Capping off one of his most successful years to date, Entertainment Weekly has named Ryan Reynolds its Entertainer of the Year for 2016.
The Vancouver native is aware of the kind of year he’s had: “I hate to sound overly sentimental, but I had a good year,” Reynolds tells the magazine regarding the honour.
The 40-year-old actor helped revive the superhero genre this year with Deadpool, which was both a box-office and critical success. The film, released in February 2016, opened to a record-breaking $132 million and $783 million worldwide.
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He knew the film would be successful, but not record-breaking.
“I knew that this was going to speak to the very core of the Deadpool fan base, and I knew they would embrace it. I think it just really landed at a fortunate time,” he admits. “We were right at ‘peak superhero,’ particularly in the sense that the superheroes were all intermittingly clenching their jaw muscles and brooding. Deadpool came along and sort of threw all that on its a$$.”
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“After 20 years in the business, he has proven that things really do get better with age and we’re thrilled to be giving him this honour this year,” EW’s Executive Editor Sean Smith said. “We’re not the only ones are high on Ryan this year, he is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which is fantastic and long overdue.”
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And while it’s been a pinnacle year for Reynolds professionally, the actor and his wife Blake Lively also had a remarkable year as a family, welcoming their second daughter this past September.
“I have great kids under two, so that’s the kind of stuff you focus on,” he told EW.
Reynolds will accept his Entertainer of the Year Award at the Critics’ Choice Awards – where he is also nominated for Best Actor in an Action Movie, Best Actor in a Comedy – on Sunday, Dec. 11.