Ryan redirects here. For other uses, see Ryan (disambiguation). See also: The Mad King.

James Ryan Haywood (born December 6, 1980) is an American actor, voice actor, on-camera host/on-screen talent and content producer (for shows and podcasts), video game journalist, Twitch streamer, and Internet and YouTube personality originally from Columbus, Georgia. He is best known for his long-time extensive work at Rooster Teeth, co-starring in Rooster Teeth's gameplay division Achievement Hunter and, formerly, Rooster Teeth's entertainment-news division The Know. Ryan is a former machinima animator member of the RT Animation dept (of the 10th season of Red vs. Blue) where he served as a machinima animator, VFX artist, technical director, animation editor for Red vs. Blue: Season 10 (these were responsibilities Ryan held shortly after he moved to Austin, Texas in early September 2011 and was hired full-time at Rooster Teeth). Ryan also (formerly) co-hosted Rooster Teeth's gaming podcast Glitch Please (formerly The Patch), currently serves as a secondary recurring host the official Achievement Hunter podcast, Off Topic and served an occasional special guest on the RT Podcast and the Always Open podcast.[1]

Haywood has worked extensively with Rooster Teeth, having also co-starred and appeared in several live action productions such as Rooster Teeth Shorts, Immersion, Million Dollars, But..., The Gauntlet, Ten and Eleven Little Roosters, and more. Ryan also provides voice acting for various Rooster Teeth animated shows and cartoons. He voices Professor Peter Port, a recurring secondary character in RWBY, Soldier #1, Marlowe and Caboose's Lieutenant John Elizabeth Andersmith in Red vs. Blue (RvB), Jethro in Nomad of Nowhere, The Mad King in X-Ray and Vav and animated versions of himself in Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures (RTAA). Ryan also guest voiced Agent Miller in the season 2 finale of Camp Camp.

After getting initially hired part-time by Geoff on June 14, 2011 via the discovery (and subsequent job application by Ryan, who lived in Corpus Christi about 3 hours from the RT office 636 at the time) of a Craigslist ad posted online by Geoff, Ryan was initially in charge of remotely managing, overseeing and running/editing the videos and shows for the Game Fails Channel on YouTube as a part-time job as well as a contract host and behind the scenes tech/PC crew. In early September 2011, Ryan was then hired full-time at Rooster Teeth (shortly after moving to Austin, Texas with his wife Laurie) where he would then serve was as a machinima animator, VFX artist, animation editor, and technical director for Red vs. Blue Season 10 before eventually changing departments to become more involved with Achievement Hunter (full-time-really) by late 2012/early 2013.[2]

He began live streaming on Twitch April 30, 2016 at SortaMaliciousGaming while still working at Rooster Teeth and Achievement Hunter.

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Early Life and Career Edit

Pre-Rooster Teeth Edit

Ryan grew up primarily in the Columbus, Georgia area. He was referred to by his parents as Ryan rather than James, and it stuck.

Originally while growing up in Georgia during his time in high school, Ryan initially worked as a professional male model while in high school in Georgia as stated in Let's Play - 7 Days to Die Part 3, appearing in a magazine called "Twist". These photos were released during the Extra Life stream once $200,000 had been raised. After $200,000 was raised in an Extra Life stream, the pictures from his Twist days were released. Along with the magazine, Ryan also starred in a runway show in Italy where he was dressed as a gnome who stood on a mushroom.

According to the Twist magazine stats, Ryan made Twist magazine quite popular while he worked there. Apart from modelling, Ryan also worked as a pool cleaner during his early high school days. Ryan did this in between his job as a pool cleaner (where he almost died in a Walmart parking lot when a tornado came into the area), and his job at Rooster Teeth. One of his model pictures showed Ryan in his late teens to early twenties as an early adult. His hair used to be much longer when he was a model. His parents used his middle name (Ryan) more often than his first name (James) and hence he prefers being called Ryan which is his stage name, along with the fact that was someone else named James at Rooster Teeth as well.

