We Can't Get Over These Beautiful Photos of Meg Ryan Through the Years (2024)

Whether you know Meg Ryan from one of her many incredible romantic comedy performances, her run on As The World Turns, or something else, her talent and lasting charm is pretty undeniable. Along with some incredible characters in her resume, Ryan is also an accomplished director with a new project, What Happens Later, which came out this year and ended Ryan's eight-year break from appearing in a film. From incredible red carpet moments to some of her best roles onscreen, here are 17 great photos of Meg Ryan throughout the years.

Here's Ryan on the red carpet in New York for her feature film debut—Rich and Famous by the director George Cukor, which happened to be the final film of his renowned career. While it had a mixed critical reception, Ryan shone in the film and it made a great start to her phenomenal filmography.

Ryan was a soap star while she was still in college! Her role as Betsy Stewart Montgomery was one of her side jobs while attending University of Connecticut, and later NYU, as a journalism major. She also had plenty of work in commercials and film, and eventually left college before graduating due to the increasing momentum of her acting career.

Here's the actress out in nature in California for a sunny shot. She appeared in the films Innerspace and Promised Land this year, the latter of which garnered acclaim for her performance as Bev Sykes.

Ryan is arriving for a co*cktail party benefit for then-Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis.

Ryan and Billy Crystal are glowing for a promo shoot of their rom-com When Harry Met Sally, which is still touching (and pretty hilarious) to this day! It was recently selected for preservation by the Library of Congress, and rightfully so.

The actress is seated with director Oliver Stone here, who she was working with as a major supporting character in his film The Doors. She played Pamela Courson, the longtime romantic partner of Jim Morrison, played by Val Kilmer in this movie.

Ryan deserves an Oscar no doubt, but she has won two American Comedy awards, and gotten a few Golden Globe nominations. She also got this fun recognition from Ai University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals club, which honors their Woman of the Year with an annual parade.

Ryan and her then-husband Dennis Quaid are making an appearance at the '95 Pediatric Aids Foundation Annual Picnic in Los Angeles.

Ryan rocks some shades for the 1998 Oscars red carpet. She presented the trophy for Best Art Direction to Peter Lamont and Michael D. Ford the art director and set decorator of Titanic, one of the big winners of the night.

This lengthy leather coat over a dress is one of many stunning looks Ryan has sported at red carpets over the years. You've Got Mail is another delightful rom-com, from the same scribe as When Harry Met Sally, Nora Ephron, who also directed this film.

Ryan's role in this Jane Campion thriller In The Cut is a big departure for fans who know her for her romantic flicks, but she was great the as New York writer and teacher Frannie Avery, who gets involved with a detective investigating grisly murders in her neighborhood.

Ryan helped judge the main competition of the 2003 Cannes Film Festival as a jury member. The prestigious Palme d'Or this year went to the psychological drama film Elephant by Gus Van Sant.

Whether she's in a floor-length gown, a suit, or a simple button up like this look for the Vanity Fair afterparty following the 77th Academy Awards, Ryan has continues to look fabulous at events throughout the years.

Ryan celebrates the premiere of the dark comedy film Serious Moonlight, with its director Cheryl Hines. She plays an attorney who learns her husband is planning to leave her, and duct tapes him to a chair to try and convince him to stay.

Ryan's directorial debut, Ithaca, was an ambitious period drama adapted from the 1943 novel The Human Comedy. It starred Alex Neustaedter, Sam Shepard, Hamish Linklater, Ryan herself, and her son Jack Quaid.

30 years later and Ryan looks gorgeous in a suit at the TCM 30th Anniversary screening of When Harry Met Sally.

In her first major project since Ithaca, Ryan is yet again directing and starring in What Happens Later. She also co-wrote the script with Steven Dietz and Kirk Lynn. She and David Duchovny play exes who run into each other in an airport, and reflect on their lives while stuck there due to flight delays.