Home   >   Movie Stars   >   R   >   Meg Ryan

Meg Ryan

Following her work on SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, Meg Ryan starred in and co-produced the HBO mini-series The Best Awful, an adaptation of the Carrie Fisher novel. Ryan will soon venture behind the camera as well. She is attached to direct a movie for TNT based on the William Saroyan book, The Human Comedy. Ryan has also published photographs in both New York Times Travel Magazine and Glamour.

Last year, Ryan was recently seen in the remake of George Cukor's 1930 film The Women, as well as in Jonathan Kasdan's directorial debut In the Land of Women, opposite Adam Brody, and The Deal with William H. Macy (which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival). In 2004, Ryan starred in the hit film Against the Ropes. She was also seen in Jane Campion's In the Cut opposite Mark Ruffalo. The film premiered at The Toronto Film Festival in 2003 and opened the London Film Festival of that same year. Ryan co-starred in the 2001 Miramax romantic comedy Kate and Leopold, opposite Hugh Jackman. Other recent work includes the Castle Rock thriller Proof of Life, and Diane Keaton's comedy Hanging Up, in which she starred opposite Keaton, Lisa Kudrow and Walter Matthau. She also starred in Anthony Drazan's searing independent film version of Hurlyburly, with Sean Penn, Chazz Palminteri, Gary Shandling, Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright Penn.

Ryan's comedic appeal was widely recognized in her first Golden Globe-nominated performance as Sally Allbright in When Harry Met Sally, directed by Rob Reiner and written by Nora Ephron. She went on to star in Ephron's hit romantic comedies Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail, opposite Tom Hanks, garnering her second and third Golden Globe nominations. Acclaim has also come to Ryan for her distinctive dramatic portraits, including her role opposite Denzel Washington as the first military woman nominated for a Medal of Honor in Courage Under Fire, directed by Ed Zwick, and her moving portrayal of a wonderful woman with a drinking problem in Luis Mandoki's When a Man Loves a Woman, opposite Andy Garcia. For her performance opposite Kiefer Sutherland in the Sundance Institute's Promised Land, she earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination. Ryan has also starred opposite Nicolas Cage in City of Angels, with Matthew Broderick in Addicted to Love, and with Kevin Kline in French Kiss.

Her additional film credits include I.Q., Anastasia, Innerspace, My Mom's New Boyfriend, D.O.A., The Presidio, Joe versus the Volcano, The Doors, Prelude to a Kiss, Flesh and Bone, and Restoration. A Fairfield, Connecticut native, Ryan embarked on her acting career after studying journalism at New York University. She made her motion picture debut as Candice Bergen's daughter in Rich and Famous (directed by George Cukor), and attracted the attention of moviegoers and critics in her 1986 performance as a fighter pilot's wife in Top Gun.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2009.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Meg Ryan Facts

Birth NameMargaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra
OccupationActress, Producer
BirthdayNovember 19, 1961 (62)
SignScorpio
BirthplaceFairfield, Connecticut, USA
Height5' 8" (1m73)  How tall is Meg Ryan compared to you?

Selected Filmography

Top Gun
Anastasia
Sleepless In Seattle
You've Got Mail
When Harry Met Sally
The Women
Hanging Up
Joe Versus The Volcano
Gosford Park
Continue » Find more details on the Meg Ryan Movies page