Meg Ryan

Blue-eyed, blonde-haired with a lively personality, Meg Ryan was born Margaret Mary Emily Hyra in Fairfield, Connecticut, to Susan (Duggan) who was who was an English teacher, and a former actress as well as Harry Hyra, a math teacher. Meg Ryan is of Ruthenian, Polish, Irish and German roots. ("Hyra" is an Irish and Ruthenian surname, and "Ryan" is the maiden name of her maternal grandmother). Meg has graduated from Bethel High School in Bethel in May 1979. She relocated to New York and majored as journalist at New York University. Meg Ryan was her name and she began acting in order to earn additional money as she finished her education. Her debut on screen came in 1981 with a short appearance as Candice Bergen’s daughter in George Cukor's final film Rich and Famous (1981). She was an auditioned actress and selected to play Betsy on the daytime TV soap as the World turns (1956). From 1982 to 1984, she was a member of the team. Meg was also part of the TV series One of the Boys (1982), which was quickly put on hold. Her move to Hollywood came in 1984 and was offered an opportunity to be a part of the western series Wildside (1985). Meg had a small role in Top Gun (1986), which led her to be cast in Steven Spielberg’s Innerspace (1987) in which she was a co-star with Dennis Quaid. She again co-starred with Quaid in the remake of D.O.A. (1988) and the couple married on Saint Valentine's Day in 1991. Meg was in 1989's When Harry Met Sally... (1989), and the restaurant scene became famous. Meg was nominated twice for the Golden Globe and BAFTA. In 1990, she co-starred with Tom Hanks in Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) and this time she played three roles as DeDe/Angelica/Patricia. She starred alongside Tom in the highly successful Sleepless in Seattle (1993) for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe. Meg decided to be different from her peers in 1994 when she played the character of Meg as a drunken mother/wife in When a Man Loves a Woman (1994). Then, she went back to "cute" with both I.Q. (1994) as well as French Kiss (1995). The year 1994 was the year that Meg won the Harvard Hasty Pudding Award as "Woman of the Year" and was selected as being one of "The 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1994" by People Magazine.