Ryan Merriman

Ryan Earl Merriman (born April 10, 1983) is an American film and television actor. He began his career at the age of ten, and has appeared in several feature films and television shows. He is best known for his roles as Jake in The Ring Two (2005) and Kevin Fischer in Final Destination 3 (2006).

Background

Merriman was born in Choctaw, Oklahoma, the son of Earl and Nonalyn Merriman.^[2][3] He has a sister, Monica. At a young age, he began acting in commercials, print work, vocal performances, and local theater (Stage Struck Studios) in Oklahoma.

Career

Merriman's first major role was on the television series, The Mommies, which ran from 1993 to 1995. During the mid and late 1990s, he appeared in most episodes of The Pretender as a younger version of the title character. Merriman has starred in several made-for-television films, including Smart House, The Luck of the Irish (2001), and as a young Meyer Lansky in Lansky. He appeared in the 1999 feature film The Deep End of the Ocean, playing the lost son of Michelle Pfeiffer's character, and subsequently starred as the main character, a Jewish boy from the Bronx, in the film Just Looking, which received a limited theatrical release in 2000. In 2002 he played the Madeleine L'Engle character Adam Eddington in another Disney Channel original movie, A Ring of Endless Light. In the years following, Merriman returned to television roles, and appeared in Dangerous Child, co-starring Delta Burke, the mini-series Taken (2003–04), and a guest role on Smallville in 2004.

Merriman's roles include the horror films Halloween: Resurrection (2002), The Ring Two (2005) and Final Destination 3 (2006). He is one of the leads of Home of the Giants, a high school drama co-starring Haley Joel Osment and Danielle Panabaker. He appeared in the CBS mini-series Comanche Moon, in January 2008. He played the lead role of Henry Dunn in the original pilot presentation for Harper's Island, but was replaced by Christopher Gorham when the pilot was ordered to series by CBS.

From 2010 to 2012, Merriman portrayed Ian Thomas on ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars.

In 2012 he starred on the 16th episode of Season 2 in Hawaii Five-0 as Dennis Mack.

Dwight H. Little wanted Merriman to play Jin Kazama in his movie Tekken, but Merriman turned it down, so the role went to John Foo. He did, however, star in the Hallmark Channel original movie Elevator Girl as the male protagonist Jonathan, the young successful lawyer who finds himself falling for a free-spirited young woman who is way below his pay grade. In 2011 Merriman appeared in The 5th Quarter, a feature film about the surprising 2006 football season of Wake Forest University, as the team's star linebacker Jon Abbate.

Personal life

Married a woman named Micol Duncan in 2004, divorced after seven years of marriage in 2011.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

• Official website
• Ryan Merriman at the Internet Movie Database