Ryan Reynolds is one of the most popular and highest-paid actors in Hollywood today, starring in blockbuster hits like Deadpool, Free Guy, and Red Notice.
However, behind his success is the influence of his father, James Reynolds, who instilled crucial life lessons in Ryan from a young age. Here are some of the most valuable lessons Ryan Reynolds learned from his dad.
Value Hard Work and Responsibility
One of the central lessons Ryan Reynolds learned from his father was the significance of hard work and responsibility. James Reynolds held various jobs to provide for the family, working as a food wholesaler, retail store owner, and in several other trades. Ryan often helped out with tasks in the family store as a kid. Through observing his father’s strong work ethic to support the household, Ryan developed a robust work ethic himself from childhood. He took on responsibility early by taking jobs as a teen and learning the correlation between hard work and success.
James emphasized that making an honest living required dedication and accountability. This outlook shaped Ryan’s perspective – instead of stardom or fame alone driving him, Ryan has continuously held himself responsible for the hard work needed to achieve his acting and entrepreneurial goals. The value of knuckling down and putting in the effort that his father instilled in him has been a fundamental ingredient behind Reynolds’ rise to fame and fortune.
Stay Humble and Down-To-Earth
Despite his immense success and status as one of Hollywood’s top stars, Ryan Reynolds maintains a grounded, humble persona that traces back to his upbringing. James Reynolds exemplified the merits of staying humble and not letting ego or wealth get to your head. Ryan has discussed how his father taught him as a child that maintaining humility, avoiding arrogance, and valuing all people equally are far more important than fame or money.
Consequently, throughout his acting career spanning over two decades, Ryan has stayed true to his roots. He continues to embrace humility in how he carries himself, interacts with people, and approaches his work. Ryan notes this key lesson from dad helped him stay sane amidst the glitz of Hollywood and not lose sight of what matters most. It has enabled him to connect authentically with all kinds of people. His humility and down-to-earth qualities make Reynolds incredibly likable and relatable despite his A-list status.
Perseverance Through Hardships
James Reynolds experienced his share of adversity and challenges while Ryan was growing up. The family moved around Canada numerous times due to his father’s economic difficulties and struggles finding stable work. Ryan witnessed firsthand how his father persevered through these setbacks with resilience and determination to provide for the family. He learned the significance of powering through hardships from his dad’s example.
This has assisted Ryan in his own career, as the path to Hollywood success was filled with rejections and disappointments. After landing his first big role, Ryan saw his television series Two Guys and a Girl canceled prematurely. Early feature films like Blade: Trinity and Green Lantern flopped hard. However, taking a page from his father’s book, Ryan persisted through these tough times. His childhood lessons in perseverance enabled him to endure rejections during his early acting career. It ultimately paved the way for his record-breaking turn as Deadpool and rise to stardom.
The Courage to Take Risks
Ryan Reynolds credits his father for teaching him the value of courage and the willingness to take risks to grow in life. After losing his food-wholesaling company, James Reynolds could have settled into a safe corporate job but took a bold risk in purchasing a retail store instead. He demonstrated the guts to keep taking chances on new business ventures. Observing this firsthand built up Ryan’s own courage muscles and self-belief that he could take risks in pursuing acting, his biggest passion despite not having any industry connections.
Ryan learned that playing it safe may be comfortable but getting ahead in a competitive field requires the courage to put yourself out there. The gutsiness to take risks that allow you to grow, even if you fail, was a major mentality instilled by his dad. This has been invaluable for Ryan as he chose to step out of his comfort zone repeatedly in his films – whether pushing his body dramatically for roles or taking creative risks that pay off spectacularly in projects like Deadpool and Free Guy. The courage to take those leaps into the unknown stemmed greatly from his father’s own daringness that Ryan witnessed growing up.
The Purpose of Struggle
A final but profound lesson that James Reynolds imparted on Ryan was that struggles and setbacks always have a purpose – they build character and make you stronger. Having gone through economic difficulties and business ventures that didn’t pan out, his father taught him that the inevitable ups and downs of life should be embraced. Ryan spoke of how his dad helped him realize at a young age that struggles teach you important life lessons and enable you to grow.
Ryan has openly discussed his own mental health battles and struggles with anxiety earlier in his career. But his father’s wisdom about finding meaning in hardships gave him perspective during those low periods. It equipped him to see those down moments as opportunities to learn, evolve and develop the emotional tools to bounce back stronger. Ryan found purpose in those personal struggles thanks to his dad’s guidance. As he later shared, “Struggle is the best thing in life…if you take struggle away, you have no story to tell”. That crucial viewpoint on the essential role of difficulties – a narrative his father instilled about the inevitability and value of struggles – has shaped Reynolds’ resilience and growth mindset throughout his path.
Fatherly Wisdom for Success
From cultivating a tireless work ethic to maintaining humility despite fame to having the courage to take risks, Ryan Reynolds gained invaluable life lessons from his father’s own lived example. The principles and perspective James Reynolds taught a young Ryan had an instrumental impact in molding him into the grounded, resilient actor and entrepreneur he is today. Ryan acknowledges that his father’s wisdom and guidance were absolutely fundamental ingredients behind his success and growth into one of Hollywood’s most inspirational stars. The priceless lessons Reynolds learned from his dad about what matters most in life underpin not just his career accomplishments but also his mentality towards life’s ups and downs. It equipped Ryan to handle the rigors of show business with principles that kept him anchored through all the highs and lows. Years later, the greatest gifts from his father still steer Ryan Reynolds down the right path as he continues ascending to the peak of the entertainment world.