Ryan Michelle Bathe
The American actress Ryan Michelle Bathé was born on 27th July 1976 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother, Clare Bathé, is a musician, singer, and actress; Ryan was raised in Stamford, Connecticut, and graduated from Stanford University before furthering her education at New York University and receiving a Master of Fine Arts degree; the brunette beauty was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, which was founded in the early 1910s and has always aimed to help the African-American community via social programs and public service.
Career
Ryan made her TV debut at 25 years old in an episode of the drama series “The Education of Max Bickford”. Two years later, she guest-starred in an episode of “ER” and made her film debut in the comedy-drama TV film “Good Fences”, playing a young Stormy.
In 2004, Ryan guest-starred in “Half & Half” and “Girlfriends” and had a minor role in the Rodney Evans film “Brother to Brother”, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was rewarded the Special Jury Prize for Dramatic Feature. Despite the movie only bringing in $80,000 at the box office, it was a major success in the gay and lesbian film festival circuit, and won plenty of festival awards.
The following year, Ryan had her first leading role in the second season of “Boston Legal”, playing the feisty attorney Sara Holt. Smart and beautiful, Sara wasn’t above using her looks to get what she wanted; viewers were somewhat disappointed when her character abruptly disappeared after season two, never to be seen (or mentioned) again.
Although Ryan had minor roles in a number of movies throughout the mid-2000s, such as “Lackawanna Blues”, “All About Us”, and “April Moon”, it soon became evident that TV work was her forte. In 2006, she played Alix in the pilot episode of “Pink Collar”, an ABC sitcom set in an accident insurance agency and focusing on the lives and ambitions of four very different women.
Unfortunately for Ryan, ABC only aired the pilot of “Pink Collar”. Over the next few years, she guest-starred in “Brothers & Sisters”, “Medium”, “Girlfriends”, and “How I Met Your Mother”. In 2008, she played Jenny in the TV movie “Leaving Barstow”, and was seen in episodes of “Bones”, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, and “Brothers”.
Finally, Ryan had a recurring role as Sela Boone in the medical drama series “Trauma”, which aired from September 2009 to April 2010 on NBC. Sela was one of the main character’s wives and found herself involved in one of the show’s most dramatic storylines, after being held hostage during a shooting rampage at a lawyer’s office. However, “Trauma” was cancelled after just one season which lasted 18 episodes.
In 2011, Ryan was cast as Jessica Sanders in season one of “Retired at 35”, and the following year, she was one of the recurring cast members in season six of “Army Wives”, and played Jackie in the crime comedy film “One for the Money”.
The actress failed to find her footing during the mid-2010s, as three of the TV pilots she appeared in flopped – “Keep it Together”, “Linda from HR”, and “Romantically Speaking”. Her luck changed for the better when she landed the role of Yvette in the gritty family drama series “This Is Us”, a recurring cast member in season one, and made various guest appearances in season three before eventually being written out.
In 2018, Ryan joined the cast of “Empire” and appeared in a handful of episodes of its fourth season. She also guest-starred in two episodes of “The Rookie” and was one of the main characters of the short-lived TV show “Every Other Weekend”, which disappeared into oblivion after one season. Her next two projects – the TV pilot “Steps” and a main cast member role in “Timeline” – would be similarly unlucky; however, she became a series regular of “First Wives Club” and “All Rise” shortly afterwards.
Since 2020, Ryan has been playing Rachel in “All Rise”, had a secondary role in the Black romcom “Sylvie’s Love”, and guest-starred in an episode of “A Black Lady Sketch Show”. In 2022, she became a series regular of the crime drama show “The Endgame”, which was cancelled after one season.
Personal Life
Ryan met the actor Sterling K. Brown in the mid-1990s, when both were studying at Stanford, and were cast in the same freshman-year production. Sterling once revealed that they dated on-and-off for years and broke up in 1998 before reuniting in 2001. Eventually, they eloped in March 2006 and held a large ceremony in June 2007. Since then, Ryan and Sterling have had two sons, Andrew born sometime in 2011 via an unexpected home delivery; as Ryan was so discreet with her pregnancy, we have yet to discover Andrew’s birthday – Amaré came in 2015.
The attractive couple walked their first red carpet together in November 2009, attending a benefit for the Tisch School of the Arts, where Sterling obtained his Master of Fine Arts degree.
2012 saw Ryan and Sterling share the screen together in “Army Wives”; as mentioned, the beautiful actress would later join the cast of her husband’s series, “This Is Us”. The family were the talk of the town when they attended the GOOD Foundation’s 1st Annual Halloween Bash together in late 2016.
Although Hollywood is rife with infidelity and divorces, Ryan and Sterling’s relationship has been scandal-free. The “Black Panther” actor once explained how Ryan copes with his filming intimate scenes, saying that the best thing to do was introduce his scene partners to his wife immediately.
Sterling, who was also born in St. Louis, has degrees from Stanford and New York University. In 2023, he was rewarded an honorary doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis. His many career highlights include appearing in Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018.
To date, Sterling’s notable projects include his portrayal of Christopher Darden in “The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story”, and his starring role as Randall Pearson in “This Is Us”, which lasted from 2016 to 2022. The first role was the one that earned him his first Primetime Emmy Award, whereas his work in “This Is Us” won him another Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe.
As movie buffs will know, Sterling has had supporting roles in “Waves” and “Black Panther”. In 2019, he did voiceover work for the animated films “Frozen II” and “The Angry Birds Movie 2”, which performed well amongst young audiences.
