kids encyclopedia robot

Ryan Phillippe facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Ryan Phillippe
Ryan Phillippe 2011 Shankbone.JPG
Phillippe in 2011
Born
Matthew Ryan Phillippe

(1974-09-10) September 10, 1974 (age 50)
Occupation
  • Actor, producer
Years active 1992–present
Spouse(s)
(m. 1999; div. 2007)
Children 3

Matthew Ryan Phillippe ( born September 10, 1974) is an American actor and producer. After appearing as Billy Douglas on the soap opera One Life to Live (1992–1993) and making his feature film debut in Crimson Tide (1995), he came to prominence in the late 1990s with starring roles in I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), 54 (1998), Playing by Heart (1998), and Cruel Intentions (1999).

Throughout the 2000s and beyond, Phillippe took on a range of parts in films such as The Way of the Gun (2000), Antitrust (2001), Gosford Park (2001), Igby Goes Down (2002), The I Inside (2003), Crash (2004), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Breach (2007), Stop-Loss (2008), MacGruber (2010), The Bang Bang Club (2010), and The Lincoln Lawyer (2011).

Outside of film, Phillippe appeared in the lead role of Bob Lee Swagger on USA Network's Shooter (2016–2018) and reprised his portrayal of Dixon Piper in the Peacock adaptation of MacGruber (2021).

Early life

Phillippe was born in New Castle, Delaware. His mother, Susan, ran a day care center in the family's house; his father, Richard Phillippe, was a chemist. Phillippe has three sisters, and is of part French descent. He graduated from Barbizon in Wilmington, Delaware.

Phillippe earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do in his youth.

Career

Early career (1990–1999)

Phillippe's acting career began after being signed to Cathy Parker Management in Voorhees, New Jersey. Shortly after, he made an appearance in the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live. His character, Billy Douglas, whom he played from 1992 to 1993, was the first gay teenager on a daytime soap opera. After leaving the show, Phillippe moved to Los Angeles, where he appeared in a number of small parts in various television series including Matlock, Due South, the TV miniseries The Secrets of Lake Success, and movies, including the 1995 film Crimson Tide and the 1996 film White Squall.

He was cast in the 1997 horror film, I Know What You Did Last Summer. The film was a success and led to Phillippe gaining wider renown and being cast in a few more high-profile films, including 54 in 1998. In 1999, he starred in Cruel Intentions, a modern retelling of the Choderlos de Laclos novel Les Liaisons dangereuses, which also starred Phillippe's future wife, Reese Witherspoon. It was a success among its intended teenage audience. Phillippe can also be seen in the Marcy Playground music video "Comin' Up From Behind", which appears on the film's soundtrack.

Critical success and later work (2000–2011)

In the years following, he appeared in the crime drama The Way of the Gun, starred as a famed software engineer in the thriller Antitrust, and co-starred in Robert Altman's Gosford Park, which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture. Subsequently Phillippe had supporting parts in the films Igby Goes Down (2002) and Crash (2005), which won the Best Picture Oscar. His 2003 film The I Inside premiered on cable.

Ryan Phillippe - 2010 TIFF
Phillippe at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival

In 2006, Phillippe played real-life Navy corpsman John Bradley in the war film Flags of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood and following the journey of the United States Marines who lifted the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima. Phillippe has said that the film was the "best experience" of his career because of its "personal meaning" to him and that he would have "given [his] life" to fight in World War II, noting that both of his grandfathers fought in the war. His performance was positively received by film critic Richard Roeper, who thought it was Phillippe's best to date. Phillippe's next role was in the thriller Breach, in which he played FBI investigator Eric O'Neill opposite Chris Cooper. He has since commented that he believes Cooper to be "the best actor America has to offer". He then starred in Chaos, in which he plays a police officer; Five Fingers, a drama set in Morocco; Kimberly Peirce's Iraq war film Stop-Loss; and the futuristic Franklyn.

Next up for Phillippe was a rare comedic role as Lt. Dixon Piper in MacGruber, a film based on the Saturday Night Live (SNL) skit of the same name. It was released in the U.S. and Canada on May 21, 2010. As part of the film's promotion, Phillippe made his SNL hosting debut on April 17, 2010. Two days later, on April 19, 2010, Phillippe co-hosted WWE Raw, also in support of MacGruber. That same year, Phillippe starred in the Canadian and South African production The Bang-Bang Club, which tells the real-life story of the Bang-Bang Club, four South African photographers whose images documented the bloody end of apartheid. Phillippe stars as Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Greg Marinovich. Filming for the movie took place in South Africa beginning in March 2009. Phillippe described the filming process as "really run-and-gun. There were no comforts, and I actually appreciate that." He noted that the experience affected him. An early cut of the film was shown at Cannes Film Festival in May 2009, with the final version shown at Cannes in May 2010. The film officially premiered in September 2010 at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. The U.S. rights to the movie were picked up by Tribeca Film, which premiered the movie at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival and opened it in limited release on April 22, 2011.

