Ryan Grantham Movies: Films Before Life In Prison

Riverdale actor Ryan Grantham was recently sentenced to life in prison. He was in a number of different films during his short career.

By Sckylar Gibby-Brown | Published

Ryan Grantham movies
Ryan Grantham in Riverdale

Ryan Grantham was on the path toward a bright future after appearing in several movies as a child and playing Jeffery Augustine in CW’s Riverdale. Unfortunately, whatever future the actor might have had was destroyed after the 25-year-old was sentenced to life in prison

Ryan Grantham was a young movie and television actor who started acting at the age of 9 when he was cast as Billy in the made-for-television movie, The Secret of the Nutcracker (2007). After that, he rose to public prominence when he played Rodney James in The Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010), based on the book series by Jeff Kinney.

In 2019, Grantham was cast in what would be his last acting role. He appeared in Season 4, Episode 1 of Riverdale as Jeffery Augustine in the hit CW show.

On March 31, 2020, Ryan Grantham was involved in a horrific incident when he shot his mother while she was playing piano in their family home. He later recorded a video confessing to the crime and told authorities that he had killed his mother to spare her from the emotional turmoil she would be in after he killed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Grantham told authorities that after he had killed his mother, he had planned to kill the Prime Minister and then also possibly commit a mass shooting at a school. 

Grantham told authorities that he aborted his plan to kill the Prime Minister and commit a mass shooting and that he also regretted killing his mother. He was held in a hospital prison between the time of his crime and his sentencing, where he received psychological help from a criminal psychologist.

In September 2022, he was sentenced to a lifetime in prison with the opportunity for parole after 14 years.

The actor was in a number of movies and productions during his short career.

RYAN GRANTHAM’S MOST KNOWN FILM ROLE IS A SUPPORTING ROLE IN THE DIARY OF A WIMPY KID

Ryan Grantham movies

Ryan Grantham plays Rodney James in the 2010 movie adaptation of the children’s book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is based on the book series by Jeff Kinney. The movie follows 12-year-old Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) as he transitions out of elementary school and into middle school.

It’s a brand new world, and Greg must learn how to survive the consequences and responsibilities that come with being older.

Ryan Grantham’s character is a supporting role in the movie. In the film, Ryan’s character Rodney tries out for the school play, The Wizard of Oz, and instead of being cast as the Tin Man as he wanted, he was cast as a shrub. Later, he gets promoted to the tree scene.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid was a successful feature that earned $76 million worldwide on a $15 million budget. The film went on to become a four-movie film series and had two animated reboots. Ryan Grantham only appeared in the first movie.

HE PLAYED THE YOUNG VERSION OF ANDREW GARFIELD

Ryan Grantham movies

Ryan Grantham was in a movie called The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009). The film is a fantasy story about the leader of a traveling troupe who wagered his daughter’s soul in a deal with the devil.

Now that the devil is back to collect his prize, the traveling troupe leader, Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), doesn’t want to pay. In an effort to save his daughter, Parnassus bets with the devil once more that whoever can collect five souls first will win Valentina.

The film was the last movie Heath Ledger made, as he died a third of the way through production. Ledger played a young man named Tony who aimed to collect the five souls so that he could win Valentina and marry her.

Though Ledger died during production, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Collin Farrel took over the role of Tony as the character traveled through a dream world. The three actors donated their salary to Ledger’s daughter so that she would have a strong financial future. 

Ryan Grantham plays the role of young Anton in the film, a younger version of Andrew Garfield’s character who is a member of the troupe. 

RYAN GRANTHAM WAS REDWOOD IN THE MOVIE BECOMING REDWOOD

Ryan Grantham movies

Ryan Grantham plays Redwood in the Canadian movie Becoming Redwood (2012). The film is a drama about an 11-year-old boy who believes he can reunite his parents if he can beat the American professional golfer Jack Nicklaus at the 1975 Masters golf tournament. 

Jennifer Copping and Chad Willet star next to Ryan Grantham in the movie, which was directed and written by Jesse James Miller. Storylab Productions produced the film, which went on to win Most Popular Canadian Film at the 2012 Vancouver International Film Festival.

Critics have claimed that the feature has many nods toward eccentric American filmmaker Wes Anderson (Fantastic Mr. Fox, 2009).

HE WAS IN THE LIFETIME TEEN MYSTERY UNDERCOVER CHEERLEADER

Undercover Cheerleader

Ryan Grantham had a supporting role as Max in the Lifetime made-for-TV movie, Undercover Cheerleader (2019). He plays Max, the friend of Autumn, who is the film’s protagonist, played by Kayla Wallace (Heatwave, 2022).

In the movie, Autumn is a transfer student who joins her school’s newspaper and decides to do an exposé on the cruel antics of the school’s cheerleading squad. Autumn goes undercover by joining the team and soon realizes that there is something much more sinister than cheerleaders afoot. 

Undercover Cheerleader was written by Lauren Balson Carter and directed by Danny J. Boyle. Maddie Phillips from the upcoming The Boys spin-off Gen V, Kehli O’Byrne from Hallmark’s The Mistletoe Promise, and Andre Anthony, who was also featured in Riverdale as Lenny Junior, join Kayla Wallace and Ryan Grantham in this movie. 

RYAN GRANTHAM PLAYED A 60-YEAR-OLD BOY IN THE MOVIE, CONSIDERING LOVE AND OTHER MAGIC

Considering Love and other magic

In another Wes Anderson-esque film, Ryan Grantham played a teenager named Tommy who was convinced he was actually a 60-year-old work of fiction in the movie Considering Love and Other Magic (2016).

Maddie Phillips (who would later work with Grantham again in Undercover Cheerleader) stars in this quirky fantasy as cynical teenager Jessie, who is failing some of her classes and must sign up as a tutor for extra credit. The boy she is assigned to tutor is Tommy, and when she meets him, he insists he hasn’t left his house in 60 years because he is actually just an illusion created by a legendary writer. 

Eric McCormack, Darcy Fehr, Montana Lehmenn, and Shiela McCarthy star next to Maddie Phillips and Ryan Grantham in the movie. This family fantasy drama was written and directed by David Schultz.