Ryan Reynolds was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, into a Catholic family of Irish origins, the youngest of four children of wholesale food salesman James Chester Reynolds and shop assistant Tamara Lee Stewart. After graduating from Kitsilano Secondary School in 1994, he then enrolled at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, but ended up dropping out so he could dedicate himself to studying dramatic art.

From 2002 to February 2007 he was romantically linked to the Canadian singer Alanis Morissette; She stated that her album Flavors of Entanglement focuses on the end of her relationship with Reynolds, especially the track Torch. On 27 September 2008 he married the actress Scarlett Johansson; the couple separated in December 2010, then divorced in July 2011. On 9 September 2012 he married the actress and model Blake Lively, whom he met on the set of the film Green Lantern. The couple has four children.

While filming the film Deadpool, following a recommendation from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, he met a child suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma on the set and entertained him. Even on the set of Deadpool 2 there was no shortage of young guests welcomed by Reynolds again in collaboration with Make-A-Wish America and Children's Wish Foundation.