In mid-2010, Phillippe began filming the adaptation of popular crime novel The Lincoln Lawyer, taking on the role of Louis Roulet. The movie opened on March 18, 2011, and was generally well received by critics, scoring 82% on Rotten Tomatoes as of late March 2011. Phillippe filmed his next project, the heist action film Setup, in December 2010 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The movie focuses on a group of young men from Detroit whose attempt at a diamond heist goes awry and brings them into conflict with a mob boss. The movie had a straight-to-DVD release on September 20, 2011. Phillippe next filmed the dramatic dark comedy Revenge for Jolly! in mid-2011. The movie, which tells the story of a man set on finding his dog's murderer, premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. Phillippe subsequently began work on another movie, Straight A's, in August 2011. Filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana, it stars Phillippe as a man who has been in and out of rehab for years and is now haunted by his mother's ghost.

Return to television and focus on directing and producing (2012–present)

Starting in November 2011, Phillippe spent several months filming a 10-episode arc on the fifth and final season of the critically acclaimed TV show Damages. Playing Channing McClaren, a Julian Assange–like character, it was his first regular TV role since his breakout part on One Life to Live. The season aired from July to September 2012. In 2012, Phillippe focused on his directorial debut, Catch Hell, an indie thriller in which Phillippe stars as a fading film actor who must devise a creative escape after he is kidnapped while making a movie in Shreveport, Louisiana. In addition to directing, co-producing, and starring in the film, Phillippe co-wrote the script with Joe Gossett. Phillippe has said that the film is based partly on his and his friends's life experiences (including the filming of Straight A's in Shreveport in 2011) but is partly meant to be "a fun scary movie in the vein of Misery". Filming took place on location in Shreveport in the fourth quarter of 2012. The movie was released on October 10, 2014.

In October 2013, Phillippe began filming the action thriller Reclaim in Puerto Rico. The movie features Phillippe as an American man who travels to Puerto Rico with his wife to adopt an orphan from Haiti. After a confrontation with a local, the child vanishes. Reclaim was released on September 19, 2014. In May 2014, ABC picked up the pilot for Secrets and Lies, which was shot in Charlotte, North Carolina, in early 2014. The 10-episode mystery series debuted on March 1, 2015, as a midseason entry during the 2014–15 U.S. television season. It is based on the Australian series of the same name, with Phillippe playing a family man who becomes a prime murder suspect after he discovers the body of a child.

Phillippe, Breckin Meyer, Seth Green, and David E. Siegal run a production company called Lucid Films. In 2010, Phillippe and Meyer began "getting a show going for Showtime", serving as executive producers. The comedy, Heavy and Rolling, tells the story of a Manhattan towncar driver who assumes different identities as he moves towards madness. Phillippe also served as executive producer and narrator on Isolated, a documentary that follows five surfers as they travel to remote New Guinea in search of untouched waves. The documentary premiered in January 2013 at the 2013 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

In 2015, Phillippe was cast in the lead role of Bob Lee Swagger on the USA Network thriller drama series Shooter, which premiered in November 2016. In February 2020, Phillippe was announced in the role of Cody Hoyt in the ABC crime drama series Big Sky, which was created by David E. Kelley. In 2021, Phillipe starred in the movie One Shot, a British action thriller film directed by James Nunn.

Personal life

In 1997, Phillippe met actress Reese Witherspoon at a party for her 21st birthday. The following year, the pair starred together in Cruel Intentions. Phillippe and Witherspoon, who was six months pregnant, married on June 5, 1999, in a small ceremony at the Old Wide Awake Plantation near Charleston, South Carolina. Their daughter was born in 1999 and their son was born in 2003. On October 30, 2006, Phillippe and Witherspoon released a statement announcing that they were formally separating. Witherspoon filed for divorce on November 8, 2006, citing irreconcilable differences as the cause. In light of the couple's lack of a prenuptial agreement, she requested that the court refuse to grant spousal support to Phillippe and asked for joint legal custody and sole physical custody of the pair's two children. Phillippe filed for joint physical custody of the children on May 15, 2007, and did not seek any spousal support. The couple's marriage officially ended on October 5, 2007, with final divorce arrangements settled on June 13, 2008, according to court documents. Phillippe and Witherspoon shared joint custody of their children.

