Random Interesting Facts You May Not Know About Ryan Reynolds (19 items)

(#15) He Credits "The Nines" with His New Career Perspective

Ryan Reynolds has had a fairly tumultuous career, but a lot of his (fantastic) indie work is often overlooked. He credits The Nines for really changing his outlook on the movie-making process:

"That was such a wake-up call for me," Ryan said. "The movie was made on less than a million dollars. I loved the process. I loved the character I was given to play. I learned a lot about filmmaking from John August, who was directing.

That was the birth of my own ambition. There were particular films after that that I went after. I had a new view."
(#4) He Turned Down the Chance to Star on Buffy

Fans of both Ryan Reynolds and Joss Whedon would probably be upset to learn he turned down a big role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That's right, we could have had Ryan playing a vampire slayer (in this case, Xander) years before he was slaying vamps as Hannibal King in Blade Trinity.

He said he loved the show and Joss, but that he didn't want to play a guy in high school.
(#2) He Fought to Get "Deadpool" Made for Over a Decade

Ryan Reynolds LOVES Deadpool. He's a die-hard fanboy and it shows in how hard he's fought to get the film made (and how hard he's fought to distance himself from that X-Men Origins: Wolverine atrocity). He had been trying to get the solo Deadpool film off the ground since 2000!

For the next 15 years, the project hit every possible roadblock and was effectively dead in the water. It was only greenlit after some years-old test footage was leaked. After that, they had mere months to get it planned, shot, and edited!
(#5) He's a Vocal Advocate for Parkinson's Disease Research

Ryan Reynolds ran the New York City Marathon in 2008 as a spokesman for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. He ran in honor of his father, Jim Reynolds, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1995.

He told People Magazine that during the race, "thought a lot about [his] father and Michael and the 500,000 other people afflicted with this awful disease in the United States alone."
(#13) He Is Good Friends with Seth MacFarlane and Has Appeared in Much of His Work

Seth MacFarlane is mostly known for his animated show Family Guy, which Ryan Reynolds has appeared on twice: Once as himself in "Stewie Goes for a Drive" and once as Overweight Guy in "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph." Reynolds he's also appeared in two of MacFarlane's three live action films.

He had short non-speaking and uncredited (but hilarious) cameos in both A Million Ways to Die in the West and Ted.
(#3) He Starred in a Series of Awesome (and Raunchy) Cancer Awareness Ads

Ryan Reynolds worked to get his passion project, Deadpool, made for years. The character is a fourth wall-breaking, wise cracking, "Merc with a Mouth." He's also suffering from a number of advanced forms of cancer. The marketing for the film is fantastic and features Ryan in a number of great scenarios, but the greatest of all was a tongue-in-cheek cancer awareness campaign.

Not only does he promote the film, but he manages to deliver some actually important health tips about breast cancer and testicular cancer... in character.