Meg Ryan Net Worth

How much is Meg Ryan worth?

About Meg Ryan

Ryan grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut and, after graduating high school, attended New York University for journalism. Blond-haired, blue-eyed with an effervescent personality, it didn’t take Meg long to start demonstrating her acting gifts in school and soon started earning extra money acting in television commercials. Her mother Susan (Duggan) was an English teacher and one-time actress, and her father Harry Hyra, a math teacher. Her family is of Ruthenian, Polish, Irish, and German ancestry (“Hyra” is a Ruthenian surname, and “Ryan” is her maternal grandmother’s maiden name).

Meg graduated from Bethel high school, Bethel in June 1979, but immediately moved to New York to attend the New York University where she majored in journalism. However, she decided to ditch her journalism degree during her final year when Hollywood had picked up on her talent. She landed her first role in a movie at age 20, as Candice Bergen’s teen daughter in George Cukor’s last film, Rich and Famous.

She quickly switched to television where she landed a role on the short lived sitcom One of the Guys, in 1982. However the show was cancelled after the pilot but Meg joined the daytime soap, As the World Turns and appeared in 31 episodes. Her unrequited love story with another character in the drama boosted the shows plummeting ratings before she left the role in 1984. In 1986, she played the role of Carole Bradshaw, the wife of Naval Flight Officer Nick Bradshaw, in the blockbuster that made Tom Cruise a success, Top Gun. Then in 1987, her role in the drama movie Promised Land, earned Meg her first Independent Spirit Awards nomination.

Around the end of 1980s, Meg was increasingly nervous about her acting career. While she had experienced some early success, the pressure of making it into the mainstream was ever increasing. Suddenly out of nowhere, she landed the role of Sally Albright in When Harry Met Sally. Ryan played the cute girl-next-door with a high maintenance attitude and it is this film that gave the rising star her commercial breakthrough.

Not only did she win audiences over, she also won over the Association earning the “New Star of the Year” Golden Globe nomination. Around the same time, off screen, Meg said, “Yes” to Dennis Quaid‘s marriage proposal with the condition that he addressed his cocaine addiction. The couple wed on Valentine’s Day in 1991 and she gave birth to their son, Jack, in 1992.

In the 1990s, Meg switched up her roles a bit. She had officially broken through and was finally being paid large paychecks for movie parts, however she still needed to prove herself as a leading lady. In 1994, she played an alcoholic high school counselor in When a Man Loves a Woman for which she was paid $5 million, and another $5 million for her role as Catherine Boyd, in I.Q., an amount that would appear small in the years to come. She had earned her stripes in the movie Sleepless in Seattle a year prior, which was the first time she shared the screen with Tom Hanks.

She was later paid $8.5 million for her role as Dr. Maggie Rice in City of Angels, and even bigger, she was cast opposite Tom Hanks in You’ve Got Mail, and paid a lump sum of $10.5 million. That year of 1998, made Meg Ryan one of the highest paid in Hollywood, earning almost $20 million dollars from movie roles alone. You’ve Got Mail was a massive success, it earned $250.8 million at the box office from a $65 million dollar budget, it also earned Ryan her third Golden Globe nomination.

The 2000s brought a lot of personal change for Ryan. In 2000, she announced Quaid and her were separating. She had also transformed her image, now she was the incredibly rich and famous Meg Ryan who was being paid $15 million dollars per movie part. An amount that she was paid for Proof of Life (2000) and Kate & Leopold (2001). She divorced from Dennis that same year. In 2006, Meg adopted a 14-month-old girl from China. And in late 2010, she decided to give the romance a go again with American singer and songwriter, John Mellencamp.

In October 2010, she was cast in the ensemble drama Lives of The Saints. She then appeared in the 2012 documentary, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. The documentary is centered on women and girls living in difficult circumstances and how they overcome those situations.

Ryan made her directing debut with Ithaca (2015), a drama film based on the 1943 novel The Human Comedy by William Saroyan. She also starred in the role of Mrs. Macauley. Opposite Tom Hanks, it was filmed in Petersburg, Virginia, and had its world premiere at the Middleburg Film Festival in October. Ryan was honored with the Leopard Club Award at the 71st Locarno Festival as an icon of romantic comedy, stating that “No one could portray irony, kindness, wit and fragility like Meg Ryan did,” in August 2018.

Ryan’s Total Net Worth

Meg Ryan was one of the most popular female leads of the ’90s and early 2000s. She was already being paid $5 million per role in the mid-’90s, and that figure increased to $15 million dollars per role in the early 2000s. While her career slowed down after some of her highest paying performances, in total, Meg Ryan has still earned estimated total career income of around $115 million dollars.

Of that amount, $8-13 million is expected to have been paid in business related costs. The remainder, $104.5 million, will have been taxed at a rate of around 49% as Ryan has been residing between the states of California and New York. After tax, it is estimated that her career earnings are at around $53.29 million dollars, having paid $51.21 million dollars in taxes.

Meg Ryan married Dennis Quaid in 1991 and they divorced ten years later, in 2001. They had two children together, Jack and Daisy True Ryan, and as part of a divorce settlement, it is unclear exactly what happened as so little has been made public. Dennis has spoken about how Ryan’s fame “weighed” on him during their time together, adding it affected his career. However, he has also admitted that his cocaine addiction affected his marriage to her. It is quite likely in this case that the two went their separate ways and Quaid was responsible for some child support.

Meg owns properties in California and New York, and has earned profits, including from the sale of her New York City loft. After acquiring the property in 2013 for $4.6 million, she sold it to The Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria for $9.85 million, in 2017. Then in 2019, she bought an estate in a seaside enclave of Montecito, in 2021, she sold it for a reported $8.3 million profit before renovation fees, carrying costs, taxes and realtor commissions.

In her personal life, Meg is estimated to have spent $6-11 million dollars of her career earnings but also probably possesses assets valued at around $1-3 million, not including investment assets. Some of her career income will have been converted into investment assets, her returns from which are being estimated at $19-30 million dollars (in value). Her gains are being considered to have been substantial because of the time that she earned so much and the growth of the US stock market. As mentioned, she has also made investment gains from her real estate. Investment returns are being calculated minusing the principle, fees and losses.

Therefore, in total, it is estimated that Meg Ryan has a net worth of around $70 million dollars.

Summing-Up

Meg Ryan rushed onto the scene and became one of the most popular female leads in the ’90s, with roles like Annie Reed, in Sleepless in Seattle, and Kathleen Kelly, in You’ve Got Mail. She was soon earning mega money for her movie roles, earnings that topped $15 million dollars per part in the early 2000s. After her divorce from Dennis Quaid and a change of pace, Ryan’s acting career did slow down. However, it is well speculated that she earned large sums from her investments in the stock market, as she has done in real estate.