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Meg Ryan
BORN: November 19, 1961
Although she has also proven herself as a dramatic actress, Meg Ryan has
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, ...
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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 her 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. -- Rebecca Flint, All
Movie Guide
