Following an investment from Ryan Reynolds into Canada’s fintech industry, the Vancouver native and Hollywood actor said he sees similarities between show business and his entrepreneurial endeavours. 

“You can draw a pretty clear string between the experience that I've had in show business and the experience that I’ve had in a lot of these businesses,” Reynolds said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg Tuesday. “

“Typically, when you're talking about marketing, and you're introducing something that's slightly unorthodox or something that is not as easily digested as a movie to an audience, those are constraints. Those [constraints] force you to think outside the box and those are incredible creative exercises.”

On Monday, Montreal-based payment processor Nuvei Corp. announced that Reynolds invested an unspecified amount into the company and will assist it with various marketing efforts. 

Reynolds said he sees the relationship between his acting and entrepreneurship “as more closely associated than I think most people would give them credit for.” 

The actor founded a marketing agency titled Maximum Effort which works across a variety of sector, and was acquired by advertising giant MNTN in June 2021. Similarly to show business, marketing can present creative challenges, Reynolds said. 

“I don't and I continue to not be an expert in fintech. But I do know stories and I think I'm a pretty good read on people,” he said. “I loved everything that [Nuvei CEO] Phil [Fayer] had shared with me. Over and over again, he gave me a lot of details and a new appreciation of understanding payments.

Other notable investments the actor has made include American Aviation Gin and Wrexham Association Football Club. Mint Mobile, which Reynolds had reportedly a 25 per cent stake in, was acquired by T-Mobile US Inc. last month for US$1.35 billion. He has also invested in several Canadian companies, including 1Password parent company AgileBits Inc. and Wealthsimple Inc. 

“Fintech is another zag. I really like unusual moves. I think Aviation, Mint, Deadpool and Wrexham were all relatively out-of-the-box moves for their time and moment,” Reynolds said.

While both Fayer and Reynolds declined to specify his investment in Nuvei, the actor stated that he “genuinely believes in having skin in the game.”

“One of the things that I make sure that we do is that [the deal with] Nuvei is in a certain way structured like Aviation Gin or Mint, where if Nuvei wins, I win and vice versa. That is incentive enough,” he said.

Reynolds said he doesn’t think of himself as an expert in business, but that he loves the storytelling element of it “and so much of that is applicable to marketing.” 

“Nuvei is already a massive multibillion-dollar global company. So I think its just had a little bit of trouble talking about itself. It's probably due to some of its Canadian roots, maybe a little too humble for its own good,” he said.