Amy RyanBirth Place: Queens, New York City, New York, USA Date of Birth: // Heritage: American Famous for: Her role as Port Authority Officer Beadie Russell in the second season of HBO's The Wire Contact Amy Ryan | 
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AMY RYAN NEWS:
- FASCINATING FACT: AMY RYAN - 08/15/2009- RYAN EAGER TO REPRISE THE OFFICE ROLE - 07/02/2008
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Gone Baby Gone Background: “I think one of the really compelling things about the movie is that it shows people for who they are without really judging them. They might have broken wallets or even broken souls, but there's a humanity to all these characters.” Amy Ryan (on the movie "Gone, Baby, Gone") Academy Award nominated actress Amy Ryan received rave reviews for playing a drug addicted mother in Ben Affleck's film “Gone Baby Gone” (2007). The actress, who made her feature film debut in "Roberta" (1999), has also appeared in "You Can Count on Me" (2000), "Keane" (2004), "War of the Worlds" (2005), "Capote" (2005), "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (2007), and "Changeling" (2008). She will next be seen in the upcoming films "Bob Funk," "The Missing Person" and "Green Zone." “The expectant mind is forever disappointed, so I will stay hopeful that the benefit of working on great scripts like 'Capote' and 'Gone, Baby, Gone,' I hope that becomes the norm. I think, 'Do the things that you are most afraid of, and that's what makes you a better actor.’” Amy Ryan On the small screen, Ryan is recognized for playing Port Authority Officer Beatrice 'Beadie' Russell (2003-2008) in the HBO original drama series “The Wire” and Holly Flax (2008), the love interest for Steve Carell's character, on the NBC Emmy Award winning sitcom "The Office." An accomplished stage actress, Ryan, who was hired for the National Tour of “Biloxi Blues” right out of high school, has been nominated for Broadway's Tony Award for Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) twice, once in 2000 for her work in a revival of “Uncle Vanya” and in 2005 for her performance in a revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
Childhood and Family: “I think sometimes that's really what a lot of women get: you're the girlfriend, you're the mother, you're the wife. That's what a lot of roles are for women out there, but I guess there's many different stories to tell in motherhood.” Amy Ryan In Queens, New York, Amy Ryan was born on November 30, 1969. She attended the Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center, in New York City, and New York City's High School of Performing Arts. She was accepted at the New York University, but took the role of Daisy in a national tour of Neil Simon's “Biloxi Blues” in the late 1980s instead. Ryan is best friends with actress Patricia Clarkson. “My God, I take my hat off to every woman who raises a child on her own, either with money or without. It's the hardest job in the world and I was just playing at it.” Amy Ryan
Career: Having trained at the High School of the Performing Arts and the Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center, Amy Ryan skipped a chance to study at the NYU to play Daisy in a national tour of Neil Simon's “Biloxi Blues” in the late 1980s. In the early 1990s, she had a short stint on the CBS daytime drama “As the World Turns” and had a recurring role as a manipulative high school temptress in the critically acclaimed NBC drama “I'll Fly Away” (1992). In 1993, Ryan made her Broadway debut as Tessa Goode in the year-long run of “The Sisters Rosensweig,” a new play by Wendy Wasserstein at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre that was directed by Daniel Sullivan. Two years later, she played Tea Leoni’s spoiled stepdaughter on the short-lived ABC sitcom, “The Naked Truth” (1995), and portrayed the second wife of Eric Stoltz's character in Allison Anders' 1996 film, "Grace of My Heart," but her scene was later cut. Ryan subsequently returned to Broadway and replaced Calista Flockhart as Natasha Ivanovna in a revival of “The Three Sisters” (1997) at the Criterion Center Stage Right Theatre. That same year, she played Halley in "Marking" at the Judith Anderson Theater, Debbie in "Hysterical Blindness" at the Currican Theater, and appeared in "As Bees In Honey Drown" at the Lucille Lