Ryan Phillippe Biography

Actor Ryan Phillippe made the headlines in 2006 with his very public split from his wife of seven years, Reese Witherspoon. The two officially split on October 30 with Witherspoon accusing Phillippe of cheating on her with Australian actress, Abbie Cornish. Phillippe denied the accusation.The blond, curly haired American actor was born as Matthew Ryan Phillippe on September 10,1974 to chemical technician Richard Phillippe and home day care owner Susan Phillippe. He has three sisters Kirsten, Lindsay and Katelyn.He went to high school at New Castle Baptist Academy where he played basketball, soccer, and earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. During his senior year he was the editor of his school's yearbook.Phillippe discovered a love of acting when he was 15. But he didn t actively pursue this dream until two years later when a casting agent in a barbershop spotted him.After being accidentally discovered, Phillippe moved to New York where he started auditioning for various roles. He soon landed the role of Billy Douglas on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live. His character was daytime television's first gay teenager and Phillippe played this role from 1992 to 1993.He quit the show to focus on his stage career and moved to Los Angeles . Phillippe soon landed a few small parts in various television shows and movies beginning with a small part in the 1995 submarine action thriller, Crimson Tide. In 1996 he got a part in Ridley Scott's White Squall.In 1997 Phillippe was cast in the horror film, I Know What You Did Last Summer, co-starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jennifer Love Hewitt. That year he also landed his first starring role in the independent film, Little Boy Blue, where he played an abused trailer park teen.By now Phillippe was considered a teenage heartthrob. His ability to play characters that require sex appeal helped him land the role of seductive trust-fund brat Sebastian Valmont in 1999's Cruel Intentions, which also starred his future wife, Reese Witherspoon.In the summer of 1999 Witherspoon and Phillippe married on a plantation in North Charleston, South Carolina . By that time they had already been dating for two years with some of their courtship a long-distance relationship.The couple has two children: a daughter Ava Elizabeth (born September 9, 1999) and a son, Deacon (born October 23, 2003).During the following years Phillippe landed several new acting roles including parts the crime drama The Way of the Gun, the thriller Antitrust, and the critically acclaimed Gosford Park . In 2005 he appeared in the Oscar-winning film, Crash.In 2006 he acted in the direct-to-video film Chaos where he plays the role of a police officer. Other movies he's working on to be released in 2006 and 2007 include Five Fingers; a lead role Flags of Our Fathers with director Clint Eastwood; and Breach, the docudrama of FB agent Eric O Neill.