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Matthew Ryan Phillippe was born on September 10th, 1974 in New Castle, Delaware to Richard and Susan Phillippe. By age 17, Ryan had been noticed in a hair salon by an agent
and soon began journeying to New York for auditions. Soon after graduating high school he moved to New York and in no time at all landed a landmark role on the daytime drama 'One Life to Live.' He played
Billy Douglas, daytime television's first gay teenage character. Phillippe stayed with the role for almost a year before heading to LA to begin his career on the big screen.
He began with small
roles in films such as Crimson Tide, but Phillippe's big break finally came in 1996 in Ridley Scott's White Squall. Phillippe played Gil Martin, a youth terrified of heights. Starring various other up
and coming young actors, including Scott Wolf, Balthazar Getty, and Ethan Embry, the film featured Jeff Bridges as the skipper of a seafaring school for boys that hits bad weather and sinks, drowning
several of the students.
Phillippe played a sex-obsessed teen in "Nowhere" and he had one of his first leads in a dysfunctional family in "Little Boy Blue" (both 1997). He
built on his rising star credentials when he landed alongside Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr in the horror thriller "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (also
1997) and costarred with Billy Bob Thornton and Kelly Lynch in the drama "Homegrown" (1998). He had one of his best roles as a naive bartender at the infamous 70s disco nightclub in
"54" (also 1998). The following year, he appeared in "Cruel Intentions" set among prep school students. With his chiseled good looks and sex appeal, Phillippe won critical acclaim and
scores of new fans for his role as the petulant but sexy Sebastian. In 2001, Phillippe was cast in the Oscar nominated feature, "Gosford Park" alongside some of England's finest acting talent:
Maggie Smith, Derek Jacobi, Helen Mirren and Emily Watson, to name just a few. He then portrayed Oliver Slocumb in the feature comedy "Igby Goes Down".
His fame has been growing steadily
and the film world is taking notice. Ryan is also focusing on a career as a producer and he has formed a production company, Lucid Films.
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