Meg Ryan has been an acting force ever since scoring her breakout role in 1981’s Rich and Famous.
While Ryan played a supporting role to Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen’s respective characters, she landed her big break eight years later when she portrayed leading lady Sally Albright in When Harry Met Sally.
“[The] comedy of Sally is so behavioral. It’s not really so much talking. It’s doing,” Ryan recalled during the 30th anniversary screening of the movie at the TCM Classic Film Festival Opening Night Gala in April 2019. “So it’s sort of really very logical. And it wasn’t hard.”
The production featured a now-iconic scene where Ryan’s Sally fakes an orgasm during lunch with Harry Burns (Billy Crystal). “Meg said, ‘Well, I’ll do it! I’ll just actually act it out. We don’t have to talk about it,’” director Rob Reiner said during the screening.
Following the film’s success — including a movie premiere that Princess Diana famously attended — Ryan continued making Us laugh and cry on the big screen.
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In her personal life, Ryan married fellow actor Dennis Quaid in 1991 before ultimately splitting nine years later. Several years later, she also had a high-profile on-and-off romance with musician John Mellencamp.
Scroll below to see Ryan’s life in photos:
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