Amy Ryan

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Amy Ryan was born on November 30th, 1969 in Queens, New York City, New York. Ryan’s first acting training was at the High School of the Performing Arts and Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center.

She turned down acceptance to New York University when she took the role of Daisy in a national tour of Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues in the late 1980s. In 1993, Ryan made her Broadway debut as Tessa Goode in The Sisters Rosensweig. Critical acclaim followed when she was cast as Sofya Alexandrovna in Uncle Vanya. This role would earn her her first Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She was also seen on Broadway in The Woman and A Streetcar Named Desire. The latter role won her another Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress as well as an Outer Critic’s Circle Award.

Soon after, Ryan started to focus on a film career. In this time, she had been seen on television in guest starring roles and a recurring role in 1992 in I’ll Fly Away. Her feature film debut was in 1999’s Roberta. In 2000, she was in A Pork Chop for Larry and You Can Count on Me starring Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo.

From there Ryan was seen in a recurring role on the TV series 100 Centre Street from 2001 to 2002 and another series role on The Wire from 2003 to 2008.

She kept busy on the big screen during this time too. Ryan appeared in Keane in 2004 and in 2005 had roles in War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise and Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World with Albert Brooks. The following year she was in the indie films Shiner and Marvelous.

2007 was a huge year for Ryan. She appeared in the short Forward, worked with Ethan Hawke in Before the Devil Knows Your Dead, appeared with Steve Carell in Dan in Real Life and starred opposite Tate Donovan in Neal Cassady. The big news of 2007 was the attention she got for her role in Ben Affleck’s Gone Baby Gone. The role, which had her working opposite Casey Affleck, Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman, earned Ryan Supporting Actress nominations at the Academy Awards, SAG Awards and Golden Globes.

In 2008 she was seen in Changeling starring Angelina Jolie and had a recurring role on the U.S. version of The Office. 2010 has seen her working with Philip Seymour Hoffman in Jack Goes Boating and Green Zone with Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear.

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