Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds has portrayed two types of superheroes in film, one that plays the super-heroic story conventions straight and another that is violently perfect in all his R-rated glory. It is the latter type that he gravitates to, and the one his fans prefer. And twice already has Reynolds portrayed Marvel’s fourth-wall-breaking antihero Deadpool for 20th Century Fox before it was acquired by Disney. But the film star is also a hero of sorts in real life, one with generous pockets to boot. Over the weekend he has taken the cause of a Filipina Canadian resident who lost a very precious teddy bear.
TIME reports that Ryan Reynolds has joined a wave of Hollywood celebrities reaching out on social media regarding the stolen teddy bear of Mara Soriano, a Fil-Canadian whose story was covered by journalist Deborah Goble on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Soriano had been packing to change addresses in Vancouver, BC when she left a bag carrying a Build-a-Bear Workshop teddy bear, later reported stolen. While the bag also contained citizenship documents, an iPad and Nintendo Switch, the bear was more valued by Soriano because it featured a recorded voice of her mother Marilyn, who died of cancer in 2019.
After coming across Goble’s Twitter post dated July 26, Reynolds replied that he would be giving a $5,000 reward to anyone who can find the lost teddy bear and return it to Soriano. “Zero questions asked,” the “Deadpool” star wrote about his reward offer. “I think we all need this bear to come home.” The owner herself is sparing no effort to track it down, with the bear carrying its precious message from her late mother, as she had commissioned the Build-a-Bear for her daughter when she was already dying.
Mara Soriano, now 28, moved to Canada at age 9 from the Philippines and has been a current resident of Vancouver since five years ago. Another video she shared on Twitter actually had footage of the missing teddy bear playing her mother’s voice. In mixed Filipino and English the message says, “Hi Ate Mara, mahal na mahal kita okay. Remember that. You made Mommy so proud. No matter where you are, a part of you will always be with me forever. I love you to infinity and beyond.” Ryan Reynolds’ $5K reward tweet has gotten plenty of attention, with commenters offering to chip in to at least replace Soriano’s gadgets.
Other notables that have reacted to the news about the lost bear include Disney Channel actress Lauren Taylor, Ronan Keating of Boyzone, and members of the BTS Army. Vancouver Police also tweeted for whoever finds the memento to contact their office, while security camera footage of the Vancouver street where Soriano left her bag for a moment has captured a possible suspect in the area.
Image courtesy of Today Show
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