Gunnar Ryan Wiik is a Norwegian actor and entrepreneur. Wiik resides in Los Angeles, California.
Biography
Wiik was born on September 23, 1981 in the seaside town of Drøbak, Norway. In the late summer of 2005, Wiik appeared as a contestant in a Norwegian talent search TV show, :no:Filmstjerne|Filmstjerne, but was voted out by the judges after the first round. In 2007, Wiik appeared as Jason in the thriller Timber Falls. In September 2009, Wiik co-founded WR Entertainment with James F. Cardwell, Duane M. Eberlein, Alan E. Bell, Michael Joseph Smith, Øyvind Holm-Johnsen and Steinar Larsen. On May 9, 2011, Daily Variety announced that WR Entertainment had acquired the motion-picture rights to all 83 novels in the best-selling Morgan Kane series, which had sold more than 20 million books to date. In January 2016, Wiik announced that he intended to star as the lead role in the planned Morgan Kane films, but later failed his audition. On January 13, 2016, WR Entertainment became a publicly traded company on the Oslo Stock Exchange Merkur Market under the name WR Entertainment ASA. Two months later, a private placement took place. In December 2016, Wiik resigned from WR in response to a group of shareholders seeking his and Chairman James F. Cardwell's removal from the company. This process was later chronicled by WR investor Jan Henry Løken in VG's documentary The Ballad of Morgan Kane. Wiik stated in a press release that he resigned because of "creative differences." Cardwell was later voted out by the shareholders at an EGM.
Litigation
In March 2017, Wiik filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against WR's CEO, Tasmin Lucia-Khan. The suit, including allegations of defamation and sexual manipulation, made international headlines. Wiik claimed that Lucia-Khan spread rumors about Wiik offering prostitutes to investors. Lucia-Khan filed a series of motions to quash service and an anti-SLAPP motion against Wiik. In the anti-SLAPP, one of WR's largest investors, Jonny Martinsen, states in his testimony that he was offered sex with Wiik's assistant as a gift. In June 2017 WR Entertainment filed a suit against Wiik for multiple counts of fraud, misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, breach of contract and unjust enrichment. Wiik filed a cross-complaint with multiple claims of breach of contract and fraud. In July 2017, WR Entertainment obtained an injunction from Oslo District Court to freeze 18.7 million shares of stock in Wiik's name, pending outcome of WR's fraud claim filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Wiik appealed Oslo District Court's decision at a two day oral hearing in August 2017, but lost his appeal. Wiik appealed for the second time to the Borgarting Court of Appeal. On December 1, 2017, Wiik lost his appeal for the second time. The Borgarting Court of Appeal upheld the injunction where the 18.7 million shares would be frozen until Los Angeles County Superior Court had made their ruling. In December 2017, Ryan Wiik reported a WR shareholder to the police for reckless behavior due to him posting parodic and satiric photos of Wiik. In June 2018, Wiik's case against the WR shareholder was dismissed by the police. On February 13, 2018, it was announced that a settlement had been reached between Wiik, WR Entertainment, and WR's CEO Lucia-Khan, where the pending lawsuits between the parties would be dismissed, and that Wiik had agreed to return the disputed 18.7 million shares back to WR Entertainment.
