Jake Ryan (born August 26, 2003) is an American actor. He has appeared in the

Wes Anderson Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. Wes Anderson filmography, His films are known for themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Due to his films' eccentricity, distinctive visual and narrative ...

films ''

Moonrise Kingdom ''Moonrise Kingdom'' is a 2012 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson, written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, and starring Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, ...

'' (2012) and ''

Asteroid City ''Asteroid City'' is a 2023 American Science fiction film, science fiction comedy drama film written, directed, and produced by Wes Anderson, from a story he wrote with Roman Coppola. It features an ensemble cast, including Jason Schwartzman, ...

'' (2023) as well as

Bo Burnham Robert Pickering Burnham (born August 21, 1990) is an American stand-up comedian, musician, actor, filmmaker, and YouTuber. Burnham's work combines elements of filmmaking with Comedy music, music, Sketch comedy, sketch, and stand-up comedy, co ...

's film '' Eighth Grade'' (2018) and

Nasim Pedrad Nasim Pedrad (; born November 18, 1981) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy and variety series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2009 to 2014. She later went on to star in the Fox sitcoms '' Mulaney'' ( ...

's sitcom ''

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

'' (2021–2024).

Career

Ryan took up acting at age five as a hobby, which turned into a job. He made his film debut in the horror film '' The Innkeepers'' (2011). He began a long-running collaboration with the

auteur An (; , ) is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded and personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, thus manifesting the director's unique style or thematic ...

filmmaker

at age seven when he was cast as a young camper in ''

'' (2012), partly because he could play piano. He felt "cozy" on set with Anderson and kept in touch with him by email. In March 2012, an eight-year-old Ryan narrated, and got a writing credit on, a one-minute

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

advertisement for

Sony Mobile Sony Mobile Communications Inc., originally Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, was a Multinational corporation, multinational consumer electronics and telecommunications company, best known for its Mobile phones, mobile phone products. The ...

that was directed by Anderson. He also appeared in a promotional short for ''Moonrise Kingdom'' (opposite

Jason Schwartzman Jason Schwartzman (born June 26, 1980) is an American actor, musician, and member of the Coppola family. Schwartzman made his film debut in Wes Anderson's 1998 film '' Rushmore'', and has since appeared in six other Anderson films: '' The Darjee ...

) and in commentary for the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of arthouse film distributo ...

releases of '' Fantastic Mr. Fox'' and ''Moonrise Kingdom''. In the following years, Ryan had small parts in the

Coen brothers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, together known as the Coen brothers (), are an American filmmaking duo. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. Among their most acclaimed works are '' Blood Simple'' (198 ...

' ''

Inside Llewyn Davis ''Inside Llewyn Davis'' () is a 2013 period black comedy drama film written, directed, produced, and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen. Set in 1961, the film follows one week in the life of Llewyn Davis, played by Oscar Isaac in his breakthrough ...

'' (2013), Anderson's ''

Isle of Dogs The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England. It includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Haml ...

'' (2018), and the

Safdie brothers Josh Safdie, Joshua Henry Safdie (born April 3, 1984) and Benny Safdie, Benjamin Safdie (born February 24, 1986) are independent American filmmakers and actors based in New York City, who frequently collaborate on their films. They are best know ...

' ''

Uncut Gems ''Uncut Gems'' is a 2019 American crime thriller film directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ronald Bronstein. It stars Adam Sandler, LaKeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel, and Eric Bogosian ...

'' (2019). In

's '' Eighth Grade'' (2018), he played a "scene-stealing" boy who takes the main character, Kayla, on a date over

chicken nugget A chicken nugget is a food product consisting of a small piece of deboned chicken meat that is breaded or battered, then deep-fried or baked. Developed in the 1950s by finding a way to make a coating adhere, chicken nuggets have become a ver ...

s and imitates ''

Rick and Morty ''Rick and Morty'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated science fiction Animated sitcom, sitcom created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The series follows the misadvent ...

''; the young actor found watching himself in the film cringeworthy. He began co-starring with

in the TBS sitcom ''

'' in April 2021. In 2023, Ryan reunited with Anderson and Schwartzman in ''

'', playing the dual roles of awkward teenage brainiac Woodrow Steenbeck and an actor

understudy In theatre, an understudy, referred to in opera as cover or covering, is a performer who learns the lines and blocking or choreography of a regular actor, actress, or other performer in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to ap ...

ing for the part of Woodrow in a play.

Personal life

Ryan was homeschooled on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, New York, from second grade. He took improvisational comedy classes with the

Upright Citizens Brigade The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Amy Poehler, Matthew Walsh, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, ...

in New York from age 15.

Filmography

Film

Television

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Jake Living people 2003 births 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American male television actors People from Long Island Male actors from New York City