Margaret Mary Emily Ann Hyra was born on November 19, 1961 in Fairfield, Connecticut to Harry, a teacher, and Susan, a teacher turned actress and casting agent.

She was called "Peggy" and later "Meg" as a child. Her mother, Susan, left them when she was fifteen to become an actress.

She is the daughter of Oscar winning actor Jon Voight and actress Marcheline Bertrand, used her middle name as her last name (French translation of beautiful), probably in order to succeed independently of her father's success as an actor.

Moving to New York, she attended New York University where she majored in journalism. To earn extra money while working on her degree, Meg went into acting using her new name Meg Ryan. In 1981

She studied acting at the Lee Strassberg Institute, and had her first role as a German dominatrix in her school play ROOM SERVICE. She got her first Hollywood starring role in the movie HACKERS. She portrayed the only female in the group capable of reaching elite status in the hacker business. She followed up that initial success with the film FOXFIRE, which is based on the novel by Joyce Carol Oates.

With her part in the highly successful movie Top Gun (1986) Meg becomes a star with "take me to bed or lose me forever". This led Meg to being cast in Steven Spielberg's movie Innerspace (1987) where she co-starred with Dennis Quaid. She would again co-star with Quaid in the remake of D.O.A. (1988) and they would marry on Valentine Day in 1991. In 1989, Meg would appear in another blockbuster called When Harry Met Sally.

Meg Ryan’s comedic appeal was widely recognized in her Golden Globe nominated performance as Sally Allbright in "When Harry Met Sally," directed by Rob Reiner.