Best Known As: Impish star of "When Harry Met Sally"
Name at birth: Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra
Meg Ryan made her first big splash in 1989 as the star of When Harry Met Sally. The romantic comedy starred Ryan and Billy Crystal as battling friends who become lovers, and it established her for a time as Hollywood's leading sweetheart. A petite blonde with an impish smile, Ryan got her start in television commercials and the soap opera As The World Turns before getting roles in feature films like Top Gun (1986, starring Tom Cruise) and Innerspace (1987. with future husband Dennis Quaid). She followed When Harry Met Sally with roles in other romantic comedies, including Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and 1998's You've Got Mail (both with Tom Hanks). As the 1990s progressed, Ryan seemed to grow exasperated with being typecast in sweetheart roles and appeared more often in grittier parts. Her later films include Courage Under Fire (1996, with Denzel Washington), Proof of Life (2000, with Russell Crowe, Jane Campion's In the Cut (2003), and Against the Ropes (2004, with Ryan as a boxing promoter).
Ryan married actor Dennis Quaid in 1991. Their son, Jack, was born in 1992, and they divorced in 2001... Ryan adopted a daughter, Daisy, in 2006; the child was born in China late in 2004.
Career Highlights: When a Man Loves a Woman, Sleepless in Seattle, Innerspace
First Major Screen Credit: Rich and Famous (1981)
Biography
Although she has also proven herself as a dramatic actress, Meg Ryan used her blonde hair, blue eyes, and effervescent personality to greatest effect in romantic comedies of the 1980s and '90s. Initially getting her start on television, Ryan became a star with her titular role in the smash 1989 comedy When Harry Met Sally, earning both fame and permanent notoriety for her ability to fake an orgasm for Billy Crystal during a scene in a New York restaurant.
The daughter of a casting agent, Ryan was born Margaret Mary Emily Anna Hyra in Fairfield, Connecticut on November 19, 1961. Raised in New York, she went on to study journalism at New York University. In need of money to pay for her night classes, Ryan turned to acting to raise some extra cash. With her mother's help, she landed a role on a short-lived television series, and then made her film debut in Rich and Famous. The 1981 film -- director George Cukor's last -- cast Ryan as Candice Bergen's daughter, and proved to be a positive enough experience that the young actress was soon looking for more work. A lucky break led to her being cast in the daytime drama As the World Turns, on which she performed from 1982 until 1984.
After appearing in Amityville 3-D (1983), Ryan secured more auspicious work when she was cast as the wife of doomed flyboy Goose (Anthony Edwards) in Top Gun (1986). Although her role was minor, the film's success paved the way for more work for the actress, and the following year she starred in Innerspace, a comedy that cast her as Dennis Quaid's girlfriend. Her onscreen status as Quaid's love interest soon became off-screen reality, and after starring together in D.O.A. (1988), the two married in 1991.
In 1989, Ryan had her breakthrough role as Sally Albright in Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally. The following year, she starred opposite Tom Hanks in Joe Versus the Volcano. Although the film received a lukewarm critical and commercial reception, it began an onscreen collaboration between Ryan and Hanks that would prove to be very successful in future films. Before she next appeared onscreen with Hanks, Ryan took an uncharacteristic turn towards the purely dramatic, playing Jim Morrison's drug-addicted wife Pamela in Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991). She received wide critical praise for her portrayal, proving that she was capable of extending her range beyond light comedy. She further demonstrated her capabilities in the dark 1993 drama Flesh and Bone. Her performance as a hitchhiker received strong notices, although the film, which cast her opposite husband Quaid, was largely ignored by audiences.
That same year, Ryan returned to romantic comedy, starring opposite Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle. Nominated for a Golden Globe for her work, she then starred in another romantic comedy, I.Q., the following year. However, 1994 also brought more dramatic roles with Restoration, a period drama that cast Ryan as Robert Downey, Jr.'s doomed love, and When a Man Loves a Woman, in which she played an alcoholic. After further bucking her bubbly persona with a turn as a Gulf War solider in Courage Under Fire (1996) and a somewhat nasty portrayal of a vengeful ex-girlfriend in Addicted to Love (1997), Ryan again starred opposite Hanks in You've Got Mail (1998). Another romantic comedy, it put the actress back in her most successful milieu and was popular among critics and audiences alike. That same year, Ryan had further success starring opposite Nicolas Cage in the romantic drama City of Angels, and essayed the unlikely role of a world-weary exotic dancer in Hurlyburly.
2000 saw Ryan return to comedy, starring alongside Lisa Kudrow and Diane Keaton in Keaton's Hanging Up and also serving as the producer of the supernatural thriller Lost Souls. However, it was Ryan's offscreen activities that same year that truly aroused the public's notice and allowed her to break away from her perky, girl-next-door persona more effectively than any number of dramatic film roles could ever hope to: following the news of her affair with Proof of Life co-star Russell Crowe, Ryan and husband Quaid filed for divorce. Ironically, this real-life drama mirrored the premise of Proof, a romantic drama in which the wife (Ryan) of a man kidnapped in South America enlists the help of a "freelance hostage negotiator" (Crowe) to find her husband, only to enter into an adulterous affair with the negotiator.
