Meg Ryan

Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra (born November 19, 1961), known professionally as Meg Ryan, is an American actress and producer. After playing several minor roles in film and television, Ryan became a movie star in 1989, when she appeared in When Harry Met Sally.... Over the next 15 years she played leading roles in several romantic-comedy films, including Sleepless in Seattle (1993), French Kiss (1995), Addicted to Love (1997), City of Angels (1998), You've Got Mail (1998), and Kate & Leopold (2001), films which together grossed a total of more than $870 million worldwide. In 1995, the Time critic Richard Corliss called her "the current soul of romantic comedy". --- Ryan (née Hyra) was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, the daughter of Susan Jordan (née Duggan) – a former actress and English teacher – and Harry Hyra, a math teacher. Both Susan and Harry were raised in Fairfield, Connecticut. Harry was an all-state basketball player. Ryan's mother had appeared in a television commercial and had later briefly worked as an assistant casting director in New York City. She supported and encouraged her young daughter's acting studies. Ryan has two sisters, Dana and Annie, and a brother, the musician Andrew Hyra, a member of the band Billy Pilgrim. Her parents divorced in 1976, when she was 15 years old. Ryan was raised a Roman Catholic and graduated from St. Pius X Elementary School in Fairfield, where her mother taught sixth grade. There, Ryan was confirmed in the Catholic Church, choosing the name "Anne" as her confirmation name. Ryan graduated from Bethel High School in 1979. She went on to study journalism as an undergraduate, first at the University of Connecticut and then at New York University. During college, she acted in television commercials to earn extra money. She dropped out of college a semester before she would have graduated, and has said this decision was due to her success as an actress. --- After her film debut, Rich and Famous, Ryan played Betsy Stewart in the daytime drama As the World Turns, from 1982 to 1984, and her character was featured in a popular romantic story arc. Around that same time she appeared in a Burger King commercial. Several television film and smaller film roles followed, including Amityville 3-D and Promised Land; for her role in the latter she received her first Independent Spirit Award nomination. In 1986, she played Carole Bradshaw, the wife of Naval Flight Officer Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (played by Anthony Edwards) in Top Gun. Ryan starred in the film Innerspace alongside her future husband Dennis Quaid, then in the remake of D.O.A., and then in The Presidio. 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 memorable portrayal of Sally Albright, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination, famously included a now-iconic scene in which her character, while lunching with Crystal's character in Katz's Delicatessen in Manhattan, very theatrically demonstrates for him how she fakes an orgasm. --- Ryan married actor Dennis Quaid on Valentine's Day 1991, after starring in two films with him (D.O.A. and Innerspace). She agreed to marry him only after he kicked his cocaine addiction. Quaid and Ryan have one child together, Jack Quaid, born April 24, 1992. In 2000, she became involved with Russell Crowe on the set of Proof of Life. She and Quaid separated and their divorce became final on July 16, 2001. In September 2008, Ryan stated that Quaid had been unfaithful to her for a long time while they were married. As of January 2011, she is in a relationship with American rock singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, who announced on December 30, 2010 that he and his wife, Elaine Irwin Mellencamp, were divorcing after 18 years of marriage.