Ryan Simpkins
Birthdate: Mar 28, 1998
Birthplace: Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Ryan Simpkins (birthname: Ryan Elise Simpkins) is a versatile actor who has been at the forefront—as nonbinary and trans--of Young Hollywood’s support of queer and trans rights and visibility. (Simpkins goes by both they/them and she/her pronouns; pronoun appellation will thus alternate in this biography out of respect for Simpkins’ preferred identifiers.)
Simpkins gained their first big-screen role at age eight, when they moved to California to pursue an acting and modeling career, and a year after they performed on Broadway, with director-writer Laurie Collyer’s drama, Sherrybaby (2006), starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Brad William Henke, Giancarlo Esposito, and Danny Trejo, and which premiered at the Sundance film festival. Simpkins had a supporting role in writer-director Damian Harris’s drama, Gardens of the Night (2008), with Gillian Jacobs, Jeremy Sisto, Harold Perrineau, John Malkovich, and Tom Arnold, and which premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival.
Ryan Simpkins landed a role in director-writer Gavin O’Connor’s NYPD crime drama, Pride and Glory (2008), starring Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, Noah Emmerich, and Jennifer Ehle, and which was released to a mixed reception by Warner Bros. Simpkins played one of Kate Winslet’s and Leonardo DiCaprio’s daughters in Revolutionary Road (2008), director Sam Mendes’ fine adaptation of Richard Yates’ modern literary classic, with Michael Shannon, Kathryn Hahn, David Harbour, and Kathy Bates, and earned three Oscar nominations and $80 million in grosses for Paramount Pictures.
Simpkins brought her talents to the indie thriller by co-writer/director Jennifer Lynch, Surveillance (2008), starring Bill Pullman, Julia Ormond, Pell James, Michael Ironside, and French Stewart, and which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival before release by Arclight Films. Simpkins was part of the ensemble of A Single Man (2009), director/co-writer Tom Ford’s adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel, with Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, Nicholas Hoult, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival before released by The Weinstein Company, grossing an excellent $25 million globally.
Ryan Simpkins was cast by filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola for the horror movie, Twixt (2011), with Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern, Elle Fanning, and Ben Chaplin, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and then finally received a delayed theatrical release under the title, B’Twixt Now and Sunrise, in 2022. Simpkins had their first starring role in director-writer Tamar Halpern’s big-screen adaptation of Wendy Mass’s children’s novel, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life (2012), co-starring Maxwell Beer.
Simpkins co-starred with brother Ty Simpkins and John Hawkes in indie filmmaker Olivia Silver’s drama, Arcadia (2012), premiering to acclaim at the Berlin Film Festival and released by Film Movement. Simpkins had her first solo starring role in a feature in director/writer/producer Sonny Mallhi’s psychological horror movie, Anguish (2015), with Annika Marks, and which premiered at the Fantasia film festival.
Ryan Simpkins took on a supporting role in the comedy-drama, Brigsby Bear (2017), with co-writer Kyle Mooney leading a cast including Claire Danes, Mark Hamill, Greg Kinnear, Andy Samberg, and Matt Walsh, under Dave McCary’s direction, which premiered at the Sundance film festival before release by Sony Pictures Classics to little business. Simpkins was then cast for the comedy, The House (2017), starring Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Nick Kroll, and Jeremy Renner under co-writer Andrew Jay Cohen’s direction, and released to poor returns by Warner Bros.
Simpkins co-starred with Ariela Barer, Annalise Basso, Odessa Adlon, Maya Hawke, and Tatsumi Romano in co-writer/director Amanda Kramer’s Ladyworld (2018), a free, all-female version of William Goldman’s modern classic, Lord of the Flies, and which premiered at Fantastic Fest and was released by Cleopatra Entertainment. Simpkins had their first male role in filmmaker Amanda Kramer’s musical drama, Please Baby Please (2022), starring Andrea Riseborough, Harry Melling, Karl Glusman, Demi Moore, and Jake Choi, and premiering International Film Festival Rotterdam, and released by Music Box Films.
Ryan Simpkins then co-starred in The Exorcism (2024), with Russell Crowe, Sam Worthington, Adam Goldberg, Chloe Bailey, Adrian Pasdar, and David Hyde Pierce under co-writer Joshua John Miller’s direction, and which was released wide by Vertical. Simpkins reunited with director Tamar Halpern for the drama, Wake (date to be announced), starring Kathy Baker, Melina Kanakaredes, and Len Cariou.
Personal Details
Ryan Simpkins was born and raised in New York City by parents Monique and Stephen. Simpkins has an older brother, and younger brother, actor Ty Simpkins. Simpkin’s height is 5’ 6”.
Filmography
actor
Previous (18)
- 2024 | The ExorcismasLee Miller
The Exorcism
A troubled actor begins to exhibit a disruptive behavior while shooting a horror film. His estranged daughter wonders if he's slipping back into his past addictions or if there's something more sinister at play.
- 2023 | Edge of Everything
- 2023 | Please Baby PleaseasDickie
Please Baby Please
Newlyweds Suze and Arthur become the dangerous obsession of a greaser gang that awakens a sleeping quandary into the couple's sexual and gender identities.
- 2021 | Fear Street: Part Two - 1978as Alice
- 2021 | Fear Street Part Three: 1666
Fear Street Part Three: 1666
The origins of Sarah Fier's curse are finally revealed as history comes full circle on a night that changes the lives of Shadysiders forever.
- 2018 | Ladyworld
- 2018 | Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town
Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town
A woman at rock bottom must find her way across Los Angeles in order to crash her ex-boyfriend's engagement party.
- 2017 | Brigsby BearasAubrey Pope
Brigsby Bear
After being freed from his life in an underground bunker, a man sets out to make a movie of the only TV show he has ever known.
- 2017 |
- 2015 | Anguish
- 2015 | Hangman
- 2013 | Wake
- 2012 | Arcadia
- 2011 | Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life
- 2009 | A Single Manas Jennifer Strunk
- 2008 | Gardens of the Night
- 2008 | Revolutionary Roadas Jennifer Wheeler
- 2006 | Sherrybaby
Some Facts About Ryan Simpkins
Beyond Gender: Ryan Simpkins came out as bisexual and nonbinary in 2020 and also identifies as queer, and goes by both she/her and they/them pronouns. She has also embraced transgender identity, noting that gender is a social construct.
Like Brother, Like Brother: Simpkins’s older brother did child modeling, and they took on the profession and expanded into acting as a child. Simpkins’s younger brother, Ty, in turn, followed older sibling Ryan’s footsteps into acting.
Baseball Fans: Ryan Simpkins was named for ace pitcher Nolan Ryan, just as her brother Ty was named for legendary ballplayer Ty Cobb.
Roles and Gender: Simpkins is an interesting example of a young actor who has never identified in strict gender roles as a person, and yet has almost always been cast in female roles in the movies.
