'''Meg Ryan''' (born '''Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra''' on November 19, 1961) is an American actress who specializes in romantic comedies, but has also worked in other film genres.
Biography
Ryan was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, and after graduating from Bethel High School in 1979, she studied journalism at New York University. She acted in televison commercials to earn extra money while in school. After her first role in a the feature film ''Rich and Famous'' (1981), Ryan (now using her screen name) played Betsy Stewart on the daytime drama ''As the World Turns'' from 1982 to 1984. Directors for this show especially liked working with her because she could cry on cue.
After several TV film and smaller movie roles, her first full blown hit in a leading role was the romantic comedy ''
When Harry Met Sally...''. It was favorably received and typecast Ryan as a bubbly, charming, feisty, but incurable romantic. She made several attempts to break away from this stereotype, and garnered some critical acclaim for her work in ''
When a Man Loves a Woman'' (in which she played an alcoholic) and ''
Courage Under Fire'' (in which she played a military officer killed in combat). Many of her films of the 1990s were hits not only in North America, but also abroad. She had a very popular on-screen pairing with Tom Hanks: some compared their chemistry to Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. They starred in three films together, and their last, (1998's ''
You've Got Mail''), was Ryan's last major box office success for some years to come.
Ryan married actor Dennis Quaid on Valentine's Day in 1991, after starring in two films with him. Ryan only agreed to marry him after he kicked his drug and alcohol addiction. Quaid and Ryan have one child together, Jack Henry, born April 24, 1992. The couple divorced on July 16, 2001. Although Ryan had a relationship with actor Russell Crowe, with whom she was working on a movie, both she and Quaid deny it was a factor in their divorce. Ryan indicated in 2006 in an interview with Allure that Quaid had not been faithful to her during their marriage.
In January 2006, Ryan brought her newly adopted daughter, one year old Daisy True, home from China.
''Parkinson'' appearance
In 2003, she broke away from her usual roles and starred in ''
In the Cut'', an erotic crime/thriller/mystery which was popular with neither critics nor the public. While promoting this film in the UK, Ryan drew the ire of a part of the British press and public when she appeared
