Ryan Christian Kwanten (born 28 November 1976) is an Australian actor and producer. He played Vinnie Patterson from 1997 to 2002 in the Australian

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio drama ...

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a tri ...

''. After his stint ended, he joined the American teen drama series '' Summerland'', portraying Jay Robertson. From 2008 to 2014, he played

Jason Stackhouse Jason Stackhouse is a fictional character from ''The Southern Vampire Mysteries'' book series by author Charlaine Harris. Introduced in the first novel, ''Dead Until Dark'', Jason is Sookie Stackhouse's older brother and road crew supervisor for ...

in '' True Blood''. From 2018 to 2019 he produced and starred in the

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and comb ...

series '' The Oath'' as Steve Hammond. In 2021 he starred in season one of the horror drama

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...

Them Them or THEM, a third-person plural accusative personal pronoun, may refer to: Books * ''Them'' (novel), 3rd volume (1969) in American Joyce Carol Oates' ''Wonderland Quartet'' * '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'', 2003 non-fiction by Wels ...

'' as George Bell.

Early life

Kwanten was born one of three brothers in

Terrigal Terrigal is a coastal town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, located east of Gosford on the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the local government area. History Terrigal was first settled in 1826 by European Settler John Gray, ...

, New South Wales. The boys were raised by mother Kris, a Lifeline op shop coordinator, and father Eddie Kwanten, a worker at

NSW Maritime NSW Maritime, the trading name of Maritime Authority of New South Wales, was an agency of the Government of New South Wales, Australia responsible for marine safety, regulation of commercial and recreational boating and oversight of port operati ...

. Eddie is Dutch. Ryan's brothers are Mitchell, a musician, and Lloyd, a doctor. Ryan attended St Paul's Catholic College in Manly and later earned a degree in commerce from The University of Sydney.

Career

Kwanten began acting on the television shows ''

A Country Practice ''A Country Practice'' is an Australian television soap opera which broadcast on the Seven Network from 18 November 1981 until 5 November 1993, airing at 7:30 pm on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Altogether, 14 seasons and 1,058 episodes were p ...

'', '' Hey Dad..!'' and '' Spellbinder''. In 1997, he joined the cast of the Australian soap opera ''

'', playing lifeguard Vinnie Patterson. He eventually chose to leave the series in 2002, shortly after his character married and became a father. Kwanten had previously guest starred on the serial as Robbie Taylor in 1994. Moving to the United States, Kwanten was cast as Jay Robertson in '' Summerland'' (2004–05). He appeared in the films '' Flicka'' (2006), with Maria Bello, Alison Lohman and

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, four for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those alb ...

, and '' Dead Silence'' (2007), a horror film in which he played the leading role, Jamie Ashen. Kwanten appeared in a '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' episode that aired on 2 December 2008, in which he portrayed Dominic Pruitt, a US Marine Corps Master Sergeant accused of raping and murdering a pregnant fellow Marine. In 2009, he starred in the film ''

Don't Fade Away ''Don't Fade Away'' is a 2011 coming-of-age drama film starring Mischa Barton and Ryan Kwanten. The film was produced by Origin Entertainment Group and was shot in Los Angeles and North Carolina. It was released on DVD in Australia on April 6, 201 ...

'' with

Mischa Barton Mischa Anne Marsden Barton (born 24 January 1986) is a British-American film, television, and stage actress. She began her career on the stage, appearing in Tony Kushner's '' Slavs!'' and took the lead in James Lapine's ''Twelve Dreams'' at Ne ...

and Beau Bridges. In 2010, Kwanten voiced the role of Kludd in the animated-epic film '' Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole'', although he was originally set to voice the film's protagonist Sorren before the role went to Jim Sturgess. Kwanten played the role of

in the HBO series '' True Blood'', based on Charlaine Harris's '' The Southern Vampire Mysteries'' series of novels, which aired from 2008 until 2014. In 2010 he starred in the psychological thriller '' Red Hill'', which was directed by Patrick Hughes. He won a lead role in the 2013 Joe Lynch comedy-horror film '' Knights of Badassdom'' along with Steve Zahn,

Summer Glau Summer Lyn Glau (; born July 24, 1981) is an American actress best known for her roles in science fiction and fantasy television series: as River Tam in ''Firefly'' (2002) and its continuation film ''Serenity'' (2005), as Tess Doerner in ''The ...

and Peter Dinklage. In October 2010, it was announced that Kwanten will play

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...

in an upcoming, yet-to-be-titled biopic, to be directed by Brad Anderson. In 2012, he appeared in

Joe Penna Jônatas "Joe" de Moura Penna (born May 29, 1987) is a Brazilian musician and filmmaker best known from both his YouTube channel MysteryGuitarMan and his feature films. He resides in Los Angeles, California. YouTube Penna maintains the YouTub ...

's video "Dual Action". In 2013, Kwanten played Marvel character "Venom" in the short film '' Truth in Journalism'' and portrayed Conall in the 2014 action adventure film '' Northmen: A Viking Saga''. In 2015, Kwanten voiced the role of Blinky Bill, a koala in '' Blinky Bill the Movie'' alongside Rufus Sewell,

Toni Collette Toni Collette Galafassi (born Toni Collett; 1 November 1972) is an Australian actress, producer, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work in television and independent films, she has received various accolades throughout her career, inclu ...

, Robin McLeavy, David Wenham, Richard Roxburgh, Deborah Mailman, and Barry Humphries. In 2019, Kwanten was a series regular in the second season of Blumhouse Television and Facebook Watch's '' Sacred Lies: The Singing Bones'', playing the character of Peter Wolfe, an

inmate A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

and the estranged father of the series'

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

, Elsie, played by Jordan Alexander. The series takes inspiration from a

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cult ...

as well as real-life murder cases. From 2018-2019 he produced and starred in the

series '' The Oath'' as Steve Hammond. His most recent roles include '' 2067'', an Australian-American science fiction film in which he plays Jude Mathers and 2021's ''

'', as milkman George Bell.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
From vampires to superheroes: Ryan Kwanten talks 'Griff the Invisible
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwanten, Ryan 1976 births 20th-century Australian male actors 21st-century Australian male actors Australian expatriate male actors in the United States Australian male film actors Australian male voice actors Australian male soap opera actors Australian male television actors Australian people of Dutch descent Living people Male actors from Sydney University of Sydney alumni Australian male child actors Blinky Bill