Shane Ryan 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 the next Jean-Claude Van Damme until he was about 14, when he decided to delve into dramas and movies about troubled kids. Never wanting to be a director, Ryan wrote and directed his own films only because he wanted to be an actor and a writer.
When Ryan was 19 he saw Tim Roth's The War Zone (1999) and the explicit and confrontational Baise-moi (2000). After that Ryan realized he could have an impact with film in regards to things like rape, a subject which has haunted him since childhood. This caused Ryan to become a controversial figure in his hometown when he began making violent films involving sexual abuse. Soon followed underground and indie appeal via the internet before Ryan debuted his first theatrical release in 2007, outraging Academy Award nominated actress Lesley Ann Warren leading her to get his promotional materials banned. Then in 2009 the mainstream news and Associated Press attacked Ryan for announcing plans to make a movie about the Stockholm Syndrome, loosely inspired by the current real-life rescue of Jaycee Dugard, with Lia Marie Johnson set to star. Ryan dropped the project and instead made a film about convicted killer Alyssa Bustamante, whom Ryan felt was getting unfair treatment in the media as well. Ryan makes frequent posts via his Facebook page insisting on Bustamante's possible innocence.
Times changed in 2014 when director Albert Pyun (Cyborg (1989)) cast Ryan in his first starring role (in a film other than his own) for The Interrogation of Cheryl Cooper (2014) which then landed Ryan a role in Gregory Hatanaka's Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance (2015) and the upcoming Blood Fury, now placing Ryan in the action category of actors who inspired him to make movies in the first place.
