What is Ryan Reynolds' Net Worth and Salary?
Ryan Reynolds is a Canadian-born actor who has a net worth of $350 million. As we detail in this opening section and in separate sections later in the article, the vast majority of Ryan Reynolds' net worth has come from his entrepreneurial endeavors, specifically thanks to the sales of Aviation Gin and Mint Mobile.
Ryan Reynolds began his acting career in the 1990s on soap operas. He quickly became known for his charm and humor. He has since become one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood, with a string of box office hits and critical successes to his name. Reynolds' biggest movies at the box office include "Deadpool" (2016), which grossed over $780 million worldwide, and its sequel "Deadpool 2" (2018), which grossed over $785 million. He has also appeared in other successful films such as "National Lampoon's Van Wilder" (2002), "The Proposal" (2009), "Safe House" (2012), and "6 Underground" (2019), among others.
Reynolds is also a successful entrepreneur, with investments in various businesses, including Aviation American Gin, which he acquired in 2018 and has since helped to turn into a thriving brand. In August 2020, Ryan sold Aviation Gin to Diageo in a deal that could ultimately be worth $610 million. The deal paid $335 million cash upfront. As we detail later in this article, Ryan was believed to be a 20% owner of the brand.
In December 2019, Ryan purchased a minority stake in the wireless carrier Mint Mobile. In March 2023, Mint was acquired by T-Mobile in a deal that was valued at $1.35 billion at the time it was announced. More details on this deal later in the article, but Ryan was believed to own 25% of the company.
Reynolds has been married to actress Blake Lively since 2012. He is known for his wit and humor on social media, often sharing funny and self-deprecating posts with his millions of followers.
Early Life
Ryan Rodney Reynolds was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, on October 23, 1976. He is the youngest of four sons born to James Chester Reynolds, a food wholesaler, and Tamara Lee (née Stewart), a retail saleswoman. Reynolds was raised Catholic and grew up in Vancouver's Kitsilano neighborhood. He graduated from Kitsilano Secondary School in 1994 and briefly attended Kwantlen Polytechnic University before dropping out.
Career
Reynolds' career began in 1991 when he was still a high school student. He landed the starring role of Billy Simpson in the Canadian teen soap opera "Hillside," which was distributed in the US by Nickelodeon under the title "Fifteen." After it ended in 1993, Reynolds then had a recurring role in "The Odyssey" as Macro. During this period early on in his career, he also appeared in an episode of "The X-Files" (1996), starred as Bobby Rupp in the two-part miniseries "In Cold Blood" (1996), and co-starred with Melissa Joan Hart in the TV movie "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" (1996). Then, starting in 1998, he starred as Michael "Berg" Bergen in the show "Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place" for the show's four-season run.
He then went on to star in movies like "National Lampoon's Van Wilder" (2002), "Blade: Trinity" (2004), "The Amityville Horror" (2005), "Smokin' Aces" (2006), "The Proposal" (2009), "Buried" (2010), "Safe House" (2012), "R.I.P.D." (2013), "The Voices" (2014), "The Captive" (2014), "Mississippi Grind" (2015), and the Netflix film "6 Underground" (2019). He also appeared in supporting roles in films like "Just Friends" (2005), "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (2009), "Adventureland" (2009), "Women in Gold" (2015), and "Criminal" (2016).
Furthermore, Reynolds is one of the few actors in the world to headline films based on both Marvel and DC characters. In 2011, he starred as the Hal Jordan version of the superhero Green Lantern in Warner Brother's film "Green Lantern." The film flopped both financially and critically, but Reynolds recovered and later found success in 2016 with "Deadpool." He first became involved in the development of the Deadpool movie after portraying the character of Wade Wilson/Weapon XI in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." The 2016 "Deadpool" film ignores what happened in the X-Men film, reboots the character of Deadpool, and creates a new backstory that adheres more closely to the original Marvel Comics source material. "Deadpool" went on to set several box-office records. Its worldwide opening of $264.9 million from 62 markets was the biggest of 2016, the biggest for an R-rated film, and the second-biggest for Fox. Its immense popularity and success were followed up by the sequel, "Deadpool 2," in June 2017. "Deadpool 3" is set to release in November 2024.
In addition to his on-screen acting roles, Reynolds has ventured into the world of voice acting as well. He had starring roles in two Dreamworks Animation films, "The Croods" (2013) and "Turbo" (2013), and voiced Pikachu in "Pokémon Detective Pikachu" (2019). Additionally, Reynolds was the facial motion caption actor for the CGI Pikachu.
In 2017, Reynolds won a Saturn Award for Best Actor for "Deadpool" and a People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2017 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for "Deadpool." In 2016, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 8601 Hollywood Blvd.
Larry Busacca / Getty Images
Aviation Gin
In February 2018, Reynolds acquired an "unspecified minority" ownership stake in Aviation American Gin for an undisclosed sum. He also serves as the brand's spokesman and creative director. Aviation was initially founded by Oregon-based House Spirits Distillery. In 2016, the brand was bought by a company called Davos Brands.
Thanks largely to Reynolds' cheeky ads, including a very notable video involving the "Peloton girl," Aviation's sales grew robustly from 2018 to 2020 to become the second-largest super-premium Gin brand in the US.
In August 2020, Diageo LLC agreed to acquire Aviation Gin LLC and Davos Brands LLC for what could ultimately be $610 million. The deal came with an upfront cash payment of $335 million, and the remainder will be earned through performance milestones over ten years.
Using similar celebrity alcohol comparable deals, one could presume that Ryan owned a 20% stake in Aviation Gin. If that was correct, Ryan would have received around $67 million pre-tax from the upfront cash portion of the sale and could earn an additional $55 million from the milestone payments.
Mint Mobile
In November 2019, he purchased an ownership stake in Mint Mobile, which offers low-cost pre-paid mobile phone services. He has starred in a number of advertisement campaigns for Mint Mobile services.
In March 2023, it was revealed that T-Mobile was acquiring Mint Mobile in a $1.35 billion cash and stock deal, broken out as 39% cash ($526 million) and 61% stock ($823 million). It is believed that Ryan owned 25% of Mint. If that's correct, on the cash front, his share would be $131 million pre-tax, roughly $70 million after tax. On the stock front, he presumably received $205 million worth of T-Mobile stock. On the day the deal was announced, this would have translated to 1,423,611 shares of T-Mobile (using $144 a share on March 15, 2023).
Ryan Reynolds vis Getty Images
Personal Life and Real Estate
Reynolds began dating Canadian singer Alanis Morissette in 2002, and they became engaged in 2004. They split in 2007, and soon after, Reynolds began dating American actress Scarlett Johansson. He and Johansson married in September 2008, separated in December 2010 and finalized their divorce in July 2011. In October 2011, Reynolds began dating his "Green Lantern" co-star Blake Lively. They married in September 2012 and have three daughters together. Lively announced in September 2022 that they were expecting their fourth child. Ryan became an American citizen sometime around 2018.
In 2012, Reynolds and Lively bought a house in Westchester County, New York, for $6 million. The property covers 11.65 acres, and the main home is nearly 9,000 square feet. He also owns a home in Los Angeles. Ryan Reynolds reportedly purchased a $1.9 million home in the Welsh village of Marford in 2023.
Reynolds has supported many causes over the years. In May 2022, he was among a group of celebrities to read an installment of "James and the Giant Peach" to aid the global, non-profit charity Partners In Health which was co-founded by Roald Dahl's daughter Ophelia. In 2022, Reynolds and Lively pledged to match up to $1 million for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of their country. In March 2022, the couple donated $500,000 to Water First to provide Indigenous people in Canada with clean drinking water. In January 2023, Reynolds received the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's Humanitarian Award at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards.
How Much did Ryan Reynolds make for Deadpool?
Reynolds' base salary for Deadpool was a relatively paltry $2 million. His payday ultimately increased nearly 10-fold thanks to a lucrative share of the backend points. The first Deadpool cost just $58 million to make and went on to gross $780 million. He earned enough money in 2017, roughly $22 million, to be one of the 20 highest-paid actors on the planet for that year. His earnings for Deadpool 2 have not been officially confirmed, but he likely earned a minimum of $20 million for the second installment. With backend points, his earnings for the second movie, which earned $785 million globally, might ultimately top $30-40 million.
Salary Per Movie
After the success of the Deadpool franchise, Reynolds is in the category of actors who can earn $20 million upfront to star in a movie. For the Michael Bay movie "6 Underground," he was paid $27 million upfront.
Wrexham AFC
In November 2020, Ryan and fellow comedic actor Rob McElhenney bought a Welsh soccer club called Wrexham AFC. At the time of the purchase, Wrexham AFC was in the fifth division of English soccer, AKA four leagues below the Premier League. They were able to buy the club with no money down, but they did agree to put up roughly $2.6 million towards infrastructure improvements. In April 2023, Wrexham got promoted to League Two and won the National League championship. This marked the club's return to the English Football League after 15 years.