Ryan worked as a professional male gnome model and pool cleaner, starring in Twist magazines while in high school. Ryan graduated from Full Sail University with a degree in computer animation and attended Georgia Southern University for six years, where he took courses in computer engineering, computer science, broadcast, and theater. He also studied abroad in England.

Rooster Teeth Edit

In March 2011, after moving to Corpus Christi, Texas, Ryan found an job opportunity on Craigslist for a job opening with Rooster Teeth. After applying, Geoff had Ryan up drive up to Austin on more than one occasion to ensure he really wanted the job. He did end up with the job, and was initially hired part-time by Geoff on June 14, 2011 to run, manage, oversee and edit shows, videos and content/series for the recently-created (now defunct) Game Fails YouTube channel remotely, as he lived in Corpus Christi at the time, about 3 hours away. Ryan subsequently moved to Austin, Texas in early September, 2011 where he finally got officially hired at Rooster Teeth as a machinima animator, animation and VFX editor, and technical director for Red vs. Blue, Season 10, which was heavily in production at the time and his computer animation skills were needed there. Rooster Teeth co-founder and then-CEO Burnie Burns told Haywood that once he finished helping out with animating and editing the 10th season of Red vs Blue, then he was free to do whatever else he wanted. a

Outside of Game Fails, the first video Ryan made for Achievement Hunter was the NYC tour video, titled "A video game tour of NYC", uploaded to YouTube by Rooster Teeth on June 10, 2011. The first video where he spoke in (his first speaking part) was in the Witcher 2 Achievement Guide, titled "The Witcher 2: Librarian Achievement Guide", also uploaded to YouTube by Rooster Teeth on June 16, 2011.

The first Let's Play Ryan featured in was in Mari0, in a video titled "Let's Play - Mari0 - With Geoff, Gavin, Michael, and Ryan", published on March 26, 2012, when Geoff, Jack, Michael, and Gavin (who were already a part of AH full-time) would venture out into playing PC games, as his PC knowledge would come in handy. He also appeared in a Rooster Teeth's video titled "Dear YouTube" in May 2012, but was still working as a Rooster Teeth animator at the time, as an animator and technical director working on Red vs. Blue Season 10.

By late 2012/early 2013, Ryan transitioned from the RT Animation dept. to be much more, heavily involved with Achievement Hunter full-time. Since his promotion to main host in December 2012/January 2013, he has worked full-time for Achievement Hunter and starred as the third main host.

Apart from his work as a member of Achievement Hunter, he has also co-starred and appeared in several live action productions such as Rooster Teeth Shorts, Immersion, Million Dollars, But..., The Gauntlet, Ten and Eleven Little Roosters, and more. Ryan also provides voice acting for various Rooster Teeth animated shows. He voices Professor Peter Port, a recurring secondary character in RWBY, Soldier #1, Marlowe and Caboose's Lieutenant John Elizabeth Andersmith in Red vs Blue (RvB), Jethro in Nomad of Nowhere, and The Mad King in X-Ray and Vav. Ryan also guest voiced Agent Millers in the season 2 finale of Camp Camp.

Besides his work on Achievement Hunter, he is also the voice actor for Professor Peter Port in RWBY, Lieutenant John Elizabeth Andersmith in Red vs Blue and The Mad King on X-Ray and Vav. While working at AH/RT, he began streaming on Twitch since April 30, 2016 under the channel SortamaliciousGaming.

Family Life Edit

Ryan was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia. Although he initially preferred to keep his personal life out of common knowledge, over time he has slowly divulged more information through videos.

Ryan married his high-school sweetheart Dr. Laurie, a veterinarian, in 2007. His wife, Dr. Laurie, works as a veterinarian and with her, has two children named Eli (born 2011) and Olivia (born October 2013) both of whom have appeared during his Twitch streams. He is also a pet owner, with several dogs and cats in his home.

