Mercy: Can you share a little bit about yourself?
Ryan: I was born and raised in Southern California. Grew up in construction. Kind of a mountain man, outdoors guy. Got into acting late and sort of by accident. I went from modeling, commercials and stuff like that and was lucky to land on General Hospital for a bit and then I discovered Hallmark and have happily been laying my hat there ever since.Mercy: What started your interest in acting? How did you get into it?
Ryan: I honestly was working a bunch of labor jobs; construction. I had some guy friends who were male models - I never really pursued it per-se, but their representation told me that I might want to give it a try. I was really skeptical about it for a really long time but eventually I thought, "I've got nothing to lose, so we'll give it a go." I tried modeling for awhile and I wasn't particularly successful but I got to travel a little bit doing it. When I got back to Los Angeles after said travels, my agency here thought it might be a better idea to try commercials because then at least you get to do something - speak, etc. I was quite a bit more successful at commercials and then that eventually over time just evolved into tv. As I continued to work, they'd ask me if I had ever thought about television work and of course I had but, of course, I was skeptical of success, shall we say. But again, we just decided to give it a try and was like, "If we fail then we're exactly where we are and if we succeed, then great!" So, so far so good *laughs*
Mercy: What is the most rewarding thing about being an actor?
Ryan: I would probably say you get to put your ego on hold. I always tell everybody, "When you go to work, to set, you try to become that person you were when you were a child before you thought you looked silly and you're just making believe and having a good time. You get tell stories, be creative, and have fun. You get to be free of whatever preconceived notions you may have about yourself." And if you are lucky (on the selfish end of things), you also get to travel a fair bit as well. I've met some really cool people and traveled to some really cool places because of what I do for a living.
Mercy: What is your favorite place that you've traveled to?
Ryan: I spent a significant amount of time in Costa Rica and the Hawaiian Islands which are both beautiful. Honestly, I travel up to Vancouver, Canada for Hallmark all the time and it's stunning up there. If you're a mountain man, it's the best place ever.
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| Courtesy of Hallmark Channel/Crown Media |
Mercy: Could you share a little bit about your upcoming movie Christmas At The Plaza?
Ryan: Sure! Christmas At The Plaza is, to date, one of my favorite projects I've ever been involved in. I play Nick Perrelli; my family runs a decorating business that I've sort of taken over and in so doing, I've decided Christmas is where it's at. I've been hired to decorate the Plaza Hotel which is a pretty big account for us being a small family business, so I'm super excited about it. In that, Elizabeth Henstridge, my co-star plays the brains of the work here, she's been hired by the hotel to put on a presentation of the history of Christmas at the Plaza Hotel. So we're going to be working together with the decorations and also myself assisting her in her presentation. She's sort of an academic and skeptical of Christmas, and I'm the opposite - I love Christmas. She actually gets to come over and see my family's Christmas in action once and spend some time with us. In helping her with her presentation, I get to demonstrate to her that the season is maybe worth a second look. Maybe convert her into a Christmas fan.
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| Courtesy of Hallmark Channel/Crown Media |
Mercy: What was your favorite part of filming the movie?
Ryan: I would say I got to work with some of my new favorite people. I made some really great friends. Also, we shot a significant amount of it at The Plaza Hotel in New York which was really great. It's a beautiful hotel with a lot of living history there.
Mercy: What is your favorite thing to do onset when you have free time?
Ryan: I don't often have free time onset and if I do, I try to make myself available to my costars if they want to run lines or do anything like that. Or, truthfully, I hang out with the powers that be while they figure out shots, change cameras and things like that - learn what I can. Or eat. *laughs*
Mercy: What is your favorite aspect of being a part of the Hallmark Channel family?
Ryan: I would say it's an honor to be a part of a group of people that consciously and consistently provides viewership with a place you can go for family-friendly content. You don't have to worry - the dog isn't going to get sick, the kids aren't going to get sick. There is so much stuff out there -- the television world is so saturated with more adult content, shall we say, violence and stuff like that (and there is a place for that. Don't get me wrong, I love actions films and things like that). But there has to be one place you can go where you can sit down and watch a movie with your kids and not have to worry about covering their ears or eyes or anything like that, and we do that.
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| Courtesy of Hallmark Channel/Crown Media |
Mercy: Any upcoming projects that you can share about? (Note: This interview took place October 21st)
Ryan: I don't know how much I'm allowed to share but I can tell you I'm expecting to leave for Vancouver in about a week, week and half tops to go film another movie. I don't have much of the details yet, I don't have the script yet, but I do know that we're working on travel plans right now so there will be another one coming for you pretty soon. Probably airing in Spring,
Christmas Question time!
Mercy: What is your favorite Christmas tradition?
Ryan: My family isn't big on traditions so I think our tradition is that every holiday we celebrate in some non-traditional fashion. We're all kind of beach bums so typically for the holidays we'll go down to the beach (there are a couple beaches in San Diego where my mom lives). We bring a little portable fire pit with us and I cook some lobsters up at the house because she loves lobster and we'll go down to the beach, eat lobster, enjoy the fire pit, and drink champagne.
Mercy: Favorite Christmas food?
Ryan: I don't even know what Christmas food is because we've never really had conventional Christmas food. *laughs* I'm a really big fan of seafood in general, so if we are eating seafood on Christmas that's what it is - lobster. I make a mean cajun salmon.
Mercy: Favorite Christmas movie?
Ryan: Die Hard
Mercy: Favorite Christmas memory?
Ryan: Hard to say... my mom hadn't seen or spoken to her father basically since she was born and somewhere in her trying to track him down she found a record that he had recorded for her (he was a radio DJ) and one year I bought her a nice old gramophone so she could play that record. It was the first time she had heard his voice since she was a child, so that was pretty cool.
If you don't already, be sure to follow Ryan by clicking through the links below. He is one of the most talented, kind, & humble actors I've ever had the opportunity to interview.
Ryan's Links-
IMDB
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| Courtesy of Hallmark Channel/Crown Media |
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