Ryan James Eggold was born on August 10, 1984 in the Southern California city of Lakewood and attended Santa Margarita Catholic High School there, where he participated in many school plays and graduated in 2002. He was subsequently accepted into the University of Southern California's School of Dramatic Arts and granted a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2006. His professional television debut came only months later on The WB's series "Related." Other television credits include FX's "Dirt" (2007) with Courteney Cox and a starring role as Tom Keen in the spin-off series "The Blacklist: Redemption." A feature-length film debut followed in 2011 with the release of "Sironia."