RYAN REYNOLDS

Acting career spanning 30+ years — broke out with "Van Wilder" and became a global star with "Deadpool" ($782 million box office). Acquired an ownership stake in Aviation Gin in 2018 and starred in his own ads.

Sold Aviation Gin to Diageo in August 2020 for $610 million. Acquired an ownership stake in Mint Mobile in 2019 and became its creative director.

T-Mobile acquired Mint Mobile in 2023 for $1.35 billion — Reynolds' stake was reportedly worth $300+ million. Co-founded Maximum Effort Productions, his marketing and production company that creates viral campaigns for brands.

Co-purchased Wrexham AFC (Welsh football club) with Rob McElhenney in 2020 for $2.5 million — the team has since been promoted twice and the FX documentary "Welcome to Wrexham" became a hit. Also invested in 1Password, GroupNine Media, and several other tech companies.

Maximum Effort (founder), Mint Mobile (former owner), Aviation Gin (former owner), Wrexham AFC (co-owner), various investments

Brand-builder who takes equity positions. Reynolds doesn't just endorse companies — he buys significant stakes and then applies his creative genius to marketing them.

His approach: find undervalued brands in commodity markets (gin, mobile phones), inject personality and humor, grow them virally, then sell to strategic buyers. As an investor, he looks for products where his personal marketing can add measurable value.

Mint Mobile's $1.35 billion sale to T-Mobile. Reynolds acquired his stake for a fraction of that and applied Maximum Effort's marketing to grow the brand from obscure to ubiquitous.

Aviation Gin's $610 million sale to Diageo was also a home run. But the meta-win is proving that celebrity ownership (not endorsement) is the model — he made more from gin and phones than most actors make from entire careers.

Hard to find a clear miss. The Wrexham investment could theoretically struggle — football clubs are money pits.

Some of his smaller tech investments haven't been publicly successful. But Reynolds' track record is remarkably clean compared to most celebrity investors, mainly because he only bets on things he can directly influence through marketing.

Marketing is the product. Reynolds believes that in commodity markets, the brand story matters more than the product specs.

Gin is gin. Budget mobile service is budget mobile service.

The difference is how you make people feel about buying it. His philosophy: be genuinely funny, be self-aware, and never let the audience feel like they're being sold to.

Married to Blake Lively since 2012. Four children — James, Inez, Betty, and Olin.

Grew up in Vancouver, Canada. His father was a food wholesaler and his mother was a retail worker.

Has spoken about his lifelong struggle with anxiety.

Did not complete college. Attended Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Vancouver briefly before dropping out to pursue acting.

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