Ryan Christian Kwanten was born on November 28th, 1976 in Sydney, Australia. Back when Ryan was 12 years old he was surfing and was attacked by a shark.

“I was surfing on my local break and was at the top of the wave and fell and went to pull my arm out and it didn’t come out, so I yanked it out and blood spurted everywhere,” Kwanten recalls. “I felt something between my legs and got on my board and paddled in, and I see the life guard running down. It made the local paper.”

If it wasn’t for some luck and quick thinking he could have died that day. His love for surfing was strong and at 12 years old he didn’t hold him back. He was back in the water the next day.

Ryan Kwanten was a very athletic teen, plating tennis, golfing, biathlons and he loved surfing. His father worked for NSW Maritime, maritime safety, and his mother worked for Australian crisis-support organization. He was discovered when Ryan and his mother dropped of his brother off at an acting audition at an acting agency.

He landed his first role when he was 16 years old on an Australian TV show called A Country Practice. He also played Vinnie Patterson from 1997 to 2002 on the Australian soap-opera Home and Away. He later moved to the United States and landed work on the show Summerland in 2004. Ryan Kwanten is best known for his role in the hit HBO series, True Blood, playing the role of Jason Stackhouse from 2008-2014.

Haha – love this movie! #nerdsunite