Ryan Reynolds has talked about hating his first professional acting job on a teen soap opera for Nickelodeon. The star, known for his role as Deadpool, revealed this on television. The experience was so negative it made him quit acting for a time. He took other jobs before deciding to try acting again. This early chapter is a surprising part of his path to becoming a major Hollywood star.
Ryan Reynolds Started on a Show Called “Fifteen”
Ryan Reynolds’s first major role was on a Canadian teen drama series. The show was called “Hillside” in Canada, but Nickelodeon renamed it “Fifteen” for audiences in the United States. It aired in the 1990s. The series focused on a group of high school students dealing with typical and serious teen issues.
On the show, Reynolds played a character named Billy Simpson. Billy was a teenager dealing with his parents’ divorce. His story involved struggling with this and other challenges during his high school years. This role was very different from the funny, sarcastic characters Ryan Reynolds is famous for today.
Why Ryan Reynolds Hated the Experience
Ryan Reynolds openly shared his feelings about working on “Fifteen.” During a 2016 appearance on the talk show “Live with Kelly and Michael,” he did not hold back. He stated clearly, “I hated it there”. The negative experience had a big impact on his early career plans.
Because he disliked it so much, he decided to stop acting for a while after the show. He left the entertainment industry to work regular jobs. “After that, I ended up working at a warehouse, and I worked at a restaurant for two years,” he explained. This break from acting was a direct result of his unhappiness with that first professional role.
Looking back, Reynolds has also suggested a positive side to this difficult start. He believes stepping away from acting as a teenager might have helped him avoid common pitfalls. He said the break may have stopped him from becoming “a child actor with some depraved drug addiction”. He views the time he spent away from Hollywood as a valuable, grounding experience.
The Paycheck and the Paradox of His Role
Despite hating the job, there were a couple of bright spots for the young actor. One was the paycheck. For a teenager in the 1990s, the money felt huge. He remembered being paid “150 bucks per episode,” which made him feel like a “gajillionaire” at the time. It was also a chance to get out of the house and do something different every day.
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There is an interesting contradiction surrounding his time on the show. In interviews, Reynolds has talked about leaving acting after “Fifteen” for a two-year break. However, records show he was actually on the show for its entire four-season run. He also worked on other projects like the movie “Ordinary Magic” soon after. This means his break from acting might not have been as long or as immediate as his memory suggests. It seems the job he hated did not completely stop his career.
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