42 Facts About Meg Ryan

Meg Ryan made her acting debut in 1981 in the drama film Rich and Famous.

Meg Ryan joined the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982.

Meg Ryan was born and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, to Susan Jordan, a former actress and English teacher, and Harry Hyra, a math teacher.

Meg Ryan was raised Catholic and attended St Pius X Elementary School in Fairfield.

Meg Ryan has two sisters, Dana and Annie, and a brother, musician Andrew Hyra, a member of the band Billy Pilgrim.

Meg Ryan's parents divorced in 1976 when she was 15.

Meg Ryan studied journalism as an undergraduate, first at the University of Connecticut and then at New York University.

Meg Ryan appeared in some television commercials during the early 1980s for Burger King and Aim toothpaste, among others.

Meg Ryan costarred in 1988 with Sean Connery and Mark Harmon in The Presidio.

Meg Ryan's first leading role was the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally.

Meg Ryan next appeared in Oliver Stone's moderately successful film The Doors, and in Prelude to a Kiss, which flopped.

Meg Ryan was offered the role of FBI agent Clarice Starling, the protagonist of The Silence of the Lambs, but rejected it due to the film's gruesome and violent themes.

Meg Ryan later won Harvard's Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year award, and People Magazine dubbed her one of "the 50 most beautiful people in the world".

In 1996, Meg Ryan starred as a helicopter pilot in the war drama Courage Under Fire, a critical and commercial success.

In 2003, Meg Ryan broke away from her usual roles, starring alongside Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Jason Leigh in Jane Campion's erotic thriller film In the Cut.

Co-producer Nicole Kidman had originally been cast in the lead, but the actress eventually dropped out after five years of development, leaving the role to Meg Ryan, who appeared nude in a lengthy and rather graphic love scene for the first time in her career.

Three years after the interview aired, Meg Ryan explained that she felt Parkinson was berating her for performing nudity and had attempted to disagree with his views respectfully.

Parkinson eventually apologized for losing his temper in 2021, but maintained that Meg Ryan's behavior "played a part in it too".

Meg Ryan continued the strategy of acting against type with a leading role in Charles S Dutton's directorial debut Against the Ropes, a fictionalized sport drama about American boxing manager Jackie Kallen, the first woman to become a success in the sport.

Meg Ryan received a positive response for her performance, with Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times noting it "the best work [she] has done in forever".

Written, produced and directed by Diane English, the film centers on a group of four female Manhattan socialites whose primary interest is idle gossip, with Meg Ryan portraying a wealthy woman whose husband is cheating on her with a shop girl, played by Eva Mendes.

In 2009, Meg Ryan starred alongside Kristen Bell and Justin Long in the independent comedy film Serious Moonlight.

Critical reaction to the film was generally mixed-to-negative, although Meg Ryan was praised for her "terrific" performance.

Also in 2009, Meg Ryan guest-starred on the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

In October 2012, Meg Ryan was featured in the PBS documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

In October 2013, it was reported that Meg Ryan would be returning to television to produce and star in a new comedy for NBC revolving around a former hotshot New York editor, for which it again failed to get production approval.

Also in 2015, Meg Ryan made her directing debut with Ithaca, a drama film based on the 1943 novel The Human Comedy by William Saroyan.

Meg Ryan returned to the screen alongside David Duchovny in the 2023 romantic comedy, What Happens Later, directed by Meg Ryan.

Meg Ryan has been called one of the greatest actresses of the 1990s.

Meg Ryan was one of Hollywood's highest-paid, earning as much as $15 million per film by the end of the decade.

Meg Ryan is particularly known for her work in romantic comedies, having starred in several from the late 1980s until the early 2000s.

For much of her career, Meg Ryan typically played cheerful, witty, and quirky women in romantic comedies, but she has starred in thrillers, dramas, and action films.

However, journalist Andrew Anthony insists Meg Ryan was greatly responsible for the image she perpetuated, rather than a victim of it.

In retrospect, Meg Ryan said they should have prepared audiences for her departure from the archetype she had become known for.

In 2019, Meg Ryan described herself as a "terrible celebrity" who finds fame to be uncomfortable, exhausting and disabling.

Meg Ryan is particularly fond of movies from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, citing actors Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Katharine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart as personal favorites and influences of hers.

Meg Ryan became romantically involved with actor Russell Crowe while working on their 2000 film Proof of Life.

In January 2006, Meg Ryan adopted a 14-month-old girl from China whom she named Daisy True.

From 2010 to 2014, Meg Ryan was in a relationship with American singer-songwriter John Mellencamp.

In October 2019, it was reported that Meg Ryan had ended their engagement.

Meg Ryan has publicly supported the Democratic Party, especially its environmental protection programs and initiatives.

Meg Ryan later supported John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election campaign.