Meg Ryan (born Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra; November 19, 1961) is an American actress. She began her acting career in 1981 when she made her acting debut in the drama film Rich and Famous. She later joined the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982. Subsequently, she began to appear in supporting roles in films during the mid-1980s like box office hit Top Gun, achieving recognition in independent films such as Promised Land (1987) before her performance in the Rob Reiner-directed romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally... (1989) brought her widespread attention and her first Golden Globe nomination. Ryan subsequently established herself, both nationally and internationally, as one of the most successful actresses in the 1990s and early 2000s, particularly in romantic comedy films such as When Harry Met Sally (1989), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), French Kiss (1995), You've Got Mail (1998), and Kate & Leopold (2001). Her other films include The Doors (1991), Anastasia (1997), When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), Courage Under Fire (1996), Addicted to Love (1997), City of Angels (1998), Proof of Life (2000), and The Women (2008). In 2015, she made her directorial debut with Ithaca, in which she also starred. Some film critics and media outlets have said that Ryan is one of the best actors not to have received an Academy Award nomination. Ryan was born and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, to Susan Jordan ( Duggan), a former actress and English teacher, and Harry Hyra, a math teacher. Her father is of Polish descent. She was raised Catholic and attended St. Pius X Elementary School in Fairfield. She has two sisters, Dana and Annie, and a brother, musician Andrew Hyra, a member of the band Billy Pilgrim. Her parents divorced in 1976 when she was 15. Ryan graduated from Bethel High School in 1979. She studied journalism as an undergraduate, first at the University of Connecticut and then at New York University. During college, she acted in television commercials and the soap opera As the World Turns to earn extra money. Her success as an actress led her to leave college a semester before she planned to graduate. When she joined the Screen Actors Guild, she used the surname "Ryan", her grandmother's maiden name.