Meg Ryan's performance in
When Harry Met Sally
established her as a queen of romantic comedy - a position she consolidated with roles in
Sleepless In Seattle, French Kiss and
You've Got Mail. Born in 1961, Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut where she was voted "cutest" pupil by her fellow classmates in high school. Meg's father raised Meg and her three siblings, after her mother walked out from the family home, and the estrangement between mother and daughter has remained ever since.
While studying journalism in New York, Meg began taking on advertising jobs as a means of supporting herself but swiftly moved into acting and in 1985 settled in LA where, a year later, she got her big break in the massively successful
Top Gun alongside
Tom Cruise.Other supporting roles followed before she landed her first starring role in
Innerspace, alongside Dennis Quaid. Meg fell for her handsome co-star and
the couple were wed on Valentine's Day 1991, after the tousle-haired actress helped her fiancé kick his drug problem.
HOLLYWOOD'S HOTTEST ON-SCREEN PARTNERSHIPSWhat was thought to have been one of the most solid marriages in Hollywood came apart in 2000, however, when it was revealed that she had struck up an off-set relationship with her
Proof Of Life, co-star Russell Crowe.Meg and Dennis were intent on negotiating an amicable split in order to limit the pain and heartache caused to their son Jack, but no matter how uncertain the future of her private life was, Meg's position as one of Hollywood's top leading ladies seemed secure.After a two-year break following 2001's romantic comedy
Kate & Leopold, Meg returned to work with a vengeance, with the boxing drama
Against The Ropes and the Jane Campion-directed
In The Cut, but then took another three-year break from acting.Her return in 2007 came alongside
Kristen Stewart and Adam Brody in
In The Land of Women, and then 2008's
The Women.As well as one son, Jack, from her first marriage, Meg has adopted a young girl, Daisy True, from China. In 2010 she began a relationship with musician John Mellancamp.
The pair split in August 2014, but reunited later in the year.
