McPartlin spent years as an Abercrombie & Fitch model. McPartlin's first acting role was on The Nanny with Fran Drescher as a Leonardo DiCaprio-type character in a Titanic spoof. McPartlin has been mostly known for his role as Hank Bennett on the popular soap opera Passions replacing Dalton James from April 2001 until June 2004 and made a brief appearance in the series L.A. 7 as Ryan. McPartlin worked with Drescher again as Riley Martin on the television sitcom Living with Fran playing her much younger live-in boyfriend. Living with Fran was canceled on May 17, 2006, after two seasons. McPartlin originally auditioned for the role of Clark Kent/Superman in the film Superman Returns, but lost the role to Brandon Routh. In 2008, Ryan participated in Mad Men, playing an affair of January Jones character, Betty Draper.