Biography
Shane Ryan-Reid began making films at the age of 7 after his father introduced him to video editing at the age of 5. He made action films in hopes to be like and appear in Jean-Claude Van Damme movies, but at the age of 14 he decided to delve into dramas and movies about troubled kids. Shane directed his own films simply as a means for being able to act and write. He never wanted to direct.
When Shane was 19 he saw Tim Roth's The War Zone (1999) and the explicit and confrontational Baise-moi (2000). After viewing such films he realized that he could have an impact with film-making in regards to issues like child abuse and sexual assault, in an effort to bring awareness and understanding to important topics through cinema. This caused Shane to become a controversial figure in his hometown when he began making violent films involving stories of sexual abuse. Soon followed underground and indie appeal via the internet before Shane debuted his first theatrical release in 2007. Academy Award nominated actress Lesley Ann Warren was so outraged by the promotional materials the Laemmle Theatres displayed of Shane's film that she successfully argued that his promotions be banned. In 2009 the mainstream news attacked Shane after he announced plans to make a movie about human trafficking and the Stockholm Syndrome, loosely inspired by the current real-life rescue of Jaycee Dugard, with Lia Marie Johnson set to star. Shane dropped the project to make My Name Is 'A' by Anonymous (2012), a film about convicted (then accused) killer Alyssa Bustamante. Shane called the media's treatment of Alyssa a "monstrous witch-hunt" (similar to what he had just gone through with the media), that focused more on sensationalizing the loss of two children than on trying to understand the reasons behind why it happened. He also made claims that he believed Alyssa "did not act alone" and/or might not have even committed the murder. Shane and Alyssa spoke briefly with each other, years after the murder and her conviction.
In 2014, director Albert Pyun (Cyborg (1989)) cast Shane in The Interrogation of Cheryl Cooper (2014) (his first leading role), which then landed him a role in Gregory Hatanaka's Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance (2015). In 2015 Shane directed and co-starred in American Virus (2015), co-writing the film with his lead actress, Miss Golden Globe Kathryn Eastwood (daughter of Clint Eastwood). In 2019 he starred in Choke (2020), a continuation of his character, Brandon, from his controversial debut feature film (this time with Hatanaka writing and directing the project). Since then Shane has gone on to land leading and supporting roles in over 35 films.
Around 2020 Shane began co-producing projects by other filmmakers, totaling more than 150 films by 2024. He's produced films with actors such as Shelley Duvall (in her return to cinema after a 21-year absence), 4-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris, Mindhunter (2017) star Holt McCallany, Uncharted (2022) star Sophia Ali, the final films of the late Tom Sizemore, the return of controversial 2-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey, 2024 Golden Globe nominee Alan Ruck (in his first performance since the end of the acclaimed HBO show, Succession (2018)), Oscar winners Richard Dreyfuss and Louis Gossett Jr., Oscar nominees Bruce Dern, Sally Kirkland, Peter Weller and Eric Roberts, Golden Globe nominees Malcolm McDowell, Lance Henriksen, Nancy Allen and Nikki Blonsky, the final film of Lance Kerwin, National Board of Review winner Bai Ling, Critics Choice Awards winner Jonathan Lipnicki, Screen Actors Guild Awards winner Eli Roth and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominee Lorelei Linklater, MTV Movie Awards nominee Tom Arnold, horror icons Lin Shaye (Insidious (2010)), Bonnie Aarons (The Nun (2018)) and Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)), 90's icons Devon Sawa (Eminem: E (2000)), Tara Reid (American Pie (1999)), Edward Furlong (Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)), Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs (1992)), Richard Grieco (21 Jump Street (1987)) and Jason Scott Lee (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)), 80's superstar Steve Guttenberg (Police Academy (1984), Short Circuit (1986)), Grammy Award winners 'Weird Al' Yankovic and Coolio, and many more. He's produced films alongside Academy Award-winning producer Jonathan Sanger (The Elephant Man (1980), Vanilla Sky (2001)), Dale Armin Johnson (Pawn Sacrifice (2014), The Lost City of Z (2016)), writer/producer John Fusco (Young Guns (1988), The Highwaymen (2019)), executive producer and showrunner Peter M. Lenkov (Magnum P.I. (2018), 24 (2001)), and Slipknot lead singer and Grammy Award winner Corey Taylor.
