Ryan Spong

Ryan Michael Douglas Spong was born on March 18, 1992, in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. He is the son of Sharon, a receptionist, and Michael, a plasterer. He has a younger brother, Ben. His two middle names are completely coincidental and have no reference to the actor, Michael Douglas. He took the name 'Michael' from his father and granddad and 'Douglas' from his other granddad who died twelve years before he was born. As a young child, Ryan loved films and would repeatedly watch The Lion King, The Mask and surprisingly after much pleading, Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. His first experience of acting was in primary school when he played a dragon. He was repeatedly told to be quiet at home for practicing his roar because his parents had no idea that he was just rehearsing for an upcoming part. During secondary school, Ryan was more interested in sports than performing, captaining his school football and cricket teams. It was only in his final year that he got involved with the annual school play. At 16, Ryan began studying Performing Arts at Wiltshire College, Trowbridge but dropped out at 18, just three months before finishing his second year because he started auditioning for various projects and wanted to focus on acting work. He worked on a couple feature films and short films before making the move to London in 2012 on the day of the Olympics opening ceremony. Shortly after arriving in London, he booked his first TV commercial for the UK Home Office and MTV working on an abuse awareness campaign to help prevent abuse in teenage relationships. He then went on to shoot campaigns for various brands including Proximus, Snickers, Popchips and Tog 24. To make money in between acting jobs, he would sometimes take random jobs abroad to satisfy his need for adventure and indulge in the different experiences life has to offer. One of these jobs took him to Finland for five weeks as an activity guide driving elves and families to various locations, creating fires in the snow and leading snowmobile excursions through the forest. Another job took him to France for six weeks to work on the horse team in the small north-central village of Fontaine-Le-Port.