Ryan Phillippe
Ryan Phillippe (born September 10, 1974), better known as Ryan Phillippe, is an American actor. After appearing on the soap opera One Life to Live, he came to fame in the late 1990s, starring in a string of teen-oriented films, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions, and 54. Phillippe’s more recent roles include the 2005 Academy Award-winning ensemble film Crash and the 2006 war drama Flags of Our Fathers. In 2007 he starred in Breach, a movie based on the true story of FBI Operative Eric O’Neill who is assigned to shadow and help catch his boss, Robert Hanssen, a spy for the Soviet Union and Russia, in the act of selling secret material.
Phillippe was born in New Castle, Delaware, the son of Susan, who ran a day care center in the family’s house, and Richard Phillippe, who worked for DuPont. He has three sisters. Phillippe attended New Castle Baptist Academy, where he played basketball and soccer, as well as earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do; he was also the Yearbook Editor in his senior year. At the age of fifteen, he became interested in an acting career, inspired by a neighbor’s suggestion. A casting agent spotted Phillippe in a barbershop two years later, and began sending him to auditions in New York. At age 17, Ryan Phillippe worked as a waiter (1-1/2 yrs) at Rascals BBQ & Crab House located in New Castle, Delaware.
In 1997, Phillippe attended a party given for actress Reese Witherspoon’s 21st birthday. Upon meeting Witherspoon, Phillippe was reported to have spent all night talking to the young actress, with Witherspoon telling Phillippe, “I think you’re my birthday present.” The following morning, Phillippe left California to film I Know What You Did Last Summer in North Carolina, and subsequently began a long-distance courtship with Witherspoon by mail, e-mail, and telephone. When Phillippe returned to Los Angeles, the couple continued dating and became engaged in December 1998. The following year, the pair starred in Cruel Intentions together. Phillippe and Witherspoon married on June 5, 1999, in a small ceremony on a plantation near North Charleston, South Carolina.
On September 9, 1999, Phillippe and Witherspoon had a daughter named Ava Elizabeth, after Phillippe’s grandmother. Their son, Deacon Reese (named after Phillippe’s distant relative, Deacon Phillippe, a baseball player) was born on October 23, 2003. The family resided in a gated community in Brentwood, California.
On October 30, 2006, Phillippe and Witherspoon released a statement announcing that they had decided to formally separate.After over seven years of marriage, Witherspoon filed for divorce from her husband on November 8, 2006, citing irreconcilable differences. In light of the couple’s lack of a prenuptial agreement, she requested that the court refuse to grant spousal support to Phillippe, and asked for joint legal custody and sole physical custody of the pair’s two children. Phillippe filed for joint physical custody of the children on May 15, 2007, and did not seek any spousal support. The couple’s divorce became final October 5, 2007, according to court documents. The couple share joint custody of their children. Phillippe is currently dating Australian actress Abbie Cornish, whom he met in 2006 while filming Stop-Loss.
