Canadian actor visits orphans in Malawi

Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds used some of his famous wit to bring smiles to the faces of children orphaned by disease and famine in one of the world's poorest countries.

The Vancouver native accompanied Hollywood writer/director John August to the Mulanje region of Malawi last month, where they spent a week with orphans and helped repair a facility that feeds 300 children a day.

Click here to see photos of Reynolds in Malawi.

Reynolds, 30, and August, 37, were in the country of more than 13 million in southeastern Africa – where HIV/AIDS has wiped out most of the adult population – as guests of Friends of Mulanje Orphans (FOMO).

The star of such films as Van Wilder and The Amityville Horror played games with the youngsters and delighted them by showing images on his digital camera. Reynolds, his face covered with a bandana to protect him from the dust, spent hours sanding, spackling and painting the walls of the four-room Gulumba Centre, which has no running water or electricity.

It is one of 10 centres FOMO runs for as many as 4,000 orphans.

Reynolds and August also visited medical clinics, where they learned about the crippling lack of medicine and infrastructure.

August wrote and directed the new movie The Nines, in which Reynolds plays three different characters. It opens in L.A. and New York on Aug. 31 and will be screened at the Venice Film Festival in early September. A wide release is expected to follow.

August's credits include Charlie's Angels, Big Fish and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Reynolds, who ended his engagement to Ottawa's Alanis Morissette last year after almost four years of dating, has starred in Blade: Trinity and Smokin' Aces.