Ryan Deal began acting at a young age, starring in church and school plays. It wasn't until the age of 13 that Ryan ultimately realized that a career in film acting would become his lifetime goal. In High School he studied acting, and starred in such plays as "A Christmas Carol", "Mark and Herald" and "Anne of Green Gables". Upon completion of high school Ryan attended Walla Walla College in 2000-2001, as a Theater Minor and Communications Major. While in college he was head news Anchor for Blue Mountain News (the youngest in the schools history), and earned starring roles in two of the schools plays (the first male freshman to do so), "The Crucible", and "Dark at the Top of the Stairs". He also was a lead in the student film, "Locus of Control", and was the lead in the music video, "You Only Live Once", for the nationally distributed band "Not Long After". Ryan then decided that the small town of Walla Walla, was not where his heart belonged, he knew that he wanted a career in film acting and college was not going to give him that. It was then in 2001 that he decided to move back home to Portland, Oregon and study acting with Sandra Peabody, acclaimed acting teacher and student of the great Sanford Meisner, at the Young Actors Workshop. Ryan was immediately accepted into the advanced class. In early 2002 he was featured in the Nike produced "Retail Heritage" Industrial video. He then was chosen as the lead Male character in the widely released educational video, "Pregnancy Prevention", produced by At Large Films.

It was in 2003 that he showed himself as one of Portland's top young actors, firstly by becoming a supporting actor in Gary Adam's biopic of one of Portland's most illustrious families, the Pamplins, in "The Other Shore". Secondly, in the summer of 2003 he landed the leading role in the feature length intense thriller produced by Full Realm Entertainment "Decisions". In this film Ryan brought to life a very tormented soul, his depth of knowledge and preparation into the character's feelings were brought to life by his excellent performance and gut wrenching realism. "Decisions" will be released in the fall of 2004.

His second leading role in a feature came in the fall of 2003 it was for Legend Film's suspense thriller "Harvest of Fear". Once again Ryan was cast as the leading man, this time he was simply the boy next door, or was he? Since completing both features Ryan has been cast as Brady Black in the highly acclaimed soap opera "Rough Crossing", and is set to star in the comedy "High Desert Psalmist".