Meg Ryan's Real Name: Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra

Quick answer: Meg Ryan was born Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra on November 19, 1961, in Fairfield, Connecticut. Meg is short for Margaret, and Ryan was her grandmother's maiden name, which she adopted as a surname when she began acting. She became famous for romantic comedies such as When Harry Met Sally… (1989), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), and You've Got Mail (1998) (Library of Congress; Britannica).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files her as "Ryan, Meg," with the cross-reference "Hyra, Margaret Mary Emily Anne." Its citation reads "born Hyra, Margaret Mary Emily Anne on 11-19-1961 in Fairfield, Conn.; actress." Britannica shortens her birth name to Margaret Hyra.

According to Britannica, her parents, Susan (née Duggan) and Harry Hyra, were both elementary school teachers, and they divorced when she was a teenager. She studied journalism at New York University and appeared in TV commercials to earn extra money. By her final year she had so many acting offers that she left school. She then began using Ryan, her grandmother's maiden name, as her last name.

Career highlights

At 20 Ryan made her film debut in Rich and Famous (1981) as Candice Bergen's daughter. She spent two years on the CBS soap As the World Turns and first caught moviegoers' attention in Top Gun (1986). She starred in Innerspace (1987) with Dennis Quaid, whom she married in 1991. Their son, actor Jack Quaid, was born the next year.

When Harry Met Sally…, written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner, made her a star. Britannica says it was Ryan's idea to stage her character's famous fake orgasm in a crowded deli. She went on to Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) and Sleepless in Seattle with Tom Hanks, When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), French Kiss (1995), and City of Angels (1998). She also played Jim Morrison's partner in The Doors, a helicopter pilot in Courage Under Fire, and voiced the title role in Anastasia (1997). By You've Got Mail, again with Hanks and Ephron, she had been dubbed "America's Sweetheart."

After Kate & Leopold (2001) and Jane Campion's In the Cut (2003), she took a break from films. She and Quaid divorced in 2001, and she adopted her daughter, Daisy True Ryan, in 2006. She directed her first film, Ithaca, in 2015. In 2023 she returned with What Happens Later, which she directed, co-wrote, and starred in opposite David Duchovny.

Name notes for searchers

Ryan is a family name from her grandmother's side, not her father's surname. Meg is a standard nickname for Margaret. Her son uses his father's surname, Quaid.