MOST TALENTED AND LUCKIEST CELEBRITIES
MEG RYAN
Name:
Meg Ryan. Birth Name: Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra. Height:
5'.8". Nationality: American. Date: November 19, 1961.
Birth Place: Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. Occupation: Actress,
producer. Education: New York University in New York, NY (majored in
Journalism). Husband: Dennis Quaid (actor; born on April 9,
1954; met in 1987 when they were co-starring in Innerspace; married on
February 14, 1991; filed for divorce on July 12, 2000; divorced on July 16,
2001). Relationship: William Keane (Chicago Hope television actor),
Russell Crowe (actor; born on April 7, 1964; romance ignited while the two
working together in the Proof of Life - 2000; separated in December 2000).
Father: Harry Hyra (teacher; divorced in 1976). Mother: Susan
Hyra (aka Susan Jordan; teacher; former actress and casting director).
Sister: Dana Hyra and Annie Hyra. Brother: Andrew Hyra. Step
Father: Pat Jordan. Son: Jack Henry Quaid (born on April 24,
1992; father: Dennis Quaid). Claim to fame: as Sally Albright in When
Harry Met Sally (1989). Agent: William Morris Agency, One William
Morris Place, Beverly Hills, CA, 90212, USA. 310-859-4000/310-274-7451,
310-859-4462.
BIOGRAPHY SYNOPSIS: Meg Ryan is huge.
She’s petite, but she’s huge. One of Hollywood’s best-loved actors and
biggest names, she’s known for a single genre, but is master of many. Born
Margaret (Peggy, Meg) Mary Emily Anne Hyra, the Connecticut teen pared down
her moniker when applying for a Screen Actors’ Guild membership, using her
own nickname and her mom’s maiden name (a mom who left her husband and
children about that time, and from whom Ryan is said to be still estranged).
After a stint as Bethel High School’s Homecoming Queen, filling in as
runner-up to the suspended queen (somebody was prettier?!), young Ryan
financed University (of New York say some biographies, of Connecticut say
others) with television commercial work. Two years into a degree in
journalism, Ryan was lured away from the books with a small part in Rich and
Famous (1981). The 20-year-old turned to full time acting, and the small
screen. Amy and the Angel (1982 – an ABC After School Special) led to the
daytime drama As The World Turns (1982-84), and two series, Wildside (1984)
and Charles In Charge (1984). Amityville III: The Demon (1983) brought Ryan
back to the big screen, and there she stayed.
Supporting roles in Top Gun
(1986), Armed and Dangerous (1986), Innerspace (1997), DOA (1988), Promised
Land (1988), and The Presidio (1988), gave way to Ryan’s first and
successful leading role in When Harry Met Sally (1989). Audiences loved
Ryan, and so did casting: there followed: Joe Versus The Volcano (1990), The
Doors (1991), Prelude To A Kiss (1992), Sleepless In Seattle (1993), IQ
(1994), When A Man Loves A Woman (1994), Restoration (1995), French Kiss
(1995 – Ryan produced and starred), Courage Under Fire (1996), Addicted to
Love (1997), Hurlyburly (1998), City of Angels (1998), You’ve Got Mail
(1998), Hanging Up (2000), and Proof of Life (2000). Ryan lends her pleasant
voice to animation: television’s Red Riding Hood/Goldilocks (1990), The New
Adventures of Captain Planet (1990), Celebrate Storytelling With Tracy
Ullman (1994), and the film Anastasia (1997). Listed one of only two women
in Ulmer’s Y2K top twenty Hottest Actors, she’s one of only two (the other
on both lists being Julia Roberts) women to command $15 million per picture.
Even Ryan’s tousled hairdo is on a list – Most Imitated – and the actor is a
favourite web-shrine subject. Ryan married and divorced (1991-2000) actor
Dennis Quaid, with who she worked on three pictures, and the couple has a
son. Upcoming are production/starring projects The Women and This Man, This
Woman. Best loved for her roles in romantic comedies (and, therefore,
deluged with such scripts) Ryan does well, too, with a darker side. Bright
talent, impeccable timing, impressive range, all-American good looks, and
seeming accessibility took Ryan to the top, and are more than enough to keep
her there for as long as she chooses to stay.
Continues on the next page.