A funny thing happened to Tim Ryan, AS '95, on the way to law school. What started out as a way to earn money for tuition turned into a full-time career as a super model whose face now appears on billboards from Times Square to Sunset Boulevard.
A political science major with a minor in legal studies, Ryan had mapped out his legal career- working in law offices in the summer, serving as a White House intern and then heading off to law school.
Fate intervened. His girlfriend, Heather Delp,
HP '94, currently a first-grade teacher, sent a photograph of him to a modeling convention. Much to his surprise, it resulted in an invitation for an interview from a modeling agency in New York.
With a portfolio by well-known fashion photographer Bruce Weber, Ryan's career took off. He received modeling assignments from Abercrombie & Fitch and The Gap, and he is now Ralph Lauren's lead model for Chaps, appearing in ads in Esquire, Rolling Stone and G.Q. He's also appeared on the famous fashion show runways of Milan, Paris and New York.
Meantime, Ryan deferred law school for a year, and in the second year, postponed it indefinitely.
For as long as he can remember, Ryan says, he has liked performing. In high school in Morristown, N.J., he starred in musicals (as J. Pierpont Finch in How To Succeed in Business, among others) and, while in college, he was captain of the cheerleading team.
He's also been in TV commercials. "I'm the guy whose glasses get steamed up while kissing his girl in the Dentyne Ice Gum commercial," he says.
His selection as the bachelor of the year for Cosmopolitan brought him further fame, and fan mail is coming his way.
While working in New York, Ryan studied acting, and he now is in Los Angeles doing pilots for films and TV shows.
Looking back at the past two years, he says he is amazed. "I can't explain it. I never planned it or thought this would be my life, but I am having fun and I love what I'm doing."
-Sue Swyers Moncure