Sure, it might be common knowledge that Ryan Reynolds, the much-beloved film actor, is a Vancouverite, but what some fans might not know is that his grandfather also played an important part in Canadian history.
Last Thursday, during a visit to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Global News Hour at 6 Edmonton news anchor Gord Steinke stumbled upon a framed, black and white photograph of Chester Reynolds — the Deadpool star’s paternal grandfather.
Eight decades ago, the older Reynolds became a provincial politician. He was revealed to be a member Legislative Assembly of Alberta between 1940 and 1944, during a Global Edmonton broadcast earlier this week.
“This means a lot to me,” the star added. “Sometimes Twitter isn’t a giant swimming pool filled with digital rabies,” he joked.
After further confirming which member of legislature was his grandfather in the photo (fourth from the left, top row), a number of fans commented on how much the two Reynolds resembled one another.
“Don’t fool us,” tweeted one user,” that’s not your grandpa. That’s you!”
“Looks just like him,” wrote Steinke in his own Instagram post. “This was fun. Nice exchange with Ryan Reynolds.”
Chester was a Social Credit member from the constituency of Stettler, according to the Alberta Legislature’s official government website.
Nathan Cooper, a Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, told Global Edmonton that in his four-year term, Chester “certainly made his mark.”
He continued: “There are a number of newspaper articles, his speeches getting long applause from his colleagues. Perhaps he was a good communicator just like Ryan.”
Furthermore, Steinke revealed that Ryan had sent him a “colourized version of the picture.”
“He said he was going to share it with his brothers,” added the host. “They never had a lot of information about their grandpa.”
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Gord Steinke is an employee of Corus Entertainment.
Global News and Global News Hour at 6 Edmonton are affiliates of the Corus Entertainment Network.