Debby Ryan first broke ground on the Disney Channel. However, the star's career trajectory
hasn't always been smooth sailing since Jessie came to an end, and not all of her projects
have been met with praise. Here's what happened to Debby Ryan.
From her first days on a Disney Channel set, Debby Ryan started shadowing directors in
order to learn the behind-the-scenes craft. Her interest led her to dig deeper and eventually
become the youngest female director ever for the Disney Channel, while producing and starring
in Jessie. This move made sense, as Ryan already felt such ownership over the series. She told
Bello,
"Being the lead of a show is one thing, being there from the very concept before characters
are even formed is another. It was really myself, the showrunner, and Disney that were
involved in bringing it to life. My heartbeat's been running through this from the very beginning."
With Jessie, Debby Ryan earned herself a spot in The Director's Guild, but she had to fight
against the odds. She told Seventeen,
"Being a girl in the industry, being an actor in the industry, and being young in the industry
were three marks that were against me [...] People didn't expect me to have a voice. [...] I
learned all of the terms and when to use them. I learned what to do [...] I think that going
onto that set and being powerful showed them that I was capable of being a leader."
Jessie ended in October 2015, and Ryan responded a few months later to a fan on Twitter who
wanted to know why. Ryan wrote,
"Hit a hundred episodes and it ran its course."
Even before Jessie officially ended, however, Ryan told fans that she dyed her hair blonde,
in part, to distance herself from the role and the character's signature red locks. But
she didn't turn her back on her childhood co-stars. In fact, she told Shine On Media
in 2018 that she loves keeping in touch with her kid star colleagues, and said,
"It's really cool to be able to see [their careers] evolve."
In 2019, Ryan and many of her Disney Channel cohorts were heartbroken when her Jessie castmate,
Cameron Boyce, died following a seizure in his sleep. In 2020, Ryan teamed up with her
Jessie family to support Stars In The House. On the video call show reunion, she shared
a moving memory.
"During the third season, my mom was battling cancer, and we weren't really vocal about
it [...] But during that, it was like [Cameron] had this sense and was aware and [...] would
just, like, pursue and come up and give me hugs."
Ryan sang for a variety of Disney projects, but she was also in a band during her Jessie
era. That band was The Never Ending. She spoke candidly about her music with Billboard, saying,
"This is the most vulnerable and real personal thing I have ever done. I will take the hate
with the love as I release this as an independent artist."
The band was established in 2013 with a cover of "Santa Baby," and they released a five-song
EP in 2014. The Buffalo News published a peculiar article about The Never Ending in 2015 that
began with,
"Debby Ryan walked into practice. She was supposed to be ready to sing. But she wasn't.
She was having a bad day — 'a terrible, terrible day,' she admitted later — but
she didn't want to show it."
Although the band appeared supportive that day, 2016 seems to be the last time anyone
heard from The Never Ending. Years later, Ryan told W,
"Music only happened because I was writing songs and there were a few that were so personal
it felt weird to give them away to someone else [...] I know a lot of really talented,
hard working musicians, and those people give it everything they have, and if I can’t
afford to give it everything I have, then it’s not doing respect to the industry.”
"I couldn't do it anymore."
Debby Ryan and Josh Dun from Twenty One Pilots had been in an on-again-off-again relationship
since 2013, but had ended things by 2015. A year later, they rekindled their romance,
and the pair got engaged in December 2018 while in New Zealand. They wed in Austin,
Texas on New Year's Eve in 2019. Despite the long engagement, their wedding was planned
in just 28 days and was tailor-made for the bride and groom from start to finish. They
shared their wedding album with Vogue, revealing intimate details, like how they had a private
meal together before dancing the night away. Ryan revealed,
"Taking that time to bask in the 'heck yeah, we're married' realness really set us up to
celebrate with such deep and unencumbered joy."