Phillippe began dating model and actress Alexis Knapp in May 2010; they ended their relationship in September that same year. After their breakup, Knapp discovered that she was pregnant by Phillippe and gave birth to a daughter in 2011. Phillippe began dating law student Paulina Slagter in 2011. They became engaged in 2015 but ended their relationship in 2016. In September 2017, Elsie Hewitt, an ex-girlfriend of Phillippe, filed a lawsuit against him for allegedly punching her, kicking her, and throwing her down stairs. Hewitt was granted an Emergency Protective Order by the LAPD stating Phillippe could not come within 100 yards (91 m) of her. In October 2019, the case was settled.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1995 Crimson Tide Seaman Grattam
1996 Lifeform Private Ryan
White Squall Gil Martin
1997 I Know What You Did Last Summer Barry William Cox
Little Boy Blue Jimmy West
Nowhere Shad
1998 54 Shane O'Shea
Homegrown Harlan Dykstra
Playing by Heart Keenan
1999 Cruel Intentions Sebastian Valmont
2000 Company Man Rudolph Petrov
The Way of the Gun Parker
2001 Antitrust Milo Hoffman
Gosford Park Henry Denton
2002 Igby Goes Down Ollie Slocumb
2003 The I Inside Simon Cable
2004 Crash Tommy Hansen
2005 Chaos Shane Dekker
2006 Five Fingers Martijn
Flags of Our Fathers John "Doc" Bradley
2007 Breach Eric O'Neill
2008 Stop-Loss Brandon Leonard King
2009 Franklyn Jonathan Preest / David Esser
2010 MacGruber Dixon Piper
2011 The Bang Bang Club Greg Marinovich
The Lincoln Lawyer Louis Roulet
Revenge for Jolly! Everett Bachmeier
Setup Vincent
2013 Straight A's Scott
2014 Catch Hell Reagan Pearce Also writer, director and producer
Reclaim Steven Mayer
2015 Return to Sender UPS delivery guy Cameo
2017 Wish Upon Jonathan Shannon
2020 Brothers by Blood Charley Flood
The 2nd Vic Davis Also producer
2021 Lady of the Manor Tanner Wadsworth
One Shot Jack Yorke
2022 American Murderer Lance Leising
Collide Hunter
Summit Fever Leo
2023 The Locksmith Miller Graham
Miranda's Victim John J. Flynn
TBA Saint Clare Timmons Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1992–1993 One Life to Live Billy Douglas
1993 The Secrets of Lake Success Stew Atkins Miniseries
1994 The Case of the Grimacing Governor Robert Fowler Television film
Due South Del Porter Episode: "The Gift of the Wheelman"
Matlock Michael Episode: "The Scandal"
1995 Deadly Invasion: The Killer Bee Nightmare Tom Redman Television film
1996 Chicago Hope David Holgren Episode: "Women on the Verge"
The Outer Limits Rusty Dobson Episode: "Straight and Narrow"
2000 King of the Hill Wally Voice role; episode: "Twas the Nut Before Christmas"
2010 Nick Swardson's Pretend Time Handsome guy Episode: "Powdered Doughnuts Make Me Go Nuts"
Saturday Night Live Host / Various Episode: "Ryan Phillippe / Ke$ha"
WWE Raw Dixon Piper 1 episode
2012 Damages Channing McClaren 10 episodes
2012, 2014 The Eric Andre Show Himself Episodes: "Ryan Phillippe", "Naturi Naughton; Ryan Philippe"
2014 Men at Work Himself Episode: "I Take Thee, Gibbs"
2015 Drunk History Benjamin Hayes Episode: "Los Angeles"
Robot Chicken George Taylor / Reggie Mantle Episode: "Cake Pillow"
Secrets and Lies Ben Crawford Main role (season 1)
2016–2018 Shooter Bob Lee Swagger Lead role and producer
2016 SmackDown Live Himself 1 episode
2017 Brooklyn Nine-Nine Milton Boyle Episode: "The Bank Job"
Famous in Love Himself Episode: "Fifty Shades of Red"
2019 Historical Roasts Julius Caesar Episode: "Cleopatra"
2020 Big Sky Cody Hoyt Main role
Will & Grace Himself Episode: "Bi-Plane"
2021 MacGruber Dixon Piper 8 episodes
2022 I Love That for You Himself 2 episodes

Music videos

Year Title Artist Role
1999 "Every You Every Me" Placebo
2004 "Hey Ya!" Outkast TV Host
2023 "The Most Wanted Person in the United States" 100 gecs Store Employee

Accolades

Year Group Award Work Result
1998 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards Favorite Supporting Actor: Horror I Know What You Did Last Summer Nominated
1999 Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Actor 54 Nominated
Teen Choice Awards Film – Choice Actor Cruel Intentions Nominated
2000 MTV Movie Awards Best Male Performance Cruel Intentions Nominated
Golden Slate (Hungary) Best Actor in a Leading Role 54 Nominated
2001 Teen Choice Awards Film – Choice Actor Antitrust Nominated
2002 Critics Choice Awards Best Acting Ensemble Gosford Park Won
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards Best Ensemble Cast Gosford Park Won
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Ensemble Gosford Park Won
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards Best Acting Ensemble Gosford Park Nominated
Satellite Awards Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble Gosford Park Won
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture Gosford Park Won
2005 Gotham Awards Best Ensemble Cast Crash Nominated
2006 Black Reel Awards Best Ensemble Crash Won
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Crash Won
2008 Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie Actor: Drama Stop-Loss Nominated
2009 Prism Awards Performance in a Feature Film Stop-Loss Nominated

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Ryan Phillippe para niños

kids search engine
Ryan Phillippe Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.