In 2001, Ryan took a short break from feature films in order to participate in a documentary titled In the Wild: The White Elephants of Thailand, though she would return to the top of the romantic-comedy It-list in the whimsical Kate and Leopold alongside then rising romantic lead Hugh Jackman. In 2002, Ryan provided interview footage with fellow acting colleagues Whoopi Goldberg, Diane Lane, Teri Garr, and Holly Hunter, among others, in Searching for Debra Winger, which was directed by Rosanna Arquette. In 2003 -- apparently after having undergone rather striking botox and collagen injections -- the actress reappeared on the scene for the release of In the Cut, a throwback to '70s psycho-sexual thrillers, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. In 2004, Ryan stared in Charles S. Dutton's feature-length directorial debut, which is based on the real-life story of Jackie Kallen, a small-time Michigan woman turned successful boxing manager. For her next film, Ryan joined the cast of the 2007 ensemble drama In the Land of Women, before signing on to play the mother of Colin Hanks--son of her long-time screen-partner Tom Hanks in the action comedy Homeland Security. Playing a woman whose adult son, an FBI agent, is tasked with spying on her and her husband, played by Antonio Bandaras, Ryan was given her first chance in a long while to stretch her comedic muscles on screen without a romantic undercurrent. ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide
Ryan was born Margaret Mary Emily Hyra in Fairfield, Connecticut, daughter of Susan Jordan (née Ryan), a former
English teacher, actress, and casting director, and Harry Hyra, a math teacher.[1][2] She
went by the name Peggy (also her grandmother's nickname) as a child. She has two sisters, Dana and Annie, and a brother, Andrew.
Ryan was raised in the Catholic religion[3] and graduated from Saint Pius X Elementary School in Fairfield, where her mother taught the
sixth grade. There, Ryan was confirmed into the Catholic Church, choosing Anne as her confirmation name. Ryan's mother had
appeared in one television commercial and later worked briefly as an assistant casting director in New York City. She supported
and encouraged her young daughter's study of acting. At age 18, through her mother's connections, she booked her first television
commercial, doing chin-ups and giggling to promote "Tickle" deodorant.
She graduated from Bethel High School in 1979, where she was elected
Homecoming Queen. She went on to study journalism at the University of Connecticut and then
at New York University, while acting in television commercials to earn extra money.
Her success led her to drop out of college only a semester shy of graduating.
Soap opera career & early film work: 1982-1988
After her first role in a feature film, Rich
and Famous (1981), Ryan (then using her screen name) played Betsy Stewart in
the daytime dramaAs the World Turns from
1982 to 1984. Several TV film and smaller movie roles followed. Ryan's first film role
was a small role in Amityville 3-D, She appealed to a much larger audience's in
the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun. Ryan then appeared in the indie film The Promise Land, where she received her first Independent Spirit Award Nominaton. Ryan then appeared in
two romantic movies D.O.A. and The
Presidio.
Film success 1989-1993
Her first full-blown hit in a leading role was the romantic comedy When Harry Met
Sally... (1989) which paired her with comedic leading man Billy Crystal. Her
portrayal of Sally Albright, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination, is memorable
for her depiction of a theatrical faked orgasm in a Manhattan delicatessen (shot at the legendary Katz's on E. Houston Street.)
The film would be the first of three successful Nora Ephron films in which Ryan would be
typecast as a bubbly, feisty, incurable romantic. Ryan then starred in The Doors, and
Prelude to a Kiss. Both films were moderately successful.
She made several attempts to break away from the romantic comedy ingenue stereotype, and garnered critical acclaim for her
work in When a Man Loves a Woman in which she played an
alcoholic and Courage Under Fire,
portraying a captain in the Gulf War. Many of her films of the 1990s were hits not only in North America, but also abroad. In 1994, Ryan won the Harvard Hasty Pudding Award as
"Woman of the Year". That same year, People Magazine dubbed her one of "The 50 most
beautiful people in the world". In 1997 Ryan steped in the animated film Anastasia which garnered good reviews, and box office. In 1998 Ryan released two films, one of
them being City of Angels, which drew negative reviews, but it became a huge
financial success, topping nearly 200 million worldwide, her final film was You've Got
Mail which garnered her third and final Golden Globe nomination, it
also made over 250 million worldwide, becoming her last box office smash.
Personal and professional setbacks 2000-2005
In 2000 Ryan starred in the action thriller Proof of Life opposite
Russell Crowe. The two actors carried on a clandestine love affair during filming.
The media then pounced on the story, and critics and audiences scorned the movie. In 2003, she broke away from her usual roles
and starred in Jane Campion'sIn the Cut, an
erotic crime thriller in which Ryan appeared nude.
Ryan's most recent project, George Gallo'sMore Than You
Know, was shot in the fall of 2006 in Shreveport, Louisiana. The
romantic comedy stars Ryan opposite Antonio Banderas. Ryan is joined by former co-star
Tom Hanks's son, Colin, who plays her son in the
film.[4][5] Ryan's next project is a remake of the 1939 classic film The Women, which is slated to begin filming in New York City in August 2007. The $18 million remake of the
George Cukor classic (Ryan's first movie was Cukor's last) is being directed by
Murphy Brown creator Diane English and
produced by Mick Jagger and is slated for release in 2008. Ryan will play the central
character, Mary Haines, a wealthy woman who is one of the last to find out that her husband is cheating on her with a shop girl.
The leading role was originally made famous by actress Norma Shearer. Annette Bening, Eva Mendes and Candice Bergen are also slated to star in the remake.[6]
Personal life
Ryan married actor Dennis Quaid on Valentine's Day in 1991, after starring in two films
with him. It was during Ryan's engagement to Quaid that she had a falling out with her mother over his alleged drug abuse. Ryan
agreed to marry him only after he kicked his drug and alcohol addiction. Quaid and Ryan have one child together, Jack Henry, born
April 24, 1992. The couple divorced on July 16, 2001. Although Ryan had a relationship with actor Russell Crowe, with whom she made a movie, both she and Quaid deny it was a factor in their divorce. In a
2006 interview with Allure, Ryan indicated that Quaid had not been faithful to her during their marriage.
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