Ryan O'Connell

Ryan O'Connell is an American writer, actor, director, comedian, LGBTQ activist, and disability advocate. He is known for his 2015 memoir, I'm Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves,

Early life and education O'Connell grew up in Ventura County, California with what he described as his "liberal" family. He has a mild form of cerebral palsy (CP) since birth, which affects the right side of his body with a noticeable limp. Because of his CP, he had ten or eleven surgeries as a child, spending time in the hospital, and received much physical therapy.

On discovering his sexuality, O'Connell said,

He remained closeted until he was 17 and felt he needed to come out, to pursue another boy who was already out.

When O'Connell was 20, he was hit by a car and required four hand surgeries. The accident resulted in compartment syndrome, and affected mainly his left hand. He contributed to Vice, BuzzFeed, and other publications including The New York Times and Medium. Some of his writing went viral and when he was 25, he was offered a book deal from Simon & Schuster. which he publicly revealed his disability. O'Connell was assured with Parsons and Spiewak; he felt he could not trust a network with the gay content, fearing that they would let the project die after buying the option.

2016 and Special In 2016, O'Connell received a go-ahead from Stage 13 to develop a script for Special, based on his memoir, with eight 15-minute episodes for Netflix. A 2016 Ruderman Family Foundation study found that "about 95% of characters with disabilities on television are played by able-bodied actors". Including actors with disabilities is still rare in entertainment industries; in 2018 Ali Stroker was "the first person in a wheelchair to win a Tony Award"; in July 2019, Marvel made history announcing a deaf superhero, a first; and AMC's The Walking Dead and HBO's Years and Years are among the few opening their casting.

Although he looked for an actor, ultimately he took the role himself due to budget constraints. Producers filmed with Austin, Texas doubling for Los Angeles, also due to budget constraints. He found in particular the sex scenes were emotionally taxing but also rewarding as disabled people having sex is rarely seen, and among LGBTQ people even rarer. He said, "I also want to live in a world where it's not groundbreaking to show an accurate sex scene between two men." Special also shows the lead character Ryan losing his virginity to a male sex worker in what O'Connell characterized as "a beautifully honest and sweet sex scene". USA Today called the episode a landmark for disability representation and noted "O'Connell hope(s) to destigmatize sex work with the graphic scene, but also normalize gay sex for mainstream audiences who aren't used to seeing it in Hollywood movies or popular TV shows". O'Connell and the show were commended for his "standout performance and quippy prose". In June 2019, O'Connell was the celebrity grand marshal for the LA Pride Parade.

In July 2019, Special was nominated for four 71st Primetime Emmy Awards taking place in September: Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series; both Punam Patel and Jessica Hecht for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series; and O'Connell for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series. This is the most nominations for a short form piece this year.

In August 2019, it was announced that O'Connell and Anna Dokoza, an Australian director and producer who worked on Special, as well as Flight of the Conchords, and Lady Dynamite, will be mentoring prospective producers in Australia. The effort, sponsored by SBS and Screen Australia, will launch Digital Originals, to make short-form projects for SBS On Demand.

In June 2022, O'Connell had his fiction debut with the book Just by looking at him, also published by Simon & Schuster in New York.

Personal life O'Connell has been dating Jonathan Parks-Ramage since 2015. They met at Grimes birthday party in Los Angeles.

Filmography Television Year Title Creator Writer Executiveproducer Actor Role Notes 2014–16 Awkward 2017–18 Will & Grace 2019–21 Special Ryan Hayes Main role 2021 The Baby-Sitters Club 2022 Queer as Folk Julian Beaumont Main role