Meg Ryan’s Rare Public Appearances Since Taking a Break From Acting: Recent Photos of the Star

It’s not often that Meg Ryan makes public appearances with her celebrity friends. The Top Gun actress chose to live largely out of the spotlight over the past few years. She has stepped out for only a few rare outings amid her break from Hollywood. 

Prior to taking a step back from acting, Meg appeared in a number of blockbuster films and hit television series, including Sleepless in Seattle, When a Man Loves a Woman, City of Angels and more. Her most recent acting roles came in 2015, with appearances in Fan Girl, Ithaca and Picture Paris. In 2020, the Connecticut native narrated the “Cut and Run” podcast series. 

Meg opened up about the reason why she decided to take a step back from her Hollywood career in recent years. 

“I wasn’t as curious about acting as I was about other things that life can give you. I wanted to live more,” the beauty told The New York Times Magazine in February 2019.

She continued, “I don’t feel like, naturally, I’m a performer,” adding, “I knew I was being given opportunities and that there was certain music I could play as an actor. Certain things I could do. And I liked acting. I thought it was fun. But acting was a situation I was navigating.”

In May 2022, Meg announced she was set to make her long-awaited Hollywood return in the film What Happens Later. She signed on to direct and star in the movie next to David Duchovny. 

“It is exciting to have Meg Ryan bring the weight of her experience in the genre to the director’s chair and to matchmake her with such a wonderful sparring partner in David Duchovny,” Gabrielle Stewart of distributor HanWay Films said in a statement to Variety. 

One year later, the film was in post-production. As fans were eager to learn more about the upcoming romantic comedy, the As the World Turns alum stepped out for a public appearance in May 2023. 

Meg recently joined Michael J. Fox at a screening of the documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie in New York City. The Back to the Future actor’s wife, Tracy Pollan, was in attendance alongside her husband. Bill Murray, Katie Couric, Elvis Costello, Joan Jett, Ali Wentworth and more Hollywood stars posed alongside Meg for photos at the event. 

Scroll below to see recent photos from Meg’s rare outings.