2004–2012: Early career

Amell appeared in two episodes of the fourth season of Queer as Folk as the Liberty Ride spinning instructor in 2004. Amell played Adam in the first season of the television series Dante's Cove; he was replaced in the second season by Jon Fleming. In 2007, Amell won a Gemini Award for his guest-starring role on ReGenesis.^[7] The same year he was also nominated for a Gemini Award in the Best Ensemble Cast Category for Rent-a-Goalie.^[8]

He had recurring roles in the TV series Da Kink in My Hair and Heartland. On December 3, 2010, Amell joined the cast of The Vampire Diaries as werewolf 'Brady' for season 2.^[9] Amell starred as the real life convicted killer Joran van der Sloot in the Lifetime film Justice for Natalee Holloway which originally aired in May 2011.^[10]

On October 2, 2011, season 3 of HBO's series Hung premiered with Amell starring as busboy-turned-prostitute Jason, a younger rival "ho" to Thomas Jane's Ray Drecker.^[7] He also appeared as Jim in the fourth season of 90210.^[11] Amell announced on October 28, 2011, that he had just finished filming the Christmas episode of New Girl with Zooey Deschanel and Max Greenfield. He touches on the experience of filming his first "network half-hour comedy" in an interview with Daemon's TV.^[11] On November 9, 2011, Amell was announced for the recurring role of Scottie, a paramedic on ABC's Private Practice.^[12] He also played the role of Travis McKenna in Blue Mountain State.

2012–2020: Arrow

In January 2012, Amell was cast as Oliver Queen in The CW series Arrow, based on the DC Comics superhero of the same name.^[10] This series and role led to Amell appearing as the character on other superhero series on the network as part of the growing Arrowverse, including The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow,Supergirl, and Batwoman, as well as the CW Seed webseries Vixen.

Amell co-starred in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (released on June 3, 2016) as vigilante "Casey Jones".^[13] Amell announced in May 2017 that he would be participating on a special celebrity edition of American Ninja Warrior.^[14] Amell demonstrated great physical abilities which was reflective of his athleticism in his portrayal of Oliver Queen.^[15] In 2017, he took part in the directorial debut of former Heartland co-star Michelle Morgan, a short film entitled Mi Madre, My Father, playing the estranged father of a six-year-old girl. Morgan raised funds for the production through a crowdfunding campaign.^[16] The film premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.^[17]

In March 2019, Amell announced the end of Arrow with its eighth and final season, which premiered in October 2019 and concluded in January 2020.^[18]

2020–present: Post-Arrow

His first post-Arrow project was announced in August 2019 as Heels, a Starz drama series set in the world of independent professional wrestling.^[19] In December of the same year, it was announced that short-form streaming platform Quibi were developing a spin-off series starring Amell and his cousin Robbie Amell, developed from their crowd-funded film Code 8.^[20] In September 2023, Heels was canceled after two seasons, being purchased by netflix in 2024.^[21] In February 2024, Stephen Amell was cast as Ted Black in the upcoming NBC pilot Suits L.A., based on the USA Network original series Suits.^[22]

WWE (2015)

As an avid professional wrestling fan,^[23] Amell campaigned for a guest appearance on WWE's weekly Raw program.^[24]

In May 2015, it was reported that he was set to wrestle Stardust (Cody Rhodes) at WWE's SummerSlam pay-per-view in August.^[23] Amell made his first WWE appearance on the May 25 episode of Raw, where he had a confrontation with Stardust.^[25] Amell returned to Raw in early August; after being assaulted in the audience by Stardust, Amell got into the ring to attack him until being contained by security. Following a backstage segment with Triple H, it was announced that Neville would team with Amell to face Stardust and King Barrett at SummerSlam.^[26]

At the event on August 23, 2015, Amell and Neville defeated Barrett and Stardust in a tag team match. Amell participated in the wrestling, and, behind the scenes, wrestlers were said to have been impressed with Amell's performance.^[27][28] Amell became friends with Rhodes, with whom he later also worked on Arrow.^[29]

On December 21, 2015, Amell was awarded a Slammy for the "Celebrity Moment of the Year" for his dive onto Stardust during the match.^[30]

Ring of Honor (2017)

Amell returned to professional wrestling for Ring of Honor on November 17, 2017, at Survival of the Fittest.^[31] On the day of the show, Amell joined the Bullet Club faction, and teamed with Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) in a five-on-four tag team match. They defeated The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian), Flip Gordon, and Scorpio Sky, and Amell again participated in the wrestling, including being put through a table by The Addiction.^[32]

All In (2018)

On August 6, 2018, it was announced that Amell would be competing at All In, in his first-ever singles match, where he was defeated by Christopher Daniels.^[33]

All Elite Wrestling (2020)

On February 29, 2020, Amell made an appearance at All Elite Wrestling's Revolution, where he accompanied Cody Rhodes alongside Rhodes' Nightmare Family for his match against MJF.^[34]

Controversies

Amell's personal statements and behavior have occasionally drawn controversy. In September 2015, he came under scrutiny after commenting on an incident in Irving, Texas, where a Muslim student was arrested for bringing a disassembled digital clock to his high school. Amell posted a tweet saying that "[s]tereotyping Texas isn't any better than stereotyping Ahmed", referring to the name of the student.^[45] The tweet sparked backlash on the internet, prompting Amell to take a break from social media.^[46][47][48]

In 2018, Amell faced accusations of disrespecting Black names when he tweeted "my âpölògīés" to respond to comments criticizing his failure to use the acute accent while tweeting singer Beyoncé's name.^[49] He later clarified that his omission of the accent was due to being "lazy in the midst of a mediocre joke".^[50] Initially, Amell mentioned Beyoncé in the context of missing her Coachella performance to watch an André the Giant documentary.^[51]

In 2020, during the Black Lives Matter protests, Amell garnered criticisms, including from comic book writer Tee Franklin, after admitting that racism is a systemic problem but he had not personally "seen it in action".^[52]

In 2021, Amell was asked to leave a Delta Air Lines flight traveling from Austin to Los Angeles for yelling at his wife.^[53] Amell later explained on a podcast hosted by Michael Rosenbaum that he was intoxicated when the incident took place.^[54][55]

In July 2023, Amell was criticized for comments he made at a fan convention regarding the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. While he expressed support for SAG-AFTRA as his union, he called striking a "reductive negotiating tactic" and "myopic" and seemed to criticize that the strike banned him from promoting the second season of Heels.^[56][57] In an Instagram post, he later clarified his opinion, saying that while he does not like striking, he "[understands] fundamentally why we're here" and stated that his support for the union was unconditional and that he stood with them.^[58] Amell did not attend the Arrow cast reunion on the picket line outside the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank, California, as he was in New York City at the time, but on the day of the reunion, he was photographed on the picket line in front of the Warner Bros. Discovery offices in New York and reportedly sent his regards to his former showrunners in California. Marc Guggenheim, executive producer of Arrow and organizer of the revival, interpreted his attendance in New York as a symbolic stand in solidarity.^[59][60]

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