Stephen Amell

## Introduction:

Stephen (born May 8, 1981) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for portraying Oliver Queen / Green Arrow in the Arrowverse television franchise (based on the comic character of the same name) and Casey Jones in *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows*.

## Early Life

Amell was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Sandra Anne (Bolté) and Thomas J. Amell.[2][3] He is a first cousin of actor Robbie Amell.[4]

He attended St. Andrew's College, a private, independent school for boys.

## Acting Career

Amell appeared in two episodes of the fourth season of *Queer as Folk* as the Liberty Ride spinning instructor in 2004. Amell played Adam in the first season of the television series *Dante's Cove*; he was replaced in the second season by Jon Fleming. In 2007, Amell won a Gemini Award for his guest-starring role on *ReGenesis*.[6] The same year he was also nominated for a Gemini Award in the Best Ensemble Cast Category for *Rent-a-Goalie*.

He had recurring roles in the TV series *Da Kink in My Hair* and *Heartland*. On December 3, 2010, Amell joined the cast of *The Vampire Diaries* as werewolf 'Brady' for season 2.[8]

Amell starred as Joran van der Sloot in the Lifetime film *Justice for Natalee Holloway* which originally aired in May 2011.[9]

On October 2, 2011, season 3 of HBO's series *Hung* premiered with Amell starring as busboy-turned-prostitute Jason, a younger rival "ho" to Thomas Jane's Ray Drecker.[6] He also appeared as Jim in the fourth season of *90210*.[10]

Amell announced on October 28, 2011, that he had just finished filming the Christmas episode of *New Girl* with Zooey Deschanel and Max Greenfield. He touches on the experience of filming his first "network half-hour comedy" in an interview with *Daemon's TV*.[10] On November 9, 2011, Amell was announced for the recurring role of Scottie, a paramedic on ABC's *Private Practice*.[11] He also played the role of Travis James in Blue Mountain State

In January 2012, Amell was cast as the title character in The CW series *Arrow*, a re-imagining of the comic-book character Green Arrow.[9]

Amell co-starred in the film *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows*, released on June 3, 2016, as vigilante Casey Jones.[12]

Amell announced in May 2017 that he will be participating on a special celebrity edition of *American Ninja Warrior*.

## WWE

As an avid professional wrestling fan,[14] Amell had long campaigned for a guest appearance on WWE's weekly *Raw* program,[15] when in late May 2015 it was reported that he was tentatively set to wrestle Stardust at WWE's SummerSlam pay-per-view on August 23, 2015.[14] Amell made his first WWE appearance on the May 25 *Raw*, where he had a confrontation with Stardust.[16] However, after the real-life death of Stardust's father Dusty Rhodes in June 2015, reports speculated that the match had been scrapped.[17] Despite this, Amell stated at the 2015 Comic Con International in July 2015, "I'm probably gonna do some stuff with the WWE. I don't know if that means a wrestling match. We'll see."[18] Amell returned to *Raw* on August 10, continuing his storyline with Stardust when he stepped into the ring after being assaulted in the audience by Stardust, attacking the wrestler until being contained by security. Following a backstage segment with Triple H, it was announced that Neville would team with Amell to face Stardust and King Barrett at SummerSlam.[19]

At the event on August 23, 2015, Amell and Neville defeated Barrett and Stardust in a tag team match. Neville and Barrett started and after Neville used his speed to control the action, Barrett tagged in Stardust. Stardust insisted that Amell enter the ring, a challenge accepted in a way that both imitated and bettered Stardust's own athletic ring entrance. Stardust first pushed Amell to the canvas, Amell then responded with a kip-up and a stiff front thrust kick to Stardust's chest. For the next few minutes Amell was controlled by Stardust and Barrett, and absorbed punches, kicks, knees, slams, falls from ring to floor, and an attack on the floor by the non-legal man, Stardust. Upon returning to the ring, and hitting Stardust with an enzuigiri, Amell made a hot tag to Neville, who dominated both opponents. The conclusion of the match came after Amell dove off the top turnbuckle onto Stardust and Barrett who were standing on the floor below. The match ended after Neville hit his finisher, the *Red Arrow*, on Barrett and pinned him.[20] Behind the scenes, wrestlers were said to have been impressed with Amell's performance. There were also talks of a potential singles match with Stardust.[21]On December 21, 2015, Amell was awarded a Slammy for the "Celebrity Moment of the Year" for his dive onto Stardust.

## Philanthropy

Amell has hosted a number of successful fundraising campaigns via the crowd funded merchandise platform Represent.com.[23] In 2014, Amell partnered with the charity Fuck Cancer to raise almost a million dollars with the release of a T-shirt featuring his face on the front (with a Post-it note on his forehead, and featuring the organization's name). He ended up selling over 60,000 shirts from this campaign.[24][25] In January 2015, Amell launched his second Represent.com campaign featuring a word he made up, *Sinceriously*, to benefit two mental health charities: Paws and Stripes, and Stand For The Silent.[25] In August 2015, Amell used his guest appearance on *WWE Raw* with Stardust to raise funds via his third campaign for children's hospice Emily's House in Toronto. The campaign raised $300,000, and Amell and Stardust presented a cheque together at Emily's House.

## Personal life:

Amell married his first wife, fellow Canadian Carolyn Lawrence, on December 8, 2007, in Toronto.[27]

Amell married actress and model Cassandra Jean on December 25, 2012, in a private ceremony in the Caribbean,[28] and for a second time in New Orleans on May 26, 2013.[29]The couple have a daughter, Maverick, born in 2013.[30]

Growing up, Amell was a fan of various local sporting teams, such as the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, and the Toronto Blue Jays. Amell is still very involved with the sports; he often jokes with fans telling them to skip Maple Leafs games and watch Arrow when the team faces a tough opponent, and recently, Amell campaigned to have Jays' third baseman Josh Donaldson elected to the 2015 all-star game.[31][32] Since moving to Los Angeles, Amell has supported the LA Kings, and more recently, the LA Rams.

Amell and his business partner own Nocking Point, a wine company based out of Walla Walla, Washington.