Ryan Phillippe
Matthew Ryan Phillippe (born
September 10,
1974) is an
American actor. He came to fame in the late
1990s, after starring in a string of
beefcake roles in films like
I Know What You Did Last Summer,
Cruel Intentions, and
54.
Phillippe, who is married to actress
Reese Witherspoon, was in the ensemble cast of the 2005
Oscar winner for Best Picture,
Crash, playing the role of a young cop struggling with
racism.
Early life
Phillippe (
IPA pronunciation: ) was born in
New Castle, Delaware to Richard Phillippe (a chemical technician for
DuPont) and Susan (who ran a
day care center in the family's house); he has three sisters, Kirsten, Lindsay and Katelyn. Phillippe attended New Castle Baptist Academy, where he played
basketball and
soccer, as well as earned a black belt in
Tae Kwon Do; he was also the
Yearbook Editor in his senior year. At 15, he became interested in an acting career, inspired by a neighbor's suggestion. A casting agent spotted Phillippe in a barbershop two years later, and began sending him to auditions in
New York.
Career
Phillippe's acting career began with an appearance in
ABC daytime drama One Life to Live from 1992 to 1993. His character Billy Douglas was the first gay person in a daily soap opera, causing quite a stir. After leaving the show, he moved to
Los Angeles, where he appeared in a number of small parts in various television shows and
movies, including
White Squall (
1996).
Phillippe was cast in the
1997 horror film,
I Know What You Did Last Summer, which co-starred
Sarah Michelle Gellar,
Freddie Prinze, Jr. and
Jennifer Love Hewitt. The film was a success in October of that year, and led to Phillippe gaining wider renown and being cast in a few more high-profile films, including
54 in
1998 and
1999's
Cruel Intentions, a modern retelling of the
Choderlos de Laclos' novel,
Les Liaisons Dangereuses. The latter film, which also starred Phillippe's future wife,
Reese Witherspoon, as well as his
I Know What You Did Last Summer co-star,
Sarah Michelle Gellar, was a success among its intended teenage audience, cementing Phillippe's ability to play characters that require sex appeal.
In the years following, Phillippe appeared in the crime comedy
The Way of the Gun, starred as a famed
software engineer in the thriller
Antitrust, and co-starred in
Robert Altman's critically-acclaimed
Gosford Park, which featured several of
Britain's most respected actors. Subsequently, Phillippe had supporting parts in the films
Igby Goes Down (
2002) and
Crash (
2005) which won the
Oscar for "Best Picture". His 2003 film,
The I Inside, premiered on cable.
Phillippe and his long-time friends
Breckin Meyer,
Seth Green, and David E. Siegal run a production company called Lucid Films. Phillippe is becoming more actively involved in his films as a producer.
Phillippe recently completed filming on a number of films to be released in
2006 or
2007;
Chaos, in which he plays a police officer;
Five Fingers, a drama set in
Morocco;
Breach, which chronicles the true story of FBI agent Eric O'Neill, and
Flags of Our Fathers, directed by
Clint Eastwood and following the journey of the men who lifted the flag at the battle of
Iwo Jima.
Phillippe is rumoured to be attached to the role of District Attorney
Harvey Dent in the
The Dark Knight; a sequel to 2005's summer blockbuster
Batman BeginsPersonal life
In 1997, Phillippe attended a party given for actress
Reese Witherspoon's 21st birthday. Upon meeting Witherspoon, Phillippe was immediately
mesmerized and spent all night talking to the young actress, with Witherspoon telling Phillippe "I think you're my birthday present". [
1] The following morning, Phillippe left
California to film
I Know What You Did Last Summer, and began a long-distance courtship with Witherspoon by
mail,
e-mail, and
telephone. When Phillippe returned to
Los Angeles, the couple continued dating and became engaged in
December 1998. The following year, the pair starred in
Cruel Intentions together.
Phillippe and Witherspoon married in the summer of
1999, in a small ceremony on a
plantation near
North Charleston, South Carolina. On
September 9 of that year, the couple had a daughter named Ava Elizabeth, after Phillippe's grandmother. Their son, Deacon (named after Phillippe's distant relative,
Deacon Phillippe, a baseball player) was born on
October 23, 2003. The family resides in a gated community in
Brentwood,
California.
When he is not spending time with his wife or children, Phillippe enjoys
photography,
cartooning, and
writing.
In September
2005, Witherspoon and their children were celebrating daughter Ava's sixth birthday at
Disney's California Adventure theme park when they were approached by
paparazzi photographer Todd Wallace. After Witherspoon declined posing for photos at close range, police say Wallace became enraged and pushed a child out of the way, while hitting another with his camera, in his efforts to photograph the actress. Wallace also allegedly shoved two theme park employees when they attempted to restrain him, and cursed at Witherspoon, causing several children to burst into tears. As a result of the altercation, Wallace was arrested and faced
misdemeanor charges.
Before the case went to trial, Wallace was found dead in his apartment in
Brentwood. Police are currently investigating the cause of death.
* The same year Phillippe's movie
Crash won the
Oscar for Best Picture, his wife
Reese Witherspoon won the
Academy Award for Best Actress for the
Johnny Cash bio-pic Walk The Line.
* Loves whiskey, especially Johnny Walker Blue Label.
|
Ryan Phillippe on the poster of AntiTrust, 2001 |
*
interview, 5/05, About.com*
interview, 9/02/02, MovieHole*
interview, 1/10/01, Hollywood.com*
interview, 9/00, PopMatters*
interview, 8/98, Brant Publications*
*
Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon Marriage Profile