Ryan's character on Insatiable, Patty Bladell, is a high school girl with a binge-eating
disorder. She becomes engaged in a physical altercation, recovers on a liquid diet, loses
weight, and seeks revenge on everyone who has wronged her. Concerned viewers began a
petition to cancel the series based on the trailer alone, which shows Ryan in a prosthetic
fat suit. Co-star Alyssa Milano defended the series on Twitter and wrote,
"We are not shaming Patty. We are addressing (through comedy) the damage that occurs from
fat shaming."
As for what brought Ryan to such a controversial role, she told The Sydney Morning News,
"I was drawn to this show's willingness to go to real places about how difficult and
scary it can be to move through the world in a body, whether you're being praised or
criticised for its size."
Ryan has body dysmorphia, which she discussed on Armchair Expert and explained,
"Dysmorphia is a mental illness [...] it doesn't follow logic or reason, and I also don't have
context at all, so I have photos of me looking completely different. I mean, bleach-blonde
hair and red hair and dark hair [...] 15 pounds heavier and five pounds lighter or whatever."
Despite the criticism, Ryan was fully invested in Insatiable, telling The Sydney Morning
Herald,
"The redemption for me is that this whole struggle can now live outside of me on the
show, and is no longer hidden."
"I was tired of making food my higher power. I wanted to be in control."
Unfortunately, Insatiable may just have gone too far for audiences, and was canceled after
only two seasons.
In 2019, the star started a podcast called There You Are with Debby Ryan as a way to
engage with her fans. As Ryan said in her introduction to the podcast,
"There are so many things in my life that I haven't gotten into or spoken about because
being in the media or putting it on Twitter in 140 characters was not the opportunity
to open up about some of the things that I've experienced in my frame of reference in my
mind."
Surprisingly, after putting out a season two intro and one new episode in February 2020,
the former Disney Channel star has not uploaded any new episodes since.
Ryan got some attention online for her role as Tara in Disney Channel's 2012 Radio Rebel
movie. Oddly, that attention came in April 2020, when TikTokers started making fun of
the character's shy facial expressions, which isn't an ideal reason to go viral, but Ryan
rolled with the punches. In response, she tweeted,
"I was serious about my craft from a young age and studied technique alongside Roxanne
from A Goofy Movie."
A few months later, Ryan jumped on TikTok and recreated her iconic Disney Channel looks,
even reenacting her Radio Rebel shy face. Ryan also spoke about social media and comparison
in 2017 for a Darling Magazine project. Ryan said,
"The internet is forever, and I think we're really flippant about it. [...] I think we
can be using it to tear each other down or you can be using it to, like, heal each other
and better ourselves."
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Ryan has an estimated $4 million to her name, and it
looks like she spends some of that hard-earned income on clothing. In fact, the actor is
no stranger to New York Fashion Week, though you won't find Debby Ryan paying full price
all the time. W magazine went thrifting with her and learned why style is important to
the celeb. Ryan said,
"I think because I moved so much, style became a really quick way to introduce yourself at
first sight. It's one of the only things you can have control over in terms of how people
read you."
With $4 million secured, Ryan doesn't have to worry too much about bigger purchases.
She revealed on the Armchair Expert podcast that she grew up thinking she was saving her
acting money for medical school so that she could become a surgeon. Ryan was tickled when
host Dax Shepard asked her if her parents would let her buy a Mustang as her first car
at age 16. In fact, the actor and her mother did go in on a Mustang together, which she
ended up wrecking in an accident after two years. Ryan later purchased an Audi.
There are many layers to Debby Ryan, and she pours herself into her film and television
roles. She starred in Netflix thriller Horse Girl in 2020, and filmed 2021's Night Teeth
for the streamer. Aside from Netflix, fans can look for her in a forthcoming HBO indie
comedy called Spin Me Round with Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie, and Molly Shannon.
But even Ryan's longtime fans must look closely to catch all the nuances of her life and career.
She intentionally keeps some things private, but with her choice of projects like Insatiable,
which touched on a personal issue, and her podcast, which seeks to engage even more deeply
with fans, the actor knows how to impact her audiences on a personal level.
For now, it seems like Ryan is sticking with acting, but she'll keep rocking out with her
drummer husband along the way. It goes without saying that fans are eager to see the star
use her talent in creative ways as new projects flow in.
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