Ryan Guzman

Ryan Guzman was born on September 21, 1987, in Abilene, Texas, to Ray Guzman and Lisa Guzman, née Hudson. His father is a Mexican immigrant who later settled in Texas while his mother is of English, German, French, Dutch, and Swedish ancestry. He has a younger brother named Steven.

When he was quite young, he relocated to Sacramento, California, where his mother had been born. Guzman received his high school education at the West Campus High School. After he graduated in 2005, he enrolled at Sierra College, in Rocklin, California, where he played baseball. He even harboured major league baseball aspirations but he hurt his arm and had to undergo a surgery, which effectively ended his prospect in the sport.

Besides baseball, Guzman was also interested in martial arts since he was a child. He started practising when he was seven years old and by the time he turned 11, he was already a black belt in Taekwondo. He continued to be involved in mixed martial arts as he grew up and eventually turned professional. He originally moved to Los Angeles to pursue the sport as a career but after his modelling career took off, he let his fighting license expire. However, he does have plans to return to MMA eventually. From 2013 to 2015, Guzman dated model Melanie Iglesias.

At the age of 18, Ryan Guzman decided to try modelling. He took part in commercial campaigns for Old Navy, Gillette, Candies, and the OWN Network and was a model for Abercrombie & Fitch, Affliction, and Reebok, among others. He subsequently hired a talent manager for a potential acting career.

It proved to be a smart decision as within a few months, he got the part of Sean Asa in the fourth instalment in the Step Up film series, ‘Step Up Revolution’ (2012). While Guzman had previously appeared in two movies, ‘72 Hours with the Empire’ and ‘Made in Hollywood: Teen Edition’, this was the first time he was playing a character. ‘Step Up Revolution’ was a commercial success, earning over $140 million at the box office. He reprised the role in the next film of the franchise, ‘Step Up: All In’ (2014).

After his impressive acting debut, Guzman guest-starred in the comedy show ‘Cameras’. He worked in his first television film in 2012 as well. Directed by Ryan Shiraki, ‘Ladies' Man: A Made Movie’ also starred Dave Davis, Melia Renee, and Molly Burnett. This is his only work where he chose to be credited by his full name, Ryan Anthony Guzman.

Guzman was part of the cast of Freeform’s ‘Pretty Little Liars’ in the season four of the show. He played a character named Jake, a martial arts instructor in Rosewood, who dates the series’ protagonist, Aria Montgomery (Lucy Hale), briefly.

In the 2014 comedy drama ‘There's Always Woodstock’, he worked with Allison Miller, Jason Ritter, and Brittany Snow. He was cast as Alex Stone in the action adventure ‘April Rain’. In 2015, Guzman played the young lover of a recently-separated woman (Jennifer Lopez) in the romance thriller ‘The Boy Next Door’ and an idealistic music producer in ‘Jem and the Holograms’. That year, he also played Carlos Gutierrez / El Vengador in the miniseries ‘Heroes Reborn’, a continuation of NBC’s science fiction drama series ‘Heroes’ (2006-10).