Fair City star Ryan Andrews said living with scoliosis is like a “weight on his shoulders” every day.
But he has used his condition to show the kids he teaches that anything is possible through self-belief. Ryan, 29, will next be seen in the panto Olly Polly and the Beanstalk at the 3Olympia Theatre.
The actor, from Donaghmede in north Dublin, has refused to let his condition hold him back and maintains the sky’s the limit when you “manifest” your desires. He made it to the last three contestants in Dancing with the Stars in 2020, winning the gruelling Army Rangers inspired challenge Ultimate Hell Week the year after.
Ryan, whose dad Jimmy ended up in an induced coma for six days after getting Covid last year, told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “Scoliosis never goes away, it’s something I will have for the rest of my life.
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“I was diagnosed at 16 years of age, it’s an ongoing daily issue, I have to stretch every morning and evening. My back is the first to take the hit, it’s literally like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders, but it made me even more determined to succeed.
“When I was younger I was told I wouldn’t be able to do things and having scoliosis made me determined to prove that I could. It never stopped me from doing anything.
“Two years ago in the panto I fractured every ligament in my ankle but I still had to go on in a boot. I used scoliosis since I’ve been 15 to say to myself ‘if things come up, don’t let it stop you, just work with it’. I say that to the young kids I teach.”
Ryan, who tied the knot with childhood sweetheart Michaela O’Neill in November, revealed how the pair met doing panto 18 years ago.
He said: “I’ve known Michaela since we’ve been 10 years of age at the Olympia Panto. We are going out since we’re 15. It’s all one big circle, we were friends for years, we’ve worked together and it’s our 18th year together on panto. For the first few years it was boys on one side, girls on the other.
“But then when we were 15, I got the lead role as Robin Hood and Michaela was all over me then. It’s so much more than a show to us, it’s where love blossomed. Loads of people from the lighting and stage met during Panto.”
The couple got married in November in front of 13 of their closest family members in a Dublin registry office and are planning to say “I do” again in Majorca next year.
He added: “We always just said we’d have a wedding away, the feeling of being away everyone is having a good time. We looked up a venue, we flew over and booked it there and then on the day. It’s our dream wedding place, it just clicked for us.”
As for the pair’s honeymoon, he revealed: “We haven’t booked it yet, but we might go for a cruise from Majorca.” Michaela, a primary school teacher by day, runs a stage school with Ryan and her own Irish Dancing School.
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In July last year The Irish Dancing Commission, (CLRG) appointed a former judge to investigate claims that prominent dance schools and teachers were rigging competitions.
Ryan said Michaela was gutted to hear of the allegations.
He said: “The Irish Dancing World is split up into four. The organisation which had all the controversy has nothing to do with Michaela’s.
“She finds it unfortunate for everyone involved in Irish dancing. I always say it’s the kids who suffer, not the teachers.”
Ryan said the couple hope to start a family soon.
He revealed: “We plan the next five years in advance, we had a 30 year plan that we’d have our house, that we’d be engaged and married.
“Hopefully... once the honeymoon happens we will kick off a family, if we’re blessed.”
A case taken by Fair City star Tony Tormey, who plays Paul Brennan, is currently before the Workplace Relations Commission.
The star – who earns between €99,000 and €150,000 a year on the soap – said he is entitled to a contract of indefinite duration with RTE.
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But Ryan insists it’s not black and white when it comes to salaries in the acting world.
He said: “What people don’t realise is that it’s not a nine to five, 52 weeks of the year...
“You could be working four or ten weeks a
year, so it’s all relevant to what a yearly wage is but nine times out of 10, it’s a lot less than what an average person earns. That’s why I personally need
to have loads on the go.” But living in fear that his Fair City character Sean Cassidy could be axed at any time is a waste of time, he believes.
Ryan added: “You never live in fear of it, but it’s such a good gig that you want to stay in there for as long as possible, if you were to think like that, you wouldn’t enjoy your scripts as you were getting them.
“Sometimes if you hear of a storyline coming in, you’ll look to the back of the page and think oh I’m still here, but other than that why people live in fear is because it’s such a good job.
“You don’t want to let it go.”
- Olly, Polly & The Beanstalk runs from December 21 to January 8, 2023 at the 3Olympia Theatre.
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