Shane Ryan

Was in five major car accidents before his 21th birthday. In the first accident he suffered a mild head wound. In the second accident his mother and grandmother were nearly killed, both receiving life-threatening wounds to their heads, Ryan received injuries to his ribs. This accident was the first in a series of unfortunate events which landed the then five year old Ryan, and his one year old brother, Jeremy, in foster care. Ryan eventually returned home after a couple of years but Jeremy remained with his second foster family until he was eighteen years old. Ryan received another head wound in another car accident when he was in middle school. When he was nineteen he let his unlicensed girlfriend drive her mother's car; they got down the street before she made an illegal turn in front of an SUV, totaling the car. They switched seats and initially told the cops that Ryan was driving but were turned in by the mother when she found out. They both had to go to court and were lucky enough to land a lenient judge.

His favorite films are Rocky (1976), Taxi Driver (1976), Swingers (1996), True Romance (1993) and Bloodsport (1988).

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 like and appear in Jean-Claude Van Damme movies, but at the age of 14 he decided to delve into dramas and movies about troubled kids. Ryan directed his own films simply as a means for being able to act and write. He never wanted to direct. 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. Academy Award nominated actress Lesley Ann Warren was so outraged by the promotional materials the Laemmle Theatres displayed of Ryan's film that she successfully argued that Ryan's promotions be 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 to make My Name Is 'A' by Anonymous (2012), a film about convicted killer Alyssa Bustamante, who 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.