by Ryan Reynolds is now one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, known for his roles in blockbuster films like Deadpool and The Proposal. However, few people may realize that Reynolds got his start in television, honing his skills with a variety of roles on Canadian and American shows in the 1990s. Let’s take a look back at some of Reynolds’s early TV appearances that helped launch his career.
Reynolds’s first major role came in 1991 on the Canadian teen drama series Hillside. The show, which aired for one season of 13 episodes, followed the lives of a group of high school students living in a fictional suburb of Toronto called Hillside. Reynolds played Billy Simpson, a popular and charming teenager who was part of the “in-crowd” at Hillside High.
As Billy, Reynolds fit the mold of the typical high school heartthrob – he was good-looking, athletic, and dating one of the most popular girls at school. However, the character also showed hints of Reynolds’s comedic talents, with Billy often getting himself into humorous situations. While Hillside only lasted a single season, it gave the then-teenaged Reynolds valuable experience in a lead television role at the start of his career.
After Hillside wrapped, Reynolds continued to hone his acting skills with roles in several Canadian television movies throughout the early 1990s. He had a supporting part in 1993’s Ordinary Magic, playing a teenager who befriends an elderly woman. Reynolds also appeared in 1994’s Passion and Paradise, taking on the role of a rebellious young man living in rural Canada in the 1920s.
In addition to television movies, Reynolds began to pop up in guest roles on popular American and Canadian series in the mid-1990s. In 1993-1994, he had a recurring role over multiple episodes of The Odyssey, a family drama that aired in both countries. On The Odyssey, Reynolds played Tyler, a teenage friend and love interest of one of the main characters.
Reynolds continued to gain exposure stateside with a 1995 guest spot on the medical drama Chicago Hope. He also had a small but memorable role in the 1996 made-for-TV movie Sabrina the Teenage Witch, based on the Archie comic book character. In the film, Reynolds portrayed a handsome college student who catches the eye of Sabrina Spellman, played by Melissa Joan Hart.
Perhaps Reynolds’s biggest pre-fame television role came in 1996 when he was cast in an episode of The X-Files, one of the most popular shows of the 1990s. In the season 4 episode “Tempus Fugit,” Reynolds played Eugene Victor Tooms, a mutant serial killer with the ability to dislocate his jaw and squeeze his body through tight spaces. While only a one-episode villain, the chilling role showed Reynolds’s talent for playing darker, more unsettling characters – a far cry from his earlier good-looking teen roles.
By the late 1990s, Reynolds’s charisma and comedic skills were starting to gain more attention in Hollywood. In 1998, he landed his breakout role – one that would truly launch him into the mainstream – on the ABC sitcom Two Guys and a Girl. The show, which ran until 2001, centered around two men and a woman living together as platonic roommates in New York City. Reynolds played Michael “Berg” Bergen, a bartender and aspiring writer who was one-third of the titular group.
As Berg, Reynolds brought a goofy, sarcastic sense of humor that made the character hugely likable and appealing to viewers. His natural comedic timing and ability to riff off his costars Traylor Howard and Richard Ruccolo helped elevate Two Guys and a Girl beyond the typical sitcom format. Over its four seasons, Reynolds’s star power within the series continued to rise. By the time it ended, he had established himself as a bankable comedic lead with mainstream appeal.
Two Guys and a Girl served as Reynolds’s true breakthrough. After years of honing his skills in smaller television roles, he had finally found the big-screen success that would cement his status as a leading man. After the sitcom wrapped, Reynolds began focusing more on film roles, appearing in comedies like National Lampoon’s Van Wilder in 2002.
However, Reynolds has said that his early television work was invaluable experience that prepared him for bigger projects. “I was really lucky to get a lot of roles on TV in the ’90s,” Reynolds told Entertainment Weekly in 2015. “It allowed me to learn and make mistakes without as much pressure. By the time Two Guys and a Girl came around, I felt ready for a starring role every week.”
Indeed, without those foundational years spent cutting his teeth in television – from teen dramas to sitcoms to creepy X-Files villains – Reynolds may not have been as polished an actor by the time he made the transition to movies. His early roles on shows like Hillside, The Odyssey, and Chicago Hope gave him experience in front of the camera at a young age.
Meanwhile, memorable guest spots and his starring role on Two Guys and a Girl helped Reynolds hone his comedic timing and build an audience. Today, he’s known as one of the funniest and most bankable movie stars in the business. But it all started with a series of “hidden gem” performances in the 1990s that laid the groundwork for Reynolds’s future success. Without those early television appearances, Hollywood may never have discovered the charming funnyman he would become.
