The daughter of a casting agent, Ryan was born
Margaret Mary Emily Anna Hyra in Fairfield, Connecticut on
November 19, 1961. Raised in New York, she went on to study
journalism at New York University. In need of money to pay for
her night classes, Ryan turned to acting to raise some extra cash.
With her mother's help, she landed a role on a short-lived
television series, and then made her film debut in Rich and
Famous. The 1981 film -- director George Cukor's last --
cast Ryan as Candice Bergen's
daughter, and proved to be a positive enough experience that the
young actress was soon looking for more work. A lucky break led
to her being cast in the daytime drama As the World Turns,
on which she performed from 1982 until 1984.
After appearing in Amityville 3-D (1983),
Ryan secured more auspicious work when she was cast as the wife
of doomed flyboy Goose (Anthony Edwards) in Top Gun (1986).
Although her role was minor, the film's success paved the way for
more work for the actress, and the following year she starred in Innerspace,
a comedy that cast her as Dennis Quaid's
girlfriend. Her onscreen status as Quaid's love interest soon
became off-screen reality, and after starring together in D.O.A. (1988), the two
married in 1991.
In 1989, Ryan had her breakthrough role as
Sally Albright in Rob Reiner's When
Harry Met Sally. The following year, she starred opposite Tom Hanks in Joe
Versus the Volcano. Although the film received a lukewarm
critical and commercial reception, it began an onscreen
collaboration between Ryan and Hanks that would prove to be very
successful in future films. Before she next appeared onscreen
with Hanks, Ryan took an uncharacteristic turn towards the purely
dramatic, playing Jim Morrison's drug-addicted wife Pamela in Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991). She
received wide critical praise for her portrayal, proving that she
was capable of extending her range beyond light comedy. She
further demonstrated her capabilities in the dark 1993 drama Flesh
and Bone. Her performance as a hitchhiker received strong
notices, although the film, which cast her opposite husband Quaid,
was largely ignored by audiences.
That same year, Ryan returned to romantic
comedy, starring opposite Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle.
Nominated for a Golden Globe for her work, she then starred in
another romantic comedy, I.Q., the following year. However,
1994 also brought more dramatic roles with Restoration, a
period drama that cast Ryan as Robert Downey, Jr.'s
doomed love, and When a Man Loves a Woman, in which she
played an alcoholic. After further bucking her bubbly persona
with a turn as a Gulf War solider in Courage Under Fire (1996)
and a somewhat nasty portrayal of a vengeful ex-girlfriend in Addicted to Love (1997),
Ryan again starred opposite Hanks in You've Got Mail (1998).
Another romantic comedy, it put the actress back in her most
successful milieu and was popular among critics and audiences
alike. That same year, Ryan had further success starring opposite
Nicolas Cage in the
romantic drama City of Angels, and
essayed the unlikely role of a world-weary exotic dancer in Hurlyburly.
2000 sawRyan return to comedy, starring
alongside Lisa Kudrow and Diane Keaton in Keaton's
Hanging Up and also
serving as the producer of the supernatural thriller Lost Souls. However, it
was Ryan's offscreen activities that same year that truly aroused
the public's notice and allowed her to break away from her perky,
girl-next-door persona more effectively than any number of
dramatic film roles could ever hope to: following the news of her
affair with Proof of Life co-star Russell Crowe, Ryan and
husband Quaid filed for divorce. Ironically, this real-life drama
mirrored the premise of Proof, a romantic drama in which
the wife (Ryan) of a man kidnapped in South America enlists the
help of a "freelance hostage negotiator" (Crowe) to
find her husband, only to enter into an adulterous affair with
the negotiator. -- Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide
