Meg Ryan

Blond-haired, blue-eyed with a bubbly personality. Meg Ryan was born Margaret Mary Emily Hyra in Fairfield, Connecticut, to Susan (Duggan) (Duggan), an English teacher and actress as well as Harry Hyra, a math teacher. Her family heritage includes Ruthenian, Polish and Irish and German. ("Hyra") is her Ruthenian surname, and "Ryan" is her maternal grandmother's maiden. Meg graduated from Bethel High School in Bethel in May 1979. When she moved to New York, she attended New York University where she majored in journalism. Meg Ryan was her new name and she began acting in order to earn money as she finished her education. Her first screen appearance came in 1981, with a brief appearance as Candice Bergen's daughter in George Cukor's last film Rich and Famous (1981). She auditioned , and was chosen to play Betsy on the daytime TV soap"As the World turns (1956). From 1982 to 1984, she was part of the show's cast. Meg also had a part in the TV show One of the Boys (1982) However, this show was later cancelled. In 1984, she moved to Hollywood and was offered her first job with the western TV series Wildside (1985). Meg played a minor role in Top Gun (1986), and then was cast in Steven Spielberg's Innerspace (1987), in which she starred with Dennis Quaid. In D.O.A.'s remake, she played alongside Dennis Quaid. (1988) and they were wed on Saint Valentine's Day 1991. Meg made an appearance in the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally... (1989), and the restaurant scene was made 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. In 1993, she appeared with Tom in Sleepless in Seattle (1993) for which she was again nominated for the Golden Globe. Meg determined to take on a different role than her peers in 1994, by playing the role of Meg as a mother and wife who is alcoholic in the film When a Man Loves a Woman (1994). Following that, she went back to "cute" with both I.Q. (1994) as well as French Kiss (1995). In 1994, Meg was awarded the Harvard Hasty Pudding Award for being "Woman of the Year" and was voted as one of "The 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1994" by People Magazine.