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Meg Ryan (born November 19, 1961) is an
American actress who specializes in romantic comedies,
but has also worked in other film genres.
Early life: Born Margaret Mary Emily Hyra in
Fairfield, Connecticut to Susan Jordan (née Ryan), a
former actress, and Harry Hyra, a math teacher, 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 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 done some professional
acting in television commercials and later worked as an
assistant casting director in New York City. She
supported and encouraged her young daughter's study of
acting. By age 13, Ryan was studying Stanislavski's
Method. At age 14, through her mother's connections, she
booked her first television commercial, doing chin-ups
and giggling to promote "Tickle" deodorant.
Following her parents' divorce in 1976, her father
Harry, a high school teacher, raised the children on his
own.
She graduated from Bethel High School in 1979, where she
was elected Homecoming Queen. She went on to study
journalism 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.
Career: After her first role in a feature film,
Rich and Famous (1981), Ryan (then using her screen
name) played Betsy Stewart in the daytime drama As the
World Turns from 1982 to 1984. Directors for this show
especially liked working with her because she could cry
on cue. Several TV film and smaller movie roles
followed. Ryan guest starred on a showcase skit on The
Price is Right in 1983.
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 particularly memorable for her
depiction of a "faked orgasm" in a Manhattan
delicatessen (actually 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, but incurable romantic.
She had much success with her on-screen pairing with Tom
Hanks; some compared their chemistry to Katharine
Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. They starred in three films
together: Joe Versus the Volcano, Sleepless In Seattle
and their last, 1998's You've Got Mail, which was Ryan's
last major box office success for some years to come.
Ryan was nominated for a second Golden Globe for her
work in Sleepless In Seattle.
She made several attempts to break away from the
romantic comedy ingenue stereotype, and garnered some
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 2003,
she broke away from her usual roles and starred in In
the Cut, an erotic crime thriller.
Ryan's most recent project, George Gallo's Homeland
Security, 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.
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 March 2007. The $18 million remake of the George
Cukor classic is being produced by Mick Jagger and is
slated for release in late 2007. 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. Anne Hathaway,
Lisa Kudrow and Candice Bergen are also slated to star
in the remake.
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 Tom 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.
Personal life: Ryan married actor Dennis Quaid on
Valentine's Day in 1991, after starring in two films
with him. 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.
It was during Ryan's marriage to Quaid that she had a
falling out with her mother over his alleged drug abuse.
In interviews, the actress cast her mother, Susan Ryan
Jordan, in a negative light, saying that she had
abandoned her children to pursue an acting career. In
response, Jordan published a book in 1999, The Immune
Spirit, about her struggle with breast cancer and her
difficult relationship with her famous daughter. Her
mother has since given many interviews painting Ryan in
a negative light. In January 2006, Ryan brought her
newly adopted daughter, one-year-old Daisy True, home
from China.
Ryan tends to support the U.S. Democratic Party,
especially its environment protection programs and
initiatives. In 2003, she supported General Wesley
Clark's campaign for U.S. president. She supported John
Kerry during the 2004 presidential elections. Ryan
talked with Oprah Winfrey (March 1, 2006, The Oprah
Winfrey Show) about her work with CARE in India and
empowering women in poor countries.
In October 2003, while in the UK to promote In the Cut,
Ryan had a controversial interview with Michael
Parkinson on the long-running television talk show
Parkinson, which resulted in negative publicity in some
British press. |
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