Ryan began streaming on Twitch on April 30, 2016, under the channel SortaMaliciousGaming.

Year Date Title Character Role(s) Type Notes 2011–present September 23, 2011 – present RT Life (TV Series) Ryan/Himself Rooster Teeth Live action Web series 2012-2016 November 5, 2012 – August 20, 2017 Red vs. Blue Soldier #1, Lieutenant, Smith, Marlowe (all voices) Machinima-animated TV Web series John Elizabeth "Smith" Andersmith: Since 2014 Marlowe: Season 14 episode Grey vs Gray

Soldier in Season 10 (cameo) 2013-2016 May 22, 2013 – December 29, 2016 The Patch (Podcast) Himself (main host) Rooster Teeth and The Know's gaming podcast Himself, with Ashley Jenkins, Burnie Burns, Gus Sorola and (until June 2016) Meg Turney 2013–present September 12, 2013 – present RWBY (TV Series) Professor Port / Professor Peter Port / Peter Port (voice) Rooster Teeth Anime-influenced styled TV Web series 15 episodes 2013 October 27, 2013 The Gauntlet (TV Mini-Series) Himself Rooster Teeth Live action competition show, TV Mini Web series 1 episode (The Sonic Relay) 2014– June 1, 2014 – The Know Himself/Co-anchor Official Rooster Teeth news channel division Himself, with Ashley Jenkins, Jon Risinger, Gus Sorola, Funhaus Team and (until June 2016) Meg Turney 2014-2015 November 12, 2014 – April 19, 2015 Rooster Teeth Shorts (TV Series) Ryan/Himself Rooster Teeth live action webseries - Stage 5 Facility Tour (2015) ... Ryan- Office Divorce (2015) ... Ryan - Twelve Days of Rooster Teeth (2014) ... Ryan 2014–present November 13, 2014 – present On the Spot (TV Series) Himself / Himself - Team BBz Rooster Teeth Live action Game Show, TV Web series 8 episodes 2014 November 5, 2014 - December 23, 2014 Ten Little Roosters (TV Mini-Series) Ryan/Himself Rooster Teeth Live action comedy murder mystery TV Mini Web series 8 episodes 2014-2015 December 4, 2014 – October 18, 2015 X-Ray and Vav (TV Series) The Mad King (voice) Rooster Teeth 2D Animated TV Web series 2015 September 14, 2015 Let's Play Live: The Documentary Ryan Haywood (Himself) Rooster Teeth Live action Documentary 2015 December 1, 2015 RWBY: Grimm Eclipse (Video Game) Peter Port (voice) Rooster Teeth video game 2015–present December 13, 2015 – present The Off Topic Podcast (TV Series) Himself (co-host) Official Achievement Hunter podcast 79 episodes 2016 February 7, 2016 Immersion (TV Series) Himself Rooster Teeth Live action TV Web series 1 episode (Space Invaders in Real Life) 2015-2016 August 27, 2015 – present Million Dollars, But... (TV Series) Ryan/Himself Rooster Teeth Live action TV Web series 3 episodes - Achievement Hunter Scandal Scandal - Achievement Hunter Animal Attack (2016) - Sudden Nudity & Permanent Parachutes (2015) 2016–present June 9, 2016 – present Heroes & Halfwits (TV Series, aka Heroes and Halfwits) Albus Cumberbatch (Himself) Achievement Hunter Live action TV Web series gaming podcast Himself, with Geoff Ramsey, Michael Jones, Gus Sorola, Griffon Ramsey and Frank 2016–present July 30, 2016 RWBY Chibi (TV Series) Peter Port (voice) 2016 December 1, 2016 Let's Play Uno: The Movie Ryan/Himself Achievement Hunter Live action Let's Play video Himself, with Geoff, Jack, Gavin and Jeremy 2016-2017 October 26, 2016-MAy 10, 2017 Schooled (TV Series) Ryan/Himself Achievement Hunter Live action web series - Hot Pepper Challenge (2017)- The Final Challenge (2017) - Wall of Punishment (2017) - Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner! (2017) - I Guess I'm Ready? (2017) - Know Thy Enemy (2017) - We Punish Defeat (2017) - Geoff's Fate is Decided (2016) - Going Undercover (2016) 2017 January 16, 2017 – March 6, 2017 The Eleven Little Roosters (TV Mini-Series) Ryan Haywood/Himself Rooster Teeth Live action comedy murder mystery TV mini Web series 5 episodes 2018–present March 16, 2018 – present Nomad of Nowhere (TV Series) Jethro (voice) Rooster Teeth 2D animated Western-fantasy web series

