Ryan Simpkins

Ryan Simpkins (birthname: Ryan Elise Simpkins) is a versatile actor who has been at the forefront—as nonbinary and trans–of Young Hollywood’s support of queer and trans rights and visibility. (Simpkins goes by both they/them and she/her pronouns; pronoun appellation will thus alternate in this biography out of respect for Simpkins’ preferred identifiers.)

Simpkins gained their first big-screen role at age eight, when they moved to California to pursue an acting and modeling career, and a year after they performed on Broadway, with director-writer Laurie Collyer’s drama, Sherrybaby (2006), starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Brad William Henke, Giancarlo Esposito, and Danny Trejo, and which premiered at the Sundance film festival. Simpkins had a supporting role in writer-director Damian Harris’s drama, Gardens of the Night (2008), with Gillian Jacobs, Jeremy Sisto, Harold Perrineau, John Malkovich, and Tom Arnold, and which premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival.

Ryan Simpkins landed a role in director-writer Gavin O’Connor’s NYPD crime drama, Pride and Glory (2008), starring Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, Noah Emmerich, and Jennifer Ehle, and which was released to a mixed reception by Warner Bros. Simpkins played one of Kate Winslet’s and Leonardo DiCaprio’s daughters in Revolutionary Road (2008), director Sam Mendes’ fine adaptation of Richard Yates’ modern literary classic, with Michael Shannon, Kathryn Hahn, David Harbour, and Kathy Bates, and earned three Oscar nominations and $80 million in grosses for Paramount Pictures.

Simpkins brought her talents to the indie thriller by co-writer/director Jennifer Lynch, Surveillance (2008), starring Bill Pullman, Julia Ormond, Pell James, Michael Ironside, and French Stewart, and which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival before release by Arclight Films. Simpkins was part of the ensemble of A Single Man (2009), director/co-writer Tom Ford’s adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel, with Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, Nicholas Hoult, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival before released by The Weinstein Company, grossing an excellent $25 million globally.

Ryan Simpkins was cast by filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola for the horror movie, Twixt (2011), with Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern, Elle Fanning, and Ben Chaplin, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and then finally received a delayed theatrical release under the title, B’Twixt Now and Sunrise, in 2022. Simpkins had their first starring role in director-writer Tamar Halpern’s big-screen adaptation of Wendy Mass’s children’s novel, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life (2012), co-starring Maxwell Beer.

Simpkins co-starred with brother Ty Simpkins and John Hawkes in indie filmmaker Olivia Silver’s drama, Arcadia (2012), premiering to acclaim at the Berlin Film Festival and released by Film Movement. Simpkins had her first solo starring role in a feature in director/writer/producer Sonny Mallhi’s psychological horror movie, Anguish (2015), with Annika Marks, and which premiered at the Fantasia film festival.

Ryan Simpkins took on a supporting role in the comedy-drama, Brigsby Bear (2017), with co-writer Kyle Mooney leading a cast including Claire Danes, Mark Hamill, Greg Kinnear, Andy Samberg, and Matt Walsh, under Dave McCary’s direction, which premiered at the Sundance film festival before release by Sony Pictures Classics to little business. Simpkins was then cast for the comedy, The House (2017), starring Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Nick Kroll, and Jeremy Renner under co-writer Andrew Jay Cohen’s direction, and released to poor returns by Warner Bros.

Simpkins co-starred with Ariela Barer, Annalise Basso, Odessa Adlon, Maya Hawke, and Tatsumi Romano in co-writer/director Amanda Kramer’s Ladyworld (2018), a free, all-female version of William Goldman’s modern classic, Lord of the Flies, and which premiered at Fantastic Fest and was released by Cleopatra Entertainment. Simpkins had their first male role in filmmaker Amanda Kramer’s musical drama, Please Baby Please (2022), starring Andrea Riseborough, Harry Melling, Karl Glusman, Demi Moore, and Jake Choi, and premiering International Film Festival Rotterdam, and released by Music Box Films.

Ryan Simpkins then co-starred in The Exorcism (2024), with Russell Crowe, Sam Worthington, Adam Goldberg, Chloe Bailey, Adrian Pasdar, and David Hyde Pierce under co-writer Joshua John Miller’s direction, and which was released wide by Vertical. Simpkins reunited with director Tamar Halpern for the drama, Wake (date to be announced), starring Kathy Baker, Melina Kanakaredes, and Len Cariou.