Ryan has appeared in theatre, television and film. His earliest theatre performances were with Roundabout Theatre Company where his credits included Macbeth, Witness: Speak No Evil, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Skeletons, This is What We Have to Say, and Hamlet. With Darlinghurst Theatre Company he performed in Rorschach. His other credits include Am I Your Dream? (Adelaide Fringe Festival and Sydney Seasons), Romeo and Juliet (Campbelltown Theatre Company), Love Bytes (Pymble Players), The Great Aussie BBQ (Short and Sweet Festival), Love and War and No One Punches the Mediator Anymore (Newtown Theatre). For the Lieder Theatre Company, Ryan has appeared in The 13 Storey Treehouse, The Three Musketeers, The Servant of Two Masters, Rabbit Hole, The Hollow, The Laramie Project, Two Weeks with the Queen, A Streetcar Named Desire, Australia Day, Twelfth Night, Baskerville, Journey Through the Impossible, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare and The Touch of Silk. He appeared in the experimental feature film Love Brokers with Ben Mendelsohn and Megan Connolly, Packed to the Rafters for Channel 7, and a number of short films, corporate training videos and commercials.