Appearances Edit

He has made appearances in an episode of RT Life, and has made several appearances in Let's Play episodes with Achievement Hunter.

Let's Play Minecraft Edit

He regularly appears in episodes of Let's Play Minecraft.

He has won the Tower of Pimps eight times as of episode 79. He is currently on the biggest tower win streak of 4 in a row. His last victory has tied him with Ray and Jack for most tower wins.

Geoff Ramsey has said that they would construct a house for him in Let's Play Minecraft#Achievement City Achievement City. He lived in Kung Fu House.

Ryan is known for naming animals "Edgar." He only had two animals not named Edgar. His first pig was named Bacon Bits. The pig currently living in his house is named Prince Oinkens the First.

Edgar was named such in Level 30 Enchant Part 1 when a cow in Ryan's house was briefly mentioned by Geoff.

Ryan had a pet cow in his house named Edgar. It was freed by Michael and unknowingly slaughtered by Geoff for leather. This cow may or may not have been Edgar. As stated by Ryan, "Edgar is the one in the hole." Ryan now has Edgar back in his hole, in Kung Fu House.

In Episode 65, Gavin murdered the Edgar in the hole and replaced it with a Mooshroom

Ryan also has an emergency chicken named Edgar 3.

Ryan is known for capturing animals in Minecraft. His RWBY character, Peter Port, has a similar quirk but with more noble intentions.

Achievement Hunter Edit

He is actually the third Achievement Hunter to be hired, but served behind the scenes managing the Game Fails Channel.

He is the first Achievement Hunter to become the Minecraft King more than once.

The first video Ryan is mentioned in is "The Tour of NYC, through video games" uploaded in 2011, Geoff mentions that the video was made by "our behind-the-scenes guy Ryan"

He once placed a buzzing machine inside of Gavin's desk just to annoy Gavin. At first the machine went off every 90 seconds, then it malfunctioned, and started buzzing every 20 seconds. He needed to cut a hole in the victim's desk for the prank to work and picked Gavin, whose desk was already damaged.

His team names are: The R & R Connection with Ray Narvaez, Jr. Team Magnum Dong with Geoff Ramsey Team Same Voice with Jack Pattillo Team Love and Stuff with Gavin Free Team Crazy Mad with Michael Jones (a fusion of Ryan's Mad King persona and Michael's half of the Team Nice Dynamite namesake setup) Team Battle Buddies with Jeremy Dooley (resulted from Trouble in Terrorist Town Part 3's final round, Jeremy and Ryan the final two innocents left against Geoff) Team Same Desk with Lindsay Jones

He is the one who runs any Let's Play which resides on the PC and often the one who's game of choice in Versus is a PC game. Coincidentally, Ryan has the most computer issues out of anyone in the office, much like how Gavin is the most frequent victim of Creepers in Minecraft.

He sounds similar to Jack Pattillo, often confusing viewers as to who's talking.

Ryan is a member of the Achievement Hunter Team on The Gauntlet. He often states his belief that Gavin is the weakest member on the team.

Ryan openly admitted that he occasionally watches the Let's Plays and is unable to tell his and Jack's voice apart.

In Versus Episode 52, Ryan is referred to by his real name James.

As of Things to Do In GTA V: Achievement Knievel, Ryan is often mentioned as being still in the air. This resulted from the Things to Do, where his car went airborne after colliding with Jack, who had been flying an incoming jet, and Ryan remarked he was still in the air (which became one of his most famous lines) while Jack (and for some bizarre reason, Ray) were killed by explosions resulting from the collision (Jack's jet blew up on him and causing the buses Ryan and Team Lads were jumping to explode in a wave, somehow killing Ray in the vehicle in front). During Most Dangerous Game X this was extended to being either in the air or in a hole, the latter regarding Edgar.

Ryan often has great success when competing against Michael. In Minecraft and GTA Ryan frequently bests Michael in fights which often leads to Michael complaining. Also Ryan has never lost to Michael in VS and currently has a 6 victories over him. Until Versus Episode 96, where Michael challenged Ryan to Angry Birds: GO!, where Michael scored his first victory against Ryan until the victory was reversed as it was later revealed that per the game rules Ryan was the one who won.

Ryan is a huge Dragon Ball Z fan and attempted to use Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD remake to win an episode of GO! but was unsuccessful.

Games Edit

Ryan is second highest in terms of Grand Theft Auto Online rank, at 180-plus as of the most recent video. As a result, he is the highest-ranked member of Team Gents, with a twenty-plus rank advantage over the next member; only Team Lads co-founder Michael is higher.

Up to the latest heist in the GTA Heists series, Ryan is the only Achievement Hunter who has not remained alive until the end in a single heist (at least in Freemode). He had three chances to do so, but committed suicide after not getting Geoff's dropped cash after killing the heist leader, was shot by a faster-reacting Ray at the end of his heist, and a glitch caused him to die of a freak accident in Lindsay's.

As seen in Let's Play Halo 4, he appears to be proficient in precision and long-range weapons. His level of talent is at a level to challenge, often considered the best long range shooter because of his considerable skill in many video game genres, for the first-place position, although not as good as Ray Narvaez, Jr.. Since Ray's departure Ryan is likely to have assumed the top spot, though Jeremy (who had taken Ray's desk after winning Blocking List) may be just as good. However, his skills with stealth are inconsistent, to say the least. As seen in multiple Let's Watch Hitman videos, two things would usually happen when Ryan is playing: either he would spend a long time running around and devising a complicated plan and would end up killing the target in a very simple way, or he would get spotted and would kill everyone who was hunting him.

He is a fan of old-school games.

He is regarded as the PC Gaming Expert of Achievement Hunter. Gmod Let's Plays have since been taken over by Jeremy, but otherwise Ryan is still mainly the PC Guy.

He has been known as the VR guy as he is one of the founders of VR The Champions

In Battle Buddies - Aim for His Ball, Ryan got the target testicle shot on Hitler, hitting him on the run. During the previous Sniper Elite 4 video his own testicles were the victim of the longest shot, by Geoff.

In Let's Play League, Ryan hit one of Team Achievement Hunter's two home runs, a second inning solo shot that drew first blood. (AH would lose the game, with their only runs coming from Ryan's and a then-tying solo shot from Matt to open the third).

Ryan is one of Achievement Hunter's top zombie killers, alongside Jeremy and Michael. (Jack prefers building over fighting, Geoff doesn't do much, and Gavin is the usual comedy of errors).

Ryan is known sometimes as "Ryan the Gotta Be Somewhere Guy", for a combination of Edgar and him being "still in the air".

Some of Ryan's Steam names are usually him attempting to be a genuinely friendly guy in games about killing the others (specifically Gmod games Trouble in Terrorist Town and Murder). Most famous of these is 'FriendlyNonMurderingSort', which lasted up to the First Day of 7 Days of 7 Days to Die (where he said he "really should change that"). Another memorable Gmod name, from Rouletsplay Murder, was "Don't Fear the Ryan", a pun on Blue Oyster Cult's signature song "Don't Fear the Reaper". Lately his main Steam name is 'Detective Roger Davis', whose shtick is solely saying the name. After figuring out custom models for Trouble in Terrorist Town Ryan has twice tweaked the name in accordance to the skin he was using, having used 'Detective Roger Deadpool' with a Deadpool skin and 'Detective Roger Deadshot' when using a Deadshot skin for Batman-themed episodes.

Nintendo Let's Plays involving motion controls seems to be his Achilles heel, despite winning Kung Foot in Versus and outscoring Michael in the Flower Cup of the Mario Kart 8 videos despite major turning issues.

If Ryan falls behind in a mini-golf game, he'll abandon the normal objective of golf and instead aim at the others to screw them over. Geoff seems to be Ryan's favorite target. He usually calls his hits out by yelling 'Bip!' or something similar.



Gallery Edit

Trivia Edit

His (temporary) desk in the Achievement Hunter 636 office, whenever he would film AH videos and AH Let'sPlays was mostly the couch with a couple of small folding tables and chairs, a microphone, an Xbox and controller, a small laptop, and mouse.

Ryan's "official" desk, back in #636, was elsewhere in the #636 building (because the AH main cast room was so small and cramped at the time) in the animation studio with green screen sets. Ryan was seen editing Achievement Hunter content (and Red vs. Blue) content with Lindsay (an AH editor) and the RT animators as seen all throughout the fall of 2012 until the Spring of 2013. When AH moved from 636 into Stage 5 in April 2014, he finally got an official "desk" with the others, although he still wasn't seen in AHWU. The evolution of his desk can be found here.

Ryan is known by his middle name, as opposed to his first name: James. He stated that his parents always used his middle name rather than his first, and he continued to do so.

He created a Twitter account (@RyanTheTwit) when the 2013 Extra Life donation amount for Rooster Teeth reached $90k. Within 15 days Ryan had reached 50,399 followers and had 10,000 followers within the first 30 seconds.

Before Rooster Teeth, Ryan worked as a professional model, as stated in Let's Play - 7 Days to Die Part 3. These photos were released during the Extra Life stream once $200,000 had been raised.

According to Free Play: The Newlywed Game - #30, Ryan('s): Wanted to be an astronaut when he was younger. Favorite color is blue. Wants to travel to Japan (and has now done so) Favorite video game of all time is Wing Commander Privateer. Biggest pet peeve is being out of Diet Coke. Biggest fear is losing a child or being paralyzed. Didn't have a childhood nickname.

He has a reputation of having a dark side due to his GTA Online character and his knowledge. He has thrown a knife and stuck it to a wall to prove a point. The alias The Mad King is often the identity of this dark side. An identically named character in X-Ray and Vav (voiced by Ryan) fits this aspect excellently (with an outfit akin to his Minecraft skin).

Ryan gave up drinking alcohol (not that he was a frequent consumer) and instead drinks Diet Coke, which he can be seen drinking during Off Topic and other live-action content.

His xbox gamertag was changed to at one point "Givemeyourmilk"

On Ryan's Xbox Live Gamertag, from his Twitch bio: "The BM stands for Been Mawed and was the name of the Halo 1 clan I played with in college. It's a reference to the level in Halo named "The Maw". Vagabond comes from the call sign of my favorite character from Wing Commander III & IV!"

After meeting a stretch goal for Extra Life, Ryan now runs a vanilla PC Minecraft server with the IP of minecraft.sortamalicious.scalacubes.net.

Ryan has a public discord for fans of his Twitch stream. A link can be found in his Twitch bio.

Ryan has a Snapchat account, RyanTheSnap.

His favorite drink is Diet Coke, he is seen drinking it regularly while on camera. He once smuggled a six-pack of it into the box on his podium for an episode of Chump; host Jeremy said it was a good thing 'What's in the Box?' wasn't one of the rounds that episode. The reveal happened when playing the round where he had to make up a story about something that had happened to him (or one of the other deceivers but pretending it to have been him), and had gotten his own fact (the close call with a tornado in a Walmart parking lot he had mentioned during one of the first 7 Days to Die videos).

