Early life

Kwanten was born in Sydney, Australia to Eddie Kwanten, a worker at NSW Maritime, and Kris, a lifeline op shop coordinator. His father is Dutch. Kwanten has two brothers, Mitchell, who is a musician and Lloyd, who is a doctor. He attended St Paul's College in Manly and later earned a degree in commerce from the University of Sydney.

Career

Kwanten began acting on the television shows A Country Practice, Hey Dad..! and Spellbinder. In 1997, he joined the cast of the Australian soap opera Home and Away, playing lifeguard Vinnie Patterson. He eventually chose to leave the series in 2002, shortly after his character married and became a father. Kwanten had previously guested on the serial as Robbie Taylor in 1994. Moving to the United States, Kwanten was cast as Jay Robertson in the Lori Loughlin-starring series Summerland, which ran from 2004 to 2005. He appeared in the films Flicka, with Maria Bello, Alison Lohman and Tim McGraw, and Dead Silence, a horror film in which he played the leading role.

Kwanten appeared in a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode that aired on 2 December 2008, in which he portrayed Dominic Pruitt, a US Marine Corps Master Sergeant accused of raping and murdering a fellow Marine and her unborn baby.

In 2009, he starred in the film Don't Fade Away with Mischa Barton and Beau Bridges.

In 2010, Kwanten role the voice of Kludd in the animated-epic film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.

Kwanten played the role of Jason Stackhouse in the HBO series True Blood, based on Charlaine Harris' The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels, which aired from 2008 until 2014. He stars in the psychological thriller Red Hill, which was directed by Patrick Hughes. Kwanten earned one of the lead roles in the Joe Lynch comedy-horror film Knights of Badassdom. In October 2010, it was announced that Kwanten will play Charles Manson in the upcoming, yet-to-be-titled biopic, directed by Brad Anderson.

In 2012, he appeared in MysteryGuitarMan's video "Dual Action". In 2013, Kwanten played Marvel character Eddie Brock/Venom in the short film Truth in Journalism and portrayed Conall in the action adventure film Northmen: A Viking Saga. In 2015 He played the voice of title character Blinky Bill in the animated film Blinky Bill the Movie.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Signal One	Kid
2002	Junction Boys, TheThe Junction Boys	Claude Gearheart	Television film
2003	Liquid Bridge	Nick McCallum
2004	American Brown	Ricky Brown
2006	Flicka	Howard McLaughlin
2007	Dead Silence	Jamie Ashen
2010	Red Hill	Shane Cooper
2010	Griff the Invisible	Griff
2010	Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole	Kludd (voice)
2010	Don't Fade Away	Jackson White
2012	Not Suitable for Children	Jonah
2013	Mystery Road	Pete Bailey
2013	Truth in Journalism	Eddie Brock/Venom	Short film
2013	Right Kind of Wrong, TheThe Right Kind of Wrong	Leo Palamino
2013	Knights of Badassdom	Joe
2014	7500	Brad Martin
2014	Rio, I Love You	Jai Arnott	Segment: "Acho Que Estou Apaixonado"
2014	Northmen: A Viking Saga	Conall
2014	Reach Me	Jack Burns
2015	Kidnapping Freddy Heineken	Jan "Cat" Boellard
2015	Blinky Bill the Movie	Blinky Bill (voice)
2015	Blunt Force Trauma	John	In post-production
TBA	Who Gets the Dog?	Clay Lonnergan	In post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, TheThe Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes	Stagecoach driver	Uncredited; episode: "The Boscombe Valley Mystery"
1992	Home and Away	Boogie boarder	Episode 1018
1992	Country Practice, AA Country Practice	Ben Lloyd	2 episodes
1993-94	G.P.	Scott Browning	2 episodes
1994	Home and Away	Robbie Taylor	Episode 1451
1994	Hey Dad..!	Richard	Episode: "Rebel Without a Clue"
1995	Echo Point	Nathan Potter	Unknown episodes
1996	Water Rats	Nipper	Episode: "Iron Man"
1997-2002	Home and Away	Vinnie Patterson	Role held: 14 July 1997 - 1 March 2002
1997	Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord	Josh Morgan	Main cast; 26 episodes
2003	Handler, TheThe Handler	Barnes	Episode: "Off the Edge"
2004	Tru Calling	Jake Voight	Episode: "Closure"
2004-05	Summerland	Jay Robertson	Main cast; 26 episodes
2008-14	True Blood	Jason Stackhouse	Main cast; 80 episodes
2008	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Master Sgt. Dominic Pruitt	Episode: "PTSD"
2012	New Girl	Oliver	Episode: "Valentine's Day"
2014	Jake and the Never Land Pirates	Brewster the Beast Trapper (voice)	Episode: "Tick Tock Trap"

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2009	Scream Award	Best Horror Actor	True Blood	Nominated
2009	Satellite Award	Best Ensemble, Television	True Blood	Won
2010	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	True Blood	Nominated
2010	Australians in Film	Breakthrough Award	N/A	Won
2010	Teen Choice Award	Choice TV Actor: Fantasy/Sci-Fi	True Blood	Nominated
2010	Australian Film Institute Award	Best Actor	True Blood	Nominated
2011	Film Critics Circle of Australia Award	Best Actor	Red Hill	Nominated

Charities

Ryan Kwanten supports the following charitable causes: AIDS, Cancer.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]