The youngest of five children, Ryan Stiles was born in Seattle to Canadian parents Irene Stiles, a homemaker; and Sonny Stiles, a supervisor at a fish processing plant.[1][2] When Ryan was ten years old, his family relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia.
Stiles attended R.C. Palmer Junior Secondary School and Richmond Senior Secondary in Richmond, British Columbia. Although he was a good student, Stiles has admitted that "being a high-school senior gave...too much freedom." He got so carried away with his flexible schedule that, at age 17, he quit school a few months shy of graduation.
Career
Early career
Despite his parents' objections, he was able to support himself doing stand-up routines at clubs near his home in Vancouver. He frequently performed at strip clubs early in his career.[3][4] He helped Rich Elwood start Punchlines Comedy Club. During this time, he was the head writer of The Don Harron Show on CTV and the host of Comedy College on CBC. Stiles was a regular improv performer with the Vancouver Theatresports League and Punchlines' "No Name Player" before joining The Second City comedy ensemble at Expo 86. He continued performing with Second City in Toronto and later in Los Angeles.
Whose Line Is It Anyway? and The Drew Carey Show
By 1989, Stiles had gained the attention of the producers of the British improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? Stiles was a regular on the show until its end in 1998. His performance on the program earned him both critical praise and a devoted fan following in the UK. In 1995, Stiles was asked by American comic Drew Carey to be a regular on his sitcom The Drew Carey Show. Stiles played Carey's erudite but underachieving best friend, Lewis Kiniski.
Though he never appeared in the series, Stiles (along with Kaitlin Olson) performed in the taping of the unaired pilot episode of Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, which involved improv games similar to Whose Line? games played in front of a massive green screen. Animation was later added to the improv footage.
Stiles returned as performer and executive producer for The CW's revival of Whose Line Is It Anyway? in the summer of 2013.[6][7]
During the 1994 Major League Baseball strike, Stiles appeared in several commercials for Nike, spending time in an empty ballpark, doing things such as playing the organ and attempting to do the wave alone. The commercials ended with the line: "Play ball. Please."
In 2005, Stiles appeared in the mockumentaryConker: Celebrity Squirrel produced for the promotion of the Xbox video game Conker: Live & Reloaded.[8] This role led to gamers voting to induct him into the 2015 class of the DK Vine Hall of Fame.[9]
Philanthropy
Stiles has been a frequent fundraiser for children with burn injuries, raising over $500,000 for the Burned Children Recovery Center since 2009 and helping the foundation to recover from the Great Recession.[10]
Personal life
In 1981, Stiles met Patricia McDonald at Punchlines, where she was a waitress. They married in 1988 and have three children together.[11]
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