Biography
Ryan O’Connell is an American writer, actor, director, comedian, LGBTQ activist, and disability rights champion most known for his 2015 memoir, I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves, about his life as a gay man with cerebral palsy, which he turned into the Netflix television series Special.
Age
He is 37 years old as of 2 September 2023. He was born in 1986 in Ventura, California, United States.
Family – Education
O’Connell grew raised in Ventura County, California, with what he called a “liberal” family. He enjoyed performing as well, appearing in all of the middle and high school performances. Later, he suppressed this ambition since he saw himself as underrepresented in popular culture. He attended Foothill Technology High School.
Partner
O’Connell and Jonathan Parks-Ramage have been dating since 2015. They met at Grimes’ birthday party in L.A. He stayed closeted until the age of 17, when he felt compelled to come out in order to pursue another youngster who was already out. When he came out, his family was welcoming; his sister, uncle, and grandfather had all previously identified as LGBTQ.
Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of $30 million.
Surgeries – Accident
O’Connell needed four hand surgeries after being struck by a car when he was twenty years old. His left hand was primarily afflicted by compartment syndrome, which was brought on by the injury. He relocated to New York City to attend The New School nine months later. Peers there thought he was limping from the vehicle accident, so he didn’t contradict them. Regarding his CP, he talked of feeling in the dark and not really fitting in with either disabled or non-disabled individuals. Furthermore, there was very little depiction of disabled people in popular culture.
Special
In 2016, Stage 13 gave experienced scriptwriter David O’Connell permission to develop a script for Netflix’s Special based on his memoir. The short-form structure was difficult for O’Connell since there was no opportunity for a C-plot and each line had to count for something. Despite finishing the work, challenges occurred owing of the disability aspect. O’Connell began working on Special while writing full-time for BH90210, a Fox comedy-drama revival of Beverly Hills, 90210 that premiered in August 2019.
The show is partly based on O’Connell’s reality, with the main character Ryan deceiving coworkers into believing his limp was caused by a car accident rather than cerebral palsy. The show delves into O’Connell’s internalized ableism and the insecurity that comes with being gay. Approximately 95% of characters with impairments on television are portrayed by performers who are able-bodied, according to a 2016 Ruderman Family Foundation research.
Due to financial restrictions, O’Connell took on the role himself. He found the sex scenes to be both emotionally exhausting and satisfying. The program authentically addresses gay, disabled sex, de-stigmatizes sex work, and normalizes gay sex for general audiences. The episode garnered attention due to O’Connell’s exceptional performance and lighthearted writing.
Queer as Folk
She appeared as Julian Beaumont, Brodie’s brother in the drama television series Queer as Folk. Brodie had no idea Julian was gay until he was jailed for having sex in the mall toilet. The series is set in New Orleans and follows a varied group of friends whose lives are affected after a shooting at the Babylon, an LGBT nightclub. The group suffers with vulnerability, addiction, sorrow, and interpersonal relationships.
Career
O’Connell, an essayist and proofreader, started his vocation as a blogger in 2011 and later added to different distributions. His composing turned into a web sensation, prompting a book manage Simon and Schuster at age 25. He composed a segment about concealing his handicap with an auto crash and later extended the article into a book. O’Connell moved to Los Angeles and began his TV composing vocation with MTV’s Off-kilter at 27.
In 2015, his diary I’m Exceptional: And Different Falsehoods We Tell Ourselves was distributed. Jim Parsons optioned the book through That is Awesome Creations, which he runs with his significant other Todd Spiewak. O’Connell was named to the Out100 respecting LGBTQ symbols in late 2015. He composed for a time of Daytime Divas in 2017 and functioned as chief story proofreader on the 2017 reboot of Will and Effortlessness. He co-facilitated the web recording Darling? with Lara Marie Schoenhals.
In May 2019, O’Connell got the HRC Perceivability Grant from the Basic freedoms Mission at the 2019 HRC Atlanta Affair Supper. In June 2019, he was the superstar fantastic marshal for the LA Pride March and was named one of the Pride 50 “exploring people who effectively guarantee society stays moving towards correspondence, acknowledgment and poise for every single eccentric individual.”
In July 2019, Unique was named for four 71st Early evening Emmy Grants, including Extraordinary Short Structure Satire or Show Series. In August 2019, O’Connell and Anna Dokoza will tutor planned makers in Australia, sending off Computerized Firsts to make short-structure projects for SBS On Request. In June 2022, O’Connell made his fiction debut with the book By simply seeing him, distributed by Simon and Schuster in New York.
TV Shows
♦ 2022 – Queer as Folk
♦ 2019–2021 – Special