Ryan Phillippe

Matthew 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 films, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions, and 54. In the 2000s, he appeared in several films, including 2001's Academy Award Best Picture nominee Gosford Park, 2005's 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, while in 2008 he headlined Kimberly Peirce's Iraq war film Stop-Loss. In 2010, he starred as Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer Greg Marinovich in The Bang-Bang Club.

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. Phillippe is of French descent. He has three sisters. He 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.

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 more than 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 marriage officially ended on October 5, 2007, with final divorce arrangements settled on June 13, 2008, according to court documents. The couple have joint custody of their children.

In 2007, Phillippe began dating Australian actress Abbie Cornish, whom he had met the previous year while filming Stop-Loss. On February 21, 2010, Cornish's publicist announced that Phillippe and Cornish had ended their relationship.

Phillippe is a Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Flyers, and Philadelphia 76ers fan. He is also an avid Howard Stern listener. During his interviews on The Howard Stern Show he has made several references to the show's history, showing that he is a "super fan."

As of 2011 he is dating actress Amanda Seyfried.

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No one has traveled

the road of success

without ever

crossing the street

of failures

God never

promised us an

easy journey in life

only a safe arrival...