Meg Ryan was born on 19th November 1961. Her parents - both elementary school teachers - raised their family in Fairfield, CT until their divorce when Ryan was a teen. Growing up, Ryan was a fan of the classic Hollywood glamour queens from the 1930s and 1940s, though she, herself, was a preppy suburban teen with dreams of pursuing journalism as a career.
She was working towards a journalism degree at New York University when she first got into show business, initially appearing in commercials to make some money. During her final year of school, the acting opportunities were too numerous to turn down and she left school to pursue them full time.
She made her film debut at age 20 playing Candice Bergen's teen daughter in the female-centric feature "Rich and Famous" (1981) before turning to TV, where a few made-for-TV movie performances led to a recurring role on the short lived sitcom "One of the Guys" (NBC, 1982), starring Mickey Rooney and a young Dana Carvey.
Based on her relatively successful repositioning and movieg rs' limited recollection of Ryan's earlier fall from favor, the actress lined up further screen projects, including the feature directorial debut from Cheryl Hines, the dark comedy "Serious Moonlight" (2009), where Ryan starred as a high-powered attorney who gets even with her philandering husband.