The Life Story of Hollywood Icon Ryan Reynolds

Everything started with a clunker. In 1996, Reynolds and fellow actor Chris William Martin packed a beat-up jeep and drove from Vancouver to Los Angeles with little more than hope and $600. The vehicle broke down en route—literally in the middle of the highway—but they pushed onward.

The plan wasn’t perfect, the car certainly wasn’t, and they had no job waiting. But the desperation to succeed eclipsed the fear of failure. That cross-border trip marked the first real risk of his adult life, and the first time he truly gambled on himself. Spoiler: it paid off.