02/04/2025
I'm so sad from the loss of an incredible friend and colleague, Kevin Sean Ryan. This always sucks but this one stings a bit more than the others.
Kevin was an amazing human being. I first met Kevin when I was an instructor at the DCPA and his dear friend, Andy Hankins, convinced him to come to my acting class to help get him out of the house while he was dealing with an incredibly difficult life event. He learned to act and he learned to act well. He worked on lots of cool projects with lots of amazing people and he did it all with style and a modest humility that only a rock star like him could possess. Everyone who worked with Kevin wanted to work with Kevin again, and that's the true mark of a class act.
The most honored I have ever felt as a teacher was when Kevin asked for my help preparing a eulogy for the very event he was leaning on my acting class to get through. I will never forget that week and the laughs and tears we shared. He delivered the hell out of it honoring his late wife, Chris.
He was generous and the sheer number of people that I personally know that he helped in so many different ways must be the tip of a gigantic iceberg, as he never did these things publicly. For years he tried to set me up with the ability to buy his rental property so I would never have to worry about housing in this town. Sadly, I was never in a position to do it, so he sold it to one of my best friends who was able to start his family there. Kevin was a mensch and he gave generously to so many.
He was a champion of me, my studio, and he did so much to help me get my first permanent location off the ground and rocking. We shared a lot of amazing art at 931 Santa Fe and the other venues I worked out of until those doors opened.
Over the past couple of days, as I have watched the insane number of my students pay their respects on social media, its become very clear how much of an impact he truly had on me, and our small community of BDS actors, directors, producers, writeres, and artists. It's a beautiful thing.
He was also funny and had this infectious laugh. He was quirky and had tons of interesting hobbies and collected tons of amazing things (see video) and people in his life. He was like a magnet for interesting people that wanted to share space with him.
I'm grateful for his presence in my life and I'm going to miss him. I'll always remember his boldness as an actor and his decency as a human being. The world lost a great one, and I can only imagine he's already crushing it on the big stage in the sky.
I'm proud to announce the creation of the Kevin Sean Ryan
Acting Scholarship to help acting students with their tuition when times get hard. It's what he would do, but he wouldn't tell anyone he was doing it. I share it only to honor my friend and his generous spirit that will live on.
Dream Big. Work Hard. Celebrate Life.
the famous voxmobile from 1968 is ready to be revived again!
