Meg Ryan?s impish smile, bubbly personality and flyaway hair have made her a Hollywood favourite with guys and gals around the world. Since her orgasmic performance in "When Harry Met Sally", this former journalism student has contended for the crown of America?s Sweetheart. And while other contenders have tarnished their golden-girl images with sensational scandals and bad career moves, Ryan has closely guarded her girl-next-door appeal with a series of box-office hits, and a meticulous personal life. For the most part anyway.

Born Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra in Fairfield, Connecticut, Meg?s adolescent years were far from happy. When she was 15, her mother abandoned the family to become an actress, leaving her father, a high school maths teacher and coach, to raise their four children. It was Meg who ultimately found fame and fortune in the acting business. Ironically, it was her mother who helped her secure a Screen Actors Guild card under her maiden name Ryan.

Parts in TV commercials helped Ryan pay her way through a journalism degree at the University of Connecticut. Two years into her degree, Ryan struck it lucky when she was cast in the supporting role of Candice Bergen's daughter in the feature-film "Rich and Famous" (1981). Encouraged by the experience, the then-20-year-old dropped out of university and turned to the world of television for acting jobs, first appearing in an ABC kids? programme titled "Amy and the Angel", and then in the permanent role of Betsy Montgomery on the daytime soapy "As the World Turns".

In 1984, Ryan moved to Los Angeles to film the short-lived series "Wildside". Undeterred by the failure of this small-screen effort, she decided to break into feature films. An appearance in "Amityville III: The Demon" (1983) didn?t win her any acclaim, but she gained good notice for her next assignment, a solid supporting role in Tom Cruise?s fighter-pilot action flick "Top Gun" (1986), in which she played the wife of Cruise's co-pilot.

In 1989, Ryan landed her first lead role, in the definitive late-80s romantic comedy "When Harry Met Sally", which hit new box-office highs. Overnight Ryan became an acting sensation, thanks in no small part to her famous faked-orgasm scene. She had found her niche in Hollywood: as the slightly kooky, always adorable comic-romantic heroine.

Ryan?s perky character reigned again in Nora Ephron?s chick flick "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993), in which Ryan played a hopelessly romantic journalist who discovers fated love with a widower, played by Tom Hanks. The only glitch: he lives on the other side of America.

In the same year, Ryan launched herself into the business side of film-making, establishing her own Fox-based production company, Fandango Films (now Prufrock Pictures). She drew on her experience in romantic comedy for her debut feature production, "French Kiss" (1995).

Despite a long list of credible supporting and leading dramatic roles - like her portrayal of Jim Morrison's druggy girlfriend in "The Doors" (1991); her gut-wrenching role as a charming alcoholic wife in "When a Man Loves a Woman" (1994); and her convincing performance as a medevac helicopter pilot in "Courage Under Fire" (1996) - audiences have come to love Ryan?s lightweight screen persona. Her more serious efforts have been eclipsed by the sunny antics of her screwball romantic heroines.

In her off-screen romantic life, Ryan married fellow actor Dennis Quaid in 1991. The couple first met during filming of the 1987 sci-fi flick "Innerspace", and the two subsequently became involved when they reteamed for the 1988 remake of "D.O.A". One of the best examples of a successful Hollywood marriage, Ryan and Quaid's summer 2000 announcement that they were separating took their fans by surprise. As did tabloid rumours that one of the primary reasons for the breakdown of their marriage was Ryan's alleged romantic involvement with her "Proof of Life" (2000) co-star, Russell Crowe.