The Stunning Transformation Of Meg Ryan

When she first came onto the scene in the 1980s, Meg Ryan had no clue she would soon find her niche in romantic comedies and captivate audiences worldwide. From her daring role in "When Harry Met Sally" to her team-up with Matthew Broderick in "Addicted to Love," the bombshell actor has won us over time and again, maintaining her title of "America's Sweetheart."

While Ryan doesn't necessarily agree with her fans' iconic view of her, she still appreciates that her films have touched a lot of people. In an October 2023 interview with People, she explained how she feels about being labeled "America's Sweetheart." 

"The idea of a movie star is 100 percent projection. So it's really not personal, frankly," said Ryan. "And I am so lucky because I can feel a lot of affection in the world. People tell me that when they were recovering from an illness or surgery, they watch those movies." After reigning in the '80s and '90s, Meg Ryan disappeared for a while, leading everyone to wonder what happened to the queen of rom-com. From her humble beginnings to her incredible comeback, here is the stunning transformation of Meg Ryan.

On November 19, 1961, Susan Jordan and Harry Hyra, welcomed Margaret Hyra to the world. They were both teachers, though Jordan had at one time been an actor, which became an asset, as she would later help her daughter get involved in commercial work. Eventually, Margaret Hyra changed her name to Meg Ryan when she registered for the Screen Actors Guild in 1978 and took her maternal grandmother's maiden name. 

Unlike many soon-to-be stars, Meg Ryan didn't display an obvious love for performance. In February 2019, Ryan was asked by The New York Times Magazine if she had grown up wanting to be an actor. "No, I never had that," Ryan answered. "I don't feel like, naturally, I'm a performer. I knew I was being given opportunities and that there was certain music I could play as an actor. Certain things I could do. And I liked acting. I thought it was fun. But acting was a situation I was navigating."

In 1974, Meg Ryan's family moved from their hometown of Fairfield, Connecticut, to the nearby town of Bethel in the same state. Ryan enrolled as a new student in Bethel High and immediately became the object of her classmate's affection. According to her longtime friend Tracy Parsons in a 1993 interview with People, Ryan was popular in school. "There was something about her that stood out from the day she walked in, a charisma thing. Everyone wanted to be her friend," Parsons reminisced. However, Ryan had a lot more going on at home than her peers realized.

Susan Jordan had been a housewife since she married Harry Hyra and, after having four children, wanted more from life. The couple mutually separated when Ryan was 15 years old, leading Hyra to stay at home with the kids while Jordan left in search of a career. "It was hard for her not to have her mother at home, in terms of proms and first [dates] and first kisses," Parsons explained. "She was very unhappy. ... Meg got the idea that her mother abandoned her."

By the time Jordan landed a job and resumed her parenting role, Ryan and her older sister had moved out of the house. Their younger siblings moved back in with their mother but the young actor's strained relationship with her parents tragically lasted for many years.

When Meg Ryan was enrolled at the University of Connecticut, she began doing television commercials to pay her way through school. Her mom introduced her to the agents who helped her land spots in ads for companies like Burger King, Aim Toothpaste, and Campbell's Soup. Eventually, this part-time gig of hers turned into a full-time career.

In a now-infamous 2003 interview with Michael Parkinson on the BBC, Ryan said she had been studying at New York University to be a journalist, but with one semester to go, she dropped out as acting had taken over her life. When asked why she didn't pursue journalism in the end, the "Sleepless in Seattle" star explained, "I was paying my way through school by doing commercials and things like that and one just overtook the other. I think sometimes your life seems to choose you a little bit and I feel like that's what happened."

After learning the ropes of commercial acting, Meg Ryan got her start on a classic soap opera in 1975 and later as a recurring character in 1982. She played Betsy Stewart on "As the World Turns," known for its overdramatized acting, which she joked about on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" in 2004. "Even if it's a very mundane, sort of very nondramatic [line], you have to really, really have a lot of emotion about it. ... You could be very dramatic about the oven being at the wrong temperature, or something like that," she remarked.

Ryan starred in more than 30 episodes of the soap opera and appeared in a handful of other shows during her first few years on television. Some included "One of the Boys," "ABC Afterschool Specials," "Charles in Charge," and "Wildside." However, it didn't take long for Ryan to build momentum and appear in her first star-studded movie.

Although it wasn't necessarily a big part, Meg Ryan got a taste of working on a successful movie in 1986 when she played the role of Carole, Goose's wife, in "Top Gun." It was her first major film and it doubtlessly led Ryan to other projects, including "Armed and Dangerous," "Innerspace," and "The Presidio," before she found her calling in romantic comedies.

Right before Meg Ryan made her breakthrough movie, she appeared on Austin's "KVUE" and spoke about how her previous projects had compared to the one she was about to star in with Billy Crystal. "I feel like there's so much more work to do. ... I feel like I've done these different movies that don't necessarily — the weight of which aren't on my shoulders, so I get to kind of experiment around. ... I feel like I have just so much more work to do," she said. As she hinted at "When Harry Met Sally," which was due to be released the following year, Ryan added, "It'll be on me this time," insinuating all eyes (and pressure) would be on the young actor in this starring role.

In 1989, Meg Ryan played the titular character and showcased her incredible acting chops in "When Harry Met Sally," marking the first of many of her rom-coms to come. She spoke with Brian Linehan on "CityLights" that same year about how much she enjoyed the screenplay, written by Nora Ephron, and that she had a lot of fun making the movie. "This time I get to be funny. ... This time I'm not the item, I'm somebody who actually participates in the film, it's very exciting," Ryan quipped.

Of course, we all remember the iconic scene in the diner where Sally faked an orgasm to prove to Harry how easily it can be done. Perhaps unfortunately for Ryan, her kids also know it well as she explained in August 2023 during a conversation with Carol Burnett for Interview Magazine. "It's funny, my son just called me this morning and he's in New York staying at a hotel that's right across the street from Katz's Deli. My daughter was here and everybody was on speaker, and they were like, 'Mom, this is a very unique embarrassment.' He said, 'You know you can go into that deli and there's an arrow pointing down to the table where you shot that scene,'" Ryan laughed.

Since Meg Ryan worked with Tom Hanks for the first time in 1990 with "Joe Versus The Volcano," their onscreen chemistry has been undeniable. They went on to star in a couple of more movies together as a lovable rom-com duo, including "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail," which became instant classics. Later, they worked together again on the 2015 war drama, "Ithaca."

Ryan spoke with "Sleepless in Seattle" producer Gary Foster in 2018 about her love for Hanks and why they've always worked so well together, saying, "He's just so easy. He listens; he roots for other people. ... [Hanks] doesn't like there to be drama. I feel the same way. We're just really there to have fun, this is supposed to be a creative experience and there's no reason to get heavy." Ryan's roles alongside Hanks served as some of her most celebrated and recognized, keeping her fresh in everyone's minds throughout the '90s.

Meg Ryan doesn't have a long roster of A-list exes, but she's been with a few of Hollywood's leading men in her time. Between 1986 and 1987, she dated her "Top Gun" co-star Anthony Edwards. Soon after, she met Dennis Quaid, a seasoned actor who had been in the spotlight since the late '70s, while they were filming the movie "Innerspace" together. The following year, Ryan and Quaid worked together again on "D.O.A." and, finally, he made the first move by putting his arm around her at a bar. "It was like a thunderbolt. Both of us felt, 'This is it. We're going to be together.'" Quaid told Entertainment Weekly in 2001.

The movie star couple overcame a lot, as Ryan stood by Quaid's side during his time in rehab for a cocaine addiction. Eventually, in 1991, they decided to tie the knot in an intimate ceremony at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles. Speaking about their wedding, Ryan told the New York Post at the time, "I was laughing and crying at the same time, and I realized I could've never gotten married in front of a whole group of people."

Less than a year after Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid got married, they welcomed their son to the world. Jack Quaid was born on April 24, 1992, and would eventually go on to follow in his parent's footsteps. "I would go on location with my parents a lot, but it was almost like, you go for a few hours," Jack told People in 2022. "I wasn't taking any pointers or anything. A kid can't handle how slow a set moves, so I would watch a couple of takes and then go to the craft service truck and try to steal all the candy I could!"

Now that Meg Ryan's son is grown up and working as a successful actor himself, he's faced accusations of benefiting as a "nepo baby." Ryan has been protective and was quick to defend her son against negative comments, telling Glamour in 2023, "Jack is really talented. He's more of a natural than I'll ever be. That nepo stuff is so dismissive of his work ethic, his gifts, and how sensitive he is to the idea of his privilege."

After 10 years of marriage, Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid called it quits in 2001. When news of their divorce broke, rumors surfaced over Meg Ryan's movie with Russell Crowe, "Proof of Life," and whether it ignited a romance between the two actors, as the co-stars began dating shortly after.

Despite their love for one another, Quaid told Today in 2018 that the different paths their careers were taking became part of the reason for the split. "When we met, you know, I was the big deal. ... Then we would go out on the streets of New York, and people would be like, 'Meg! Meg!' I have to admit it, I actually did feel like I disappeared," the actor recalled. However, Quaid maintained that his marriage to Ryan was the "most successful relationship of my life."

In 2019, Ryan broke her silence about how the divorce had affected her in an interview with The New York Times Magazine. "Divorce is hard. Love is hard. All those things were so personal. They weren't for mass consumption. The complexity of a life or a marriage is never going to exist in a headline or a tabloid," she said.

After several years of starring in smash-hits and instant classics, Meg Ryan shifted her attention toward indie films. While she was still gracing the rom-com genre, the "French Kiss" actor starred in a handful of independent films, including 2007's "In the Land of Women," alongside Kristen Stewart and Adam Brody.

During one interview, Ryan said that she truly enjoyed making the movie because of the incredibly talented people she got to work with, including the film's director Jonathan Kasdan. "It was really exciting to watch [Kasdan], who I've known since he was 14 because I worked with his dad on 'French Kiss.' ... He really is quite a wonderful — one of the best directors I've ever been around," she said.

Ryan also starred in "Serious Moonlight" in 2009 in which she played a wife whose husband is planning on leaving her, so she kidnaps him and holds him hostage. Speaking with The New York Times that year, Ryan compared the movie to the screenwriter Adrienne Shelly's previous work, "Waitress." Ryan described "Serious Moonlight" as having "that same wonderful voice, and this time [it's] a little darker and odder."

After more than three decades of acting, Meg Ryan's career slowed down a little, primarily making appearances on television shows and TV movies since 2009. She finally decided to try her hand on the other side of the camera and made her directorial debut in 2015 with the movie "Ithaca," which she also starred in.

Describing the movie to Vanity Fair in 2016, Ryan explained that acting in her own film probably wasn't the best idea. "I'll never do that again. You're in the scene, you're acting, and you're still aware of what the camera's doing, and kind of going, 'That crane is moving so slowly.' You have this split attention. I don't know how people do it," she said. Despite the actor's dislike for acting and directing for the same project, especially having to watch herself again and again while editing, she would star in her second directorial attempt less than a decade later.

Ryan spoke with NPR in 2023 about what it's like to transition from acting to directing, saying, "It really was about preparation. There are very specific stages where different things are required of you. There's a marveling and a magic through the whole thing as you pass it off to different groups of people."

Following her directorial debut, Meg Ryan disappeared from the Hollywood gaze. Between 2016 and 2022, her appearances on the silver screen dried up as the "City of Angels" actor quietly took a step back from the public eye. "I took a giant break because I felt like there's just so many other parts of my experience as a human being I wanted to develop," she told People in 2023. "It's nice to think of it as a job and not a lifestyle. And that is a great way of navigating it for me."

Ryan was interested in so much more than a film career. Already a mother to Jack Quaid, she had also adopted a daughter in 2006, Daisy True Ryan, and spent her eight-year hiatus enjoying time with her children. "What I had in the '90s was a ride," Ryan told Glamour. "It was a kind of moonshot and was really fun, but it's just one ride out of the billions of things you could be interested in."

Known as the queen of rom-coms for more than three decades, Meg Ryan resurfaced from her long hiatus in Hollywood and returned with her own romantic comedy movie. Her second directorial work, which she also co-wrote, "What Happens Later," was released in 2023 and saw Ryan star alongside her on-screen love interest, David Duchovny. 

While speaking with the Los Angeles Times in 2023, Ryan explained what sets her movie apart from the tropes in other rom-coms. "I love that [the characters] don't have a meet-cute. They had heartbreak. They broke each other's heart and ... the 'happily ever after' in this movie is them coming to some sort of terms about being grateful for one another."

Understandably, it was a big deal for Ryan to finally make her mark as a director in the genre that made her a star, but she also made a touching tribute to the woman who helped get her to where she is now. "What Happens Later" was dedicated to the late Nora Ephron, who directed "Sleepless in Seattle," "You've Got Mail," and had a touching bond with Ryan before she died in 2012.