Matthew Ryan Phillippe was born on September 10th 1974 in
Delaware, USA. His acting career began with the soap opera One Life to Live where he played Billy Douglas (1992-1993). This was quite a debut for the eighteen year old, as he was playing the first gay teenager on US daytime television.

Ryan's impressive performance led to small roles in major motion pictures such as Crimson Tide (1995) and White Squall (1996).

In 1997 he captured one of the lead roles in the popular horror movie I Know What You Did Last Summer. The following year he he gave his most famous performance to date as Sebastian Valmont in the film Cruel Intentions

Since then Ryan has appeared in numerous successful movies including Gosford Park (2001), Igby Goes Down (2002) and most recently the award winning Crash (2004)

Ryan Phillippe is married to the actress Reese Witherspoon (5 June 1999 - present) and the couple have two children - daughter Ava Elizabeth Phillippe born 9th September 1999 and son Deacon Phillippe born October 23rd 2003.