Ryan Reynolds' 50th Birthday Countdown

Ryan Reynolds Timeline

About Ryan Reynolds

Reynolds turned quick wit into an empire: the Deadpool franchise, a string of businesses he built and sold (Aviation Gin, Mint Mobile), and the fairy-tale rise of Wrexham AFC, the Welsh football club he co-owns with Rob McElhenney.

The leak that launched Deadpool

Reynolds spent eleven years trying to get Deadpool made, and the studio kept saying no. Then in 2014, test footage of the wisecracking mercenary mysteriously appeared online, fans went berserk, and the film was greenlit almost overnight. A decade later Reynolds finally admitted he was the leaker. The gamble paid off spectacularly: Deadpool (2016) grossed over $782 million on a modest budget, and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) became the highest-grossing R-rated film ever.

Gin, phones, and a Welsh fairy tale

Reynolds turned marketing wit into serious money: Diageo bought Aviation Gin in a deal worth up to $610 million in 2020, and T-Mobile acquired Mint Mobile, where he owned a stake, for up to $1.35 billion. His most beloved bet cost far less. He and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham AFC for about 2 million pounds in 2021, then watched it become the first club in England's top five divisions to win three consecutive promotions, reaching the Championship.

Quiet checks with loud impact

Reynolds and his wife Blake Lively gave $1 million to Feeding America and Food Banks Canada during the pandemic and another $1 million to Feeding America for hurricane relief in 2024, and donated $500,000 to Covenant House shelters in Vancouver and Toronto for homeless and trafficked youth. Their annual ugly-sweater campaigns raise money for Toronto's SickKids hospital, and his Group Effort Initiative trains people from underrepresented communities on the sets of his own films.

Quick facts

• Born October 23, 1976, in Vancouver, Canada
• Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) is the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time
• Co-owner of Wrexham AFC, the first English club to win three straight promotions in the top five divisions
• Sold Aviation Gin to Diageo for up to $610 million and saw Mint Mobile sell to T-Mobile for up to $1.35 billion
• Married to Blake Lively
• Started acting as a teenager on the Canadian teen series Hillside (aired in the US as Fifteen)

Films to rewatch

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