Ryan Serhant
Ryan Matthew Serhant "Catching up with...Ryan Serhant". Soap Opera Digest. July 1, 2013. p. 75. is an American real estate broker, author, and television personality. He currently stars on Bravo's television series Million Dollar Listing New York and its spin-off Sell it Like Serhant. Serhant runs a New York real estate firm.
Early life and education
Born in Houston, Texas, Serhant was raised in Topsfield, Massachusetts, on the North Shore of Massachusetts, where he attended the Pingree School. Serhant credits his father, John Serhant, Vice Chairman of State Street Global Advisors, for teaching him to work hard at a young age. One summer, under his father's watch, Serhant and his younger brother Jack collected wood for $1.50 an hour which they, in turn, sold to neighbors as firewood. This first entrepreneurial experience taught Serhant the value of hard work and earning a dollar. Serhant spent most of his summers with his family in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where he pursued his interest in theater and arts, attending Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School & Camp. Later, he attended Hamilton College where he double majored in English literature and theater and was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. After graduating in 2006, Serhant moved to New York City to launch his acting career.Career
Career beginnings
In 2007, after a year of participating in stock photo shoots to pay rent, Serhant landed his first role as Evan Walsh on the soap opera As the World Turns. When his acting career slowed, he turned to hand modeling, posing for products including AT&T phones and Nespresso pods. However, with little interest in hand modeling as a life-long career, Serhant re-directed his efforts to real estate sales at the urging of a friend.Real estate
In 2008, against the backdrop of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and the sub-prime mortgage industry collapse, Serhant ventured into the New York real estate market. He initially earned his real estate license as a means of supporting himself while auditioning for acting roles in lieu of bartending. During his first year, Serhant worked to solicit new real estate business in creative ways, including distributing flyers which declared himself the number one broker in New York City and approaching shoppers well-endowed with purchases on the streets of NYC. During his first year in real estate, he earned just $9,000. After a year-long pursuit, he closed his first major sale of $8.5 million. By 2012, The Real Deal had ranked Serhant #15 out of the 100 most successful agents in New York.Hired at Nest Seekers International in 2008, Serhant became executive vice president and managing director. In 2012, he launched his bi-coastal brokerage team, the Serhant Team, which consists of over 60 people in New York City, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Miami, and the Hamptons. His team specializes in high-end residential condo and co-op sales, homes, and new development sales.
Serhant and his team have implemented creative strategies to close deals. Their past strategies have included hiring a marching band to showcase the effectiveness of an apartments' double-pane windows, staging a magic show and coining a new NYC neighborhood - SoHY, and throwing an 80's themed party complete with a DeLorean parked outside to enhance the nostalgia of a home's decor. As a closing gift following a $17 million condo sale on the Upper East Side, Serhant once had a custom wooden dollhouse worth $2,000 made for the client's nine-year-old daughter. Serhant Team deals include the sale of Ellie Tahari's Astor Place property for $15.5 million, over 100 units at 550 Vanderbilt, and a $30 million sale at 152 Elizabeth Street to a venture capitalist at Benchmark Capital.
Serhant's team has set price-per-square-foot sales records across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island City and have a list-to-sale ratio of 94.5%. In 2017, his team closed $838 million in total Manhattan real estate deals.
Television
In 2010, Serhant auditioned for the Million Dollar Listing New York reality show and was cast as one of three real estate agents featured on the show. The first episode of MDLNY aired on Bravo on March 7, 2012, and followed agents Ryan Serhant, Fredrik Eklund, and Michael Lorber across some of New York's most exclusive real estate deals. Because the show is not scripted or staged, sales on the show are not always finalized, making for a real-world television experience.Serhant has appeared on CNN, CNBC, FOX, NBC, ABC, and CBS. In 2018, Serhant gave a keynote address at Agent 2021 with Gary Vaynerchuk. Serhant has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal China and Forbes.
Since his debut on Million Dollar Listing, Serhant has also appeared on Inside Amy Schumer, and in 2014, Serhant made his film debut, co-starring in Noah Baumbach's 2014 film, While We're Young.
In 2017, Serhant produced and launched the Bravo television show Sell It Like Serhant, a spin-off of MDLNY in which he coaches under-performing salespeople, helping them improve their sales skills. Serhant is known for recommending improvisation classes to new sales associates to get them up-to-speed quickly.
Books
On September 18, 2018, the week of his 10-year anniversary in real estate, Serhant debuted his first book, Sell It Like Serhant: How to Sell More, Earn More, and Become the Ultimate Sales Machine, which became a best-seller on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times book lists.Personal life
On September 14, 2014, Serhant shut down Times Square and proposed to lawyer Emilia Bechrakis. On July 7, 2016, the two married in Corfu, Greece, in a Greek church following Serhant's conversion to the Greek Orthodox Church. A four-part mini-series, Million Dollar Listing New York: Ryan’s Wedding chronicled the event and aired on Bravo in fall of 2016. The couple welcomed a daughter in February 2019.Filmography
Television
| Year | Show | Role | Notes |
| 2007–2008 | As the World Turns | Evan Walsh | 19 episodes |
| 2012–present | Million Dollar Listing New York | Himself | 71 episodes |
| 2012–2017 | Today | Himself / Guest | 5 episodes |
| 2012–2018 | Himself / Guest | 11 episodes | |
| 2013 | Bethenny | Himself / Guest | 2 episodes |
| 2013 | Marie | Himself | Episode: "Corbin Bernsen & Ryan Serhant" |
| 2013 | Realty Byte with Ryan Serhant | Himself / Host | Also executive producer and director |
| 2014 | Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles | Himself | Episode: "Flagg vs. Serhant" |
| 2015 | The Mysteries of Laura | Tribeca Film Festival Director | Episode: "The Mystery of the Deceased Documentarian" |
| 2016 | Inside Amy Schumer | Sal | Episode: "Brave" |
| 2018 | On the Money | Himself / Real Estate Broker | Episode: "Episode #7.3" |
| 2018–present | Sell it Like Serhant | Himself | 8 episodes; also co-executive producer |