17 Photos of Meg Ryan Through 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.

Ryan is arriving for a cocktail party benefit for then-Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis.

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

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.

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.