Ryan Phillippe was born in New Castle, Delaware. His mother, Susan, ran a day care center in the family's house; his father, Richard Phillippe, was a chemist. Phillippe has three sisters, and is of part French descent. He graduated from Barbizon in Wilmington, Delaware.
As an actor, Phillippe appeared as Billy Douglas on the soap opera One Life to Live (1992–1993) and made his feature film debut in Crimson Tide (1995), he had starring roles in I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), 54 (1998), Playing by Heart (1998), and Cruel Intentions (1999). Outside of film, Phillippe appeared in the lead role of Bob Lee Swagger on USA Network's Shooter (2016–2018), as Ben Crawford in the ABC series, Secrets and Lies (2015) and set the plot in the first episode of ABC's Big Sky (2020).
