He came to prominence for playing the lead role of Oliver Queen on the CW superhero series Arrow (2012–2020), based on DC Comics.

Outside of television, Amell portrayed Casey Jones in the superhero film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016).

Stephen Adam Amell was born on May 8, 1981[2] in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Sandra Anne (née Bolté) and Thomas J.

[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.

In January 2012, Amell was cast as Oliver Queen in The CW series Arrow, based on the DC Comics superhero of the same name.

Amell co-starred in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (released on June 3, 2016) as vigilante "Casey Jones".

[18] His first post-Arrow project was announced in August 2019 as Heels, a Starz drama series set in the world of independent professional wrestling.

[23] Amell has also been announced as playing Henry Roland, a police officer, in the forthcoming Crave crime drama series Underbelly.

[38][39] In January 2015, Amell launched his second Represent.com campaign featuring a word he made up, Sinceriously, to benefit two mental health charities: Paws and Stripes and Stand For The Silent.

[39] In August 2015, Amell used his guest appearance on WWE Raw with Stardust to raise funds via his third campaign for children's hospice Emily's House in Toronto.

[43] Amell married actress and model Cassandra Jean on December 25, 2012, in a private ceremony in the Caribbean,[44] and for a second time in New Orleans on May 26, 2013.

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.

[54] 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".

[55] In 2021, Amell was asked to leave a Delta Air Lines flight traveling from Austin to Los Angeles for yelling at his wife.

Marc Guggenheim, executive producer of Arrow and organizer of the revival, interpreted his attendance in New York as a symbolic stand in solidarity.