Thanks to Deadpool, Free Guy and his ongoing stint as an unexpected (yet hugely successful) football club owner, Ryan Reynolds is something of a household name in the UK.
The Hollywood star’s career skyrocketed following his first outing as everyone’s favourite Marvel anti-hero in 2016, but the actor had 20 years’ worth of credits before donning Deadpool’s iconic red and black suit.
From tiny TV appearances to under-rated comedies and movies that didn’t do quite so well (sorry, Ryan), here are nine of the star’s roles you’ve forgotten about...
Sabrina The Teenage Witch
Heartthrob Harvey (played by Nate Richert) was the ultimate ’90s crush – but in a TV movie of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Mellisa Joan Hart’s character had two love interests to choose from.
Bosses made the 1996 film before deciding to commission a full series and it saw Harvey played by another actor (Tobias Mehler) while Ryan – complete with curly, ’90s curtains – starred as his love rival, Seth.
Sabrina ultimately decided to dump him, leaving Harvey as the sole recipient of her affections in the series but it was a different story backstage, as Melissa has since admitted she had a huge crush on her co-star.
“[Ryan] was very sweet,” she said during an Australian TV interview in 2017. ”I had a boyfriend at the time, but we were smitten and cute, and he was adorable.
“He was a really, really nice guy. Probably would have been a great boyfriend, and I didn’t end up with the other guy, so maybe I should have taken a chance.”
The Sabrina TV movie is currently unavailable to stream, rent or buy online in the UK.
Family Guy
After being name-checked multiple times in Seth MacFarlane’s cartoon comedy series, Ryan finally made a cameo in the 2011 episode Stewie Goes for a Drive. The ep saw Ryan move in next door to the Griffins and develop a crush on dad Peter.
Ryan also lent his voice to a 2011 episode Jesus, Mary And Joseph!, in which he played “overweight guy”, according to IMDb, before making another brief appearance as himself in 2017.
The actor is good pals with Family Guy creator Seth and also popped up in his 2012 movie Ted.
You can stream Family Guy on Disney+.
Blade: Trinity
Deadpool is far from Ryan’s first comic book adaptation and back in 2004, he joined the cast of the third instalment in the Blade franchise to play rogue vampire hunter, Hannibal King.
Blade: Trinity saw Wesley Snipes’ human-vampire hybrid join forces with Hannibal and his fellow hunters in a bid to defeat rival Danica Talos (Parker Posey) once and for all.
While the first movie in the series proved hugely popular and the second was seen as a fitting follow-up, the third didn’t match their success and has a dismal 24% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
You can stream Blade: Trinity with an Amazon Prime subscription.
Amityville Horror remake
Straight after wrapping on Blade, Ryan jetted to Wisconsin to start filming a remake of the 1979 horror flick.
Ryan and Mulholland Drive star Melissa George played George and Kathy Lutz, a couple who move into their dream home only to learn a mass murder took place there just a year before.
The couple and their children are soon plagued by paranormal activity and a number of eerie events during production spooked Ryan and his castmates.
Just days into filming, a body washed up on the lake where the set had been built and the real-life Kathy Lutz also died during production.
Ryan also admitted he found the set – which was a real 1800s house that had been given a slight makeover – “terrifying and upsetting”, while noting another strange coincidence.
He told MovieWeb: “A lot of the crew were waking up at 3:15 in the morning which was when all these atrocities in the house took place each time. I think it was a subconscious thing. You read the script and suddenly pop awake at 3:15 in the morning.”
Unfortunately, Amityville Horror didn’t prove to be a hit either – and Ryan hasn’t taken a starring role in a horror film since.
You can rent or buy Amityville Horror via Amazon Prime.
Scrubs
Ryan popped up in one 2003 episode of the hit medical comedy as Spence, an old friend of J.D (Zach Braff) and Christopher Turk (Donald Raison), who encouraged them to head out drinking instead of prioritising their work at Sacred Heart.
At the time of filming, Ryan had a number of impressive TV credits under his belt but was yet to get his big breakthrough in the film world.
You can stream Scrubs as part of a Disney+ subscription or rent individual episodes via Amazon, Apple TV and YouTube.
Green Lantern
Another of Ryan’s previous forays into the superhero genre saw him star as Hal Jordan, a test pilot who is given powers and a place in the Green Lantern Corps intergalactic space force – but the movie wasn’t quite the hit that Deadpool is.
Unfortunately, it was universally panned upon its release in 2011 and poor box office takings soon saw plans for a sequel shelved by Warner Bros.
In a very Ryan Reynolds move, the actor frequently makes self-deprecating quips about the movie and in Deadpool, his character begged for a superhero costume that wasn’t green.
Ryan once wasted no time in offering advice to a fan who was thinking about renting the movie:
There is one upside though: he met future wife Blake Lively on the movie’s set.
You can go against Ryan’s advice by streaming Green Lantern on Amazon Prime or renting it via Apple TV.
Hillside/Fifteen
Yup, Ryan was a Nickelodeon kid.
Hillside (or Fifteen, as it was titled on its worldwide release) was Canada’s only teen soap opera in the 1990s.
Ryan starred as Billy Simpson – who became a bully as a way to mask his emotions following family problems and romantic rejections – in an impressive 18 episodes.
The role gave Ryan his first ever on-screen credit but he later revealed he “hated” the job.
“I hated it, I really did,” he said during a US talk show appearance. “I just did it to get out of the house.”
Ryan later worked in a warehouse and a restaurant before being persuaded to give acting another go.
Fifteen is currently unable to stream, rent or buy online in the UK.
Adventureland
Despite its A-list cast, this coming-of-age comedy essentially flew under the radar upon its release in 2009.
Set in the mid-80s, Adventureland sees The Social Network’s Jesse Einsenberg’s character fall in love with coworker Em Lewin (Kristen Stewart) during a stint working in a theme park but a love triangle develops between them and Mike Connell, played by Ryan.
Older than his co-workers, Mike is a married Adventureland employee who has been having an affair with teenager Em, and Ryan previously admitted feeling painfully aware of the age gap (he was 32 and Kristen was 18) during filming.
He told Collider: “I’ve never felt so old, yeah. Daily. God. It was a routine of humility. It was kind of cool. I like that aspect, too.
“Obviously, this guy is having a pretty inappropriate relationship with this very, very young girl but the spirit on the set really felt like where I was eight or nine years ago. It’s a pretty cool place to be now.”
Adventureland is currently available to stream on ITVX.
Dick
The 1995 comedy sees two not-so-savvy teenagers (Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams) become inexplicably embroiled in the Watergate scandal. Yes, it’s as bizarre as it sounds.
In a brief appearance, Ryan plays Chip, the son of White House Chief of Staff H.R. Halderman, and writing in 2019, Screen Rant noted how Dick is an early indication of Ryan’s scene-stealing abilities.
“Reynolds doesn’t have a lot of screentime in Dick, but his nervous energy and fumbling for words make Chip both delightfully awkward and a little endearing,” they wrote.
Dick is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime.