Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Ryan is a writer for film and television, living between Los Angeles and Vancouver. Winner of the ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship and an Austin Film Festival Semifinalist for his historical drama, "Jacaranda," Ryan has written in a variety of genres and formats, from feature films, to episodic television. Recent credits include: Writing two feature-length dramas for Anonymous Content -- one based on a book by Bob Woodward, the other based on a novella by Kressman Taylor; co-writing and Producing the feature film, "Volition," with his brother (the film's Director), Tony Dean Smith; writing a feature-length comedy for Original Film; writing on the animated feature film, "Next Gen," for Netflix; serving as Senior Story Editor/Writer for Netflix's "ReBoot: The Guardian Code"; serving as Supervising-Producer/Writer on Netflix/YTV's "Some Assembly Required"; and as Senior Executive Story Editor/Writer on Disney/YTV's, "Mr. Young." Between the above series, Ryan has written on over 150 episode of television, and received three Leo Awards. Ryan holds an MFA in Screenwriting and a BA in Comparative Religion, Literature and the Arts, with a minor in Theater.