Meg Ryan
(Maggie Rice)

The daughter of a casting agent, Meg Ryan was drawn to acting naturally. When she moved from her hometown in Connecticut to Manhattan to study journalism at NYU, she took up acting as a way to earn extra money. Ryan made her big screen debut as Candice Bergen's daughter in Rich and Famous (1981). She followed that up with a two-year stint as Betsy Stewart Montgomery Andropoulos on As the World Turns.

After her run on the soap opera, Ryan had roles in two short-lived television series: One for the Boys and Wildside. It was her role in Top Gun (1986) that truly launched her career. Roles in films like When Harry Met Sally..., Joe Versus the Volcano and Sleepless in Seattle cemented her reputation as America's perkiest sweetheart.

Her role in Top Gun also had a profound effect on her personal life. It led to her being cast in Joe Dante's Innerspace (1987), where she co-starred with Dennis Quaid. The two worked together again in the 1988 remake of D.O.A., and on Valentine's Day 1991 they were married. While Ryan and Quaid's recent separation has been highly publicized, her image appears untarnished. Her next film project is Kate and Leopold, a romantic comedy directed by James Mangold, who also directed Girl, Interrupted and Cop Land.

It's interesting to note that Ryan was born Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra and changed her name prior to her first film role; the name "Meg Ryan" is an anagram of "Germany."