in Blade: Trinity, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Green Lantern (2011).

His biggest success came as the foul-mouthed antihero in Deadpool (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018), and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). The first earned him a Golden Globe nomination, and the third became his highest-grossing film. Other hits include Free Guy (2021) and The Adam Project (2022). He is also known for his business ventures, including co-owning the Welsh football club Wrexham AFC, and he is married to actress Blake Lively.

Reynolds has also won two Primetime Emmy Awards and been nominated for two Grammys. He was ranked the world's second-highest-paid actor in 2020 and 2024, and his films as a leading actor have grossed about $6.6 billion worldwide. His self-mocking humor in the Deadpool films has become central to his public persona, and he also co-founded the production and marketing company Maximum Effort.

Name notes

Ryan Reynolds is his real name. He simply leaves out the middle name, Rodney. Fan sites often copy names from one another, so we checked this page against Biography.com. Where sources disagree, we say so rather than guess. We also leave out middle names, nicknames, and origin stories that we couldn't confirm in a reliable source. A popular claim isn't enough to earn a place on this page if no encyclopedia, official record, or major news outlet backs it up.