Age, Biography and Wiki
- Full Name: Matthew Ryan Phillippe
- Date of Birth: September 10, 1974
- Age (as of 2025): 50 years old
- Birthplace: New Castle, Delaware, United States
Phillippe began his acting career at a young age, with his debut as Billy Douglas, the first openly gay teenager on American daytime television, in the ABC soap opera One Life to Live (1992–1993). This role launched him into the spotlight and set the stage for a successful Hollywood career.
| Occupation | Soap Opera Actor |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 10 September 1974 |
| Age | 50 Years |
| Birth Place | New Castle, Delaware, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Virgo |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
- Height: 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
- Weight: Approx. 165 lbs (75 kg)
- Eye Color: Blue
- Hair Color: Blonde
These measurements are based on publicly available sources and may vary slightly over time.
| Height | 178 cm |
| Weight | 165 lbs |
| Body Measurements | |
| Eye Color | |
| Hair Color |
Dating & Relationship Status
- Current Relationship Status: As of 2025, Ryan Phillippe is reportedly dating, but specific details about his current partner are not widely publicized.
- Previous Marriage: Phillippe was married to actress Reese Witherspoon from 1999 to 2007. The couple has two children together.
- Other Relationships: He has been linked to several high-profile relationships but generally keeps his personal life private.
His mother, Susan, ran a day care center in the family's house; his father, Richard Phillippe, was a chemist. Phillippe has three sisters, and is of part French descent. He graduated from Barbizon in Wilmington, Delaware.
He was cast in the 1997 horror film, I Know What You Did Last Summer. The film was a success and led to Phillippe gaining wider renown and being cast in a few more high-profile films, including 54 and Playing by Heart in 1998. In 1999, he starred in Cruel Intentions, a modern retelling of the Choderlos de Laclos novel Les Liaisons dangereuses, which also starred Phillippe's future wife, Reese Witherspoon. It was a success among its intended teenage audience, cementing Phillippe's ability to play characters that require sex appeal. Phillippe can also be seen in the Marcy Playground music video "Comin' Up From Behind", which appears on the film's soundtrack. In the years following, he appeared in the crime drama The Way of the Gun, starred as a famed software engineer in the thriller Antitrust, and co-starred in Robert Altman's Gosford Park, which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture.
In mid-2010, Phillippe began filming the adaptation of popular crime novel The Lincoln Lawyer, taking on the role of Louis Roulet, a wealthy Los Angeles playboy accused of a crime for which his culpability is unclear. The movie opened on March 18, 2011, and was generally well received by critics, scoring 82% on Rotten Tomatoes as of late March 2011. Phillippe filmed his next project, the heist action film Setup, in December 2010 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The movie focuses on a group of young men from Detroit whose attempt at a diamond heist goes awry and brings them into conflict with a mob boss. The movie had a straight-to-DVD release on September 20, 2011. Phillippe next filmed the dramatic dark comedy Revenge for Jolly! in mid-2011. The movie, which tells the story of a man set on finding his dog's murderer, premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. Phillippe subsequently began work on another movie, Straight A's, in August 2011. Filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana, it stars Phillippe as a man who has been in and out of rehab for years and is now haunted by his mother's ghost.
In October 2013, Phillippe began filming the action thriller Reclaim in Puerto Rico. The movie features Phillippe as an American man who travels to Puerto Rico with his wife to adopt an orphan from Haiti. After a confrontation with a local, the child vanishes. Reclaim was released on September 19, 2014. In May 2014, ABC picked up the pilot for Secrets and Lies, which was shot in Charlotte, North Carolina, in early 2014. The 10-episode mystery series debuted on March 1, 2015, as a midseason entry during the 2014–15 U.S. television season. It is based on the Australian series of the same name, with Phillippe playing a family man who becomes a prime murder suspect after he discovers the body of a child. Phillippe was also attached to a number of possible future film roles, including Chronicle, a film that was to have been directed by Jay Alaimo that would have seen him in a story "about two childhood friends who reunite to launch the biggest marijuana dealership in New York City".
Phillippe began dating model and actress Alexis Knapp in May 2010; they ended their relationship in September that same year. After their breakup, Knapp discovered that she was pregnant by Phillippe and gave birth to a daughter in 2011. Phillippe began dating law student Paulina Slagter in 2011. They became engaged in 2015 but ended their relationship in 2016. In March 2017, Slagter filed a harassment report with the LAPD after Phillippe had been harassing her via text messages. In September 2017, Elsie Hewitt, an ex-girlfriend of Phillippe, filed a lawsuit against him for allegedly punching her, kicking her, and throwing her down stairs. Hewitt was granted an Emergency Protective Order by the LAPD stating Phillippe could not come within 100 yards of her. In October 2019, the case was settled.
| Parents | |
| Husband | Reese Witherspoon (m. 1999-2007) |
| Sibling | |
| Children |
Net Worth and Salary
- Net Worth (2025): $30 million
- Salary: While specific annual earnings are not disclosed, Phillippe’s income is derived from acting, producing, and directing roles in major films and television series.
- Notable Financial Transactions: Phillippe paid $7.175 million for a Hollywood Hills home and sold a five-bedroom property for $6 million in 2013.
Career, Business and Investments
Film and Television Highlights:
- Breakthrough Role: Billy Douglas in One Life to Live (1992–1993)
- Major Film Roles: I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), 54 (1998), Cruel Intentions (1999)
- Career Evolution: Transitioned to leading roles in the late 1990s. Experienced career fluctuations between 2008–2010 but made a strong comeback with critically acclaimed performances in MacGruber, The Bang Bang Club, The Lincoln Lawyer, and TV series Damages.
- Directorial Debut: Catch Hell (2014), also serving as writer and producer.
- TV Series: Secrets and Lies (2015), Shooter (2016–2018)
Phillippe's acting career began after being signed to Cathy Parker Management in Voorhees, New Jersey. Shortly after, he made an appearance in the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live. His character, Billy Douglas, whom he played from 1992 to 1993, was the first gay teenager on a daytime soap opera. After leaving the show, Phillippe moved to Los Angeles, where he appeared in a number of small parts in various television series including Matlock, Due South, the TV miniseries The Secrets of Lake Success, and movies, including the 1995 film Crimson Tide and the 1996 film White Squall.
In 2006, Phillippe played real-life Navy corpsman John Bradley in the war film Flags of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood and following the journey of the United States Marines who lifted the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima. Phillippe has said that the film was the "best experience" of his career because of its "personal meaning" to him and that he would have "given [his] life" to fight in World War II, noting that both of his grandfathers fought in the war. His performance was positively received by film critic Richard Roeper, who thought it was Phillippe's best to date. Phillippe's next role was in the thriller Breach, in which he played FBI investigator Eric O'Neill opposite Chris Cooper. He has since commented that he believes Cooper to be "the best actor America has to offer". He then starred in Chaos, in which he plays a police officer; Five Fingers, a drama set in Morocco; Kimberly Peirce's Iraq war film Stop-Loss; and the futuristic Franklyn.
Social Network
- Instagram: @ryanphillippe
- Twitter: @RyanPhillippe (not highly active)
- Facebook: Ryan Phillippe (official page)
- Other Platforms: Limited presence on other social networks
Next up for Phillippe was a rare comedic role as Lt. Dixon Piper in MacGruber, a film based on the Saturday Night Live (SNL) skit of the same name. It was released in the U.S. and Canada on May 21, 2010. As part of the film's promotion, Phillippe made his SNL hosting debut on April 17, 2010. Two days later, on April 19, 2010, Phillippe co-hosted WWE Raw, also in support of MacGruber. That same year, Phillippe starred in the Canadian and South African production The Bang-Bang Club, which tells the real-life story of the Bang-Bang Club, four South African photographers whose images documented the bloody end of apartheid. Phillippe stars as Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Greg Marinovich. Filming for the movie took place in South Africa beginning in March 2009. Phillippe described the filming process as "really run-and-gun. There were no comforts, and I actually appreciate that." He noted that the experience affected him, explaining that "we were shooting during the day in Soweto, and it was an endless procession of funerals — death is so common. Kids there have no quality of life. It has made me want to get more involved in Africa-based charities." An early cut of the film was shown at Cannes Film Festival in May 2009, with the final version shown at Cannes in May 2010. The film officially premiered in September 2010 at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. The U.S. rights to the movie were picked up by Tribeca Film, which premiered the movie at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival and opened it in limited release on April 22, 2011.
Starting in November 2011, Phillippe spent several months filming a 10-episode arc on the fifth and final season of the critically acclaimed TV show Damages. Playing Channing McClaren, a Julian Assange–like character, it was his first regular TV role since his breakout part on One Life to Live. The season aired from July to September 2012. In 2012, Phillippe focused on his directorial debut, Catch Hell, an indie thriller in which Phillippe stars as a fading film actor who must devise a creative escape after he is kidnapped and tortured while making a movie in Shreveport, Louisiana. In addition to directing, co-producing, and starring in the film, Phillippe co-wrote the script with Joe Gossett. Phillippe has said that the film is based partly on his and his friends's life experiences (including the filming of Straight A's in Shreveport in 2011) but is partly meant to be "a fun scary movie in the vein of Misery". Filming took place on location in Shreveport in the fourth quarter of 2012. The movie was released on October 10, 2014.
Phillippe, Breckin Meyer, Seth Green, and David E. Siegal run a production company called Lucid Films. In 2010, Phillippe and Meyer began "getting a show going for Showtime", serving as executive producers. The comedy, Heavy and Rolling, tells the story of a Manhattan towncar driver who assumes different identities as he moves towards madness. Phillippe also served as executive producer and narrator on Isolated, a documentary that follows five surfers as they travel to remote New Guinea in search of untouched waves. The documentary premiered in January 2013 at the 2013 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Education
- Early Education: Ryan Phillippe attended local schools in Delaware.
- Professional Training: No formal acting school education listed; he began his career early, focusing on on-the-job experience.
