Ryan received a BA in Communication Arts from Taylor University and a Master of Fine Arts in Film from Ohio University. He has taught at Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Thiel College, Taylor University and Ohio University. He has been film editor for commercial television, and Director of Operations at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. He has been Artist in Residence at the Experimental Television Center. His work has been exhibited at the US Super 8 Film Festival, Athens Film Festival, the Sinking Creek Film Festival, Three Rivers Arts Festival, Art in General, the Andy Warhol Museum, and Visual Studies Workshop. He has received awards from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Mid Atlantic Media Arts Program. Recent video works have gained recognition at some of the most important venues for experimental film and video including The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Video Festival and the Locarno Video Art festival, in Switzerland. A review of his video "Haptic Nerve" appears in Laura U. Marks' book Touch: Sensuous Theory and Multisensory Media. He has been honored with numerous fellowship awards, most recently the 2003 Bush Foundation Artist Fellowship.