8 Times Ryan Reynolds Proved His Passion For Food And Drink

The first time I became aware of Ryan Reynolds was while watching the ABC sitcom Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place. The first episode aired on March 10, 1998, and not only did it solidify that Reynolds' star would soon rise, it also seemed to announce that food would always be a part of that rise.

Now, nearly 25 years later, Reynolds has put food and drinks front and center thanks to his many business ventures—it seems this dude likes to keep very, very busy. Not only are there several brands that he personally has a stake in, but many to which he lends his creative vision through his production and marketing brands, Maximum Effort and MNTN. The pizza place may have since closed, but through these campaigns, Reynolds' love for food and drinks lives on.

Ryan Reynolds first took an ownership stake in Aviation Gin in 2018, and by 2020 he sold the brand for a cool $610 million. Based on that figure alone he doesn't really have to work another day in his life (to say nothing of his superhero career), but his deep passion for marketing won't let him rest. He's still the face of the booze company, creating cheeky ads for drinks celebrating everything from the return of the McRib to Nick Cannon's potential vasectomy.

Even while managing his many marketing ventures, Reynolds is still acting in some of the biggest movies out there, so sometimes he has to double dip. For this collaboration with Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, actor Walker Scobell, who plays a younger version of Ryan Reynolds' character in Netflix's The Adam Project, steps in to sell the classic dish but with some very Reynolds-like one-liners. Sure, he appears to go off-script, but we actually kind of like the tagline: "Kraft Mac and Cheese: If your parents don't buy it, stop loving them!"

As a famous person, Reynolds is friends with lots and lots of famous people, and some of them have food and drink brands of their own that need some attention. How would Hugh Jackman, for example, sell his Laughing Man Coffee without the help of a Ryan Reynolds voiceover? Before you scoff at another celebrity brand, it's important to note that 100% of Laughing Man Coffee profits support fair trade farmers, and in the short spot Jackman is the perfect amount of willing to make fun of himself. Once again, Reynolds nails the perfect tagline: "Laughing Man Coffee. The nicest f*cking coffee on Earth."

HighKey is a new sugar-free snack brand dedicated to removing 10 million pounds of sugar from the American diet. And there's no better way to show the damaging effects of sugar, apparently, than through the Sugar Panda, a once adorable cartoon now on death's door because of a sugar addiction who is voiced by none other than Ryan Reynolds. The dark, Deadpool-esque sense of humor that runs through Reynolds' campaigns is at its peak here.

Ryan Reynolds isn't the only entrepreneur in the family—his wife and fellow multi-hyphenate Blake Lively has a beverage company of her own. Betty Buzz sells non-alcoholic mixers that (you guessed it) pair well with Aviation Gin, but are supposed to also be deliciously sippable on their own because of the amount of bubbles in each bottle. To prove just how bubbly these things can be, Lively enlisted the help of her husband to produce this bubble-filled spot.

Even when not promoting a specific food or drink brand, Reynolds can't help but get some kind of dramatic bite into the mix. For example, he can't even do a simple MNTN software demonstration without forcing Jackass daredevil extraordinaire Steve-O to eat a Carolina Reaper pepper whole. It's not completely random: Steve-O is also promoting his own brand, Steve-O's Hot Sauce for Your Butthole.

Back in December 2021, ABC aired a Live in Front of a Studio Audience special celebrating iconic episodes of '80s television with live reads by modern superstars. And it was Ryan Reynolds who kept the nostalgia flowing through the ad breaks, with a series of commercials for Kool-Aid, Heinz Ketchup, Jack in the Box, and more, all produced by Reynolds himself. The highlight of the bunch? Alfonso Ribeiro parodying the iconic "Nothing gets between me and my Calvins" ads with an Oscar Mayer hot dog, obviously.

Ryan Reynolds has now become so ubiquitous in advertising that his very name and presence in a commercial has become ripe for parody. Maybe that's why A&W is leaning into it with its new spokesperson, the new Ryan Reynolds. This one isn't a famous actor but a newspaper editor from Indiana who calls himself advertising's fresh-faced golden boy. Knowing the old Reynolds, it's only a matter of time before these two team up for his next big venture.