Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - This Child Actor Is In Prison Now - The Ryan Grantham story

Episode Date: February 1, 2025

Ryan Grantham is an actor on Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Riverdale, iZombie, and Falling Skies, who was attempting to murder Justin Trudeau.

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It's crazy. Now, his name is Ryan. He's nine. He's from Squamish, British Columbia. And Ryan is young, but he already knows he wants to be an actor. So one day, he auditions for a commercial. And boom, he gets the part. So he keeps going.

And eventually, he gets a small role in a TV movie. And soon, he's in other movies and TV shows, and people are like, you're going places, kid. And a few years later, when he's around 12 years old, he lands a small role in the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He's the kid who plays the Bush in the school play. And it's a small role in a big movie, but this is a huge deal for him. And so he just keeps acting, small roles here and there. And eventually, a couple years later, he gets a lead role in a movie.

Hi, I'm Ryan Grantham. And I'm playing the role of Redwood. And so it feels like his acting career is finally getting traction. He gets a small role on a show called Falling Skies, and on a show. another show called I-Zombie. Then he gets cast in two episodes of Supernatural. Four years after that, he's cast in an episode of Riverdale. He told the police he did it to protect me, but it wasn't him. And that's all great for Ryan, but here's the thing about all this acting he's doing. He's working, he's getting roles here and there, some promising stuff, but he's not landing A-list parts like he wants.

Like nothing is making him this famous movie star, and this really starts to weigh on Ryan. And soon enough, he's really down about it, like really down. Like, he's battling with depression, and it just sucks for him. And by the way, this is a really common thing with actors. They see making it as a big Hollywood star as the very definition of success, as opposed to just being a working actor who gets a lot of smaller roles here and there. And so they, like Ryan, when they don't make it big time, like Timothy Shalomey or whoever, they'll start to see themselves as a failure.

Instead of seeing themselves as someone who is working a job doing something they really love, which a lot of people don't have the privilege of getting to do. Like, I personally think it's cool he was in Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Falling Skies and Riverdale. Like, that's a cool little resume to me, especially at 21 years old. Like, that sounds like success to me, but I guess it doesn't to Ryan. So, for whatever reason, Ryan doesn't tell anyone. He keeps it to himself and acts as if everything is okay. And around this time, he's going to college.

And in college, he's having a really hard time there too. And he's bummed out and he's isolating himself. And he starts having a lot of really dark thoughts. And apparently, to combat all this, he gets really into alcohol and zaza. Until. As things keep getting worse for Ryan, he starts to combat all this. spending more and more time online, specifically on the dark web, which can be a really messed up place. And I guess he gets really into watching these like really violent videos. A lot of

these videos are apparently of people being executed, like that's what he's consuming all day. And eventually Ryan gets into such a bad mental state, he just stops going to class. And all of this is putting him in a headspace where he wants to unalive himself. And then he starts thinking about what it might feel like to unalive someone else. Like I said, He's having a lot of really dark thoughts. And at some point in all this, he starts to come up with this plan, a plan to unalive someone. But the person he wants to take out isn't some rival classmate who works at Burger King or something. Ryan wants to unalive the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Triddera.

Specifically, he plans to drive to where the prime minister lives, open fire on the place, and set it ablaze. Why he specifically chooses Trudeau as a target is actually unclear. Ryan doesn't seem like a very political guy, but apparently for some reason he just really hates Trudeau. Anyway, so he thinks through this plan, and yeah, he's going to do it. And then he goes to the store and he buys himself a new rifle. Here's the thing though. When it comes to this plan, Ryan can't stop thinking about his mom, who will just call Mom. And Mom is a sweet woman who he still lives with, and she has always supported

his acting dreams. And Ryan, he keeps thinking that if he were to unalive the Prime Minister, then his name would be all over the news and his mom would know that her son is a killer, and it would destroy her. And Ryan doesn't want to destroy her, he doesn't want her to have to face that shame. So he decides that the merciful thing to do would be to unalive her first, so that she never finds out. Now mom, she frequently plays the piano, and when she does, she's totally absorbed in the music and the playing. And Ryan has this thing where he'll like rehearse the hit. He'll sneak up behind her while she's playing and he'll point his pew-poo at the back of her head and he'll mimic the shooting.

And she's completely oblivious to what's going on. But anyway, then the big day finally comes and it's go time. And so mom is at the piano and she's playing away and that's when Ryan grabs his rifle and he sneaks up behind her and he points it at her head. and he pulls the trigger. Blam! And mom falls to the floor and she's unalived. Then, for whatever reason, Ryan gets his GoPro and he turns it on and he records himself. He's like, hey, I just murdered my mom.

And then he turns the camera to show the body. And as crazy as all this is, this is a lot for Ryan to process and he needs to chill. So he goes out and he buys some beer and some Zaza and then he comes back home and he hangs out and he watches Netflix for a couple of hours, while mom's body is still there lying on the floor. And before he goes to sleep, he throws a sheet over his mom to cover her up. Now, in the morning, he's ready to carry out the second part of his plan, take out Justin Trudeau. So he packs up his car with three Pugh's, a ton of ammunition, a bunch of Maltov cocktails he made, camping supplies, and a printed Google map with directions to Trudeau's house. Then he takes off and he drives

for a few hours, for about 150 miles. And on this drive, he starts really thinking hard about what he's about to do. Like, is he really going to drive all the way across Canada to Unalive the Prime Minister? Because I look at that map, that's a really long drive. It's about 45 hours. So, Ryan, he starts to change his mind. And he starts thinking of other options he could do. Like, maybe I'll just go back to my college and unalive a bunch of people there.

Or maybe I'll go to the Lionsgate Bridge in Vancouver. Unalive a bunch of people there. And so, for whatever reason, he suddenly decides to turn his car around and he starts driving back. Now, here's where things get even more weird. Because on this drive, I guess he thinks about it more and more. Does he really want to unalive people at his school or at the bridge in Vancouver? And I guess the answer is no. Because instead of doing that, he drives to Vancouver right to the police station

and he walks up to an officer who's sitting in a parked car and he's like, Hi, I unalived my mom. Now, it isn't clear exactly why Ryan changed his mind suddenly. Like, he seems to be mentally just all over the place. Like, he wants to unalive himself. Then he suddenly has this plan to unalive Trudeau. But then he has to unalive his mom first, and then he changes his mind, decides to hit up his school and the bridge.

If this plan feels scattered to you, it's because it is. Regardless, eventually, bam, police arrest him. And I don't have a mug shot, but he's an actor, so here's his headshot. And he ultimately pleads guilty to second-degree murder and he sentenced to life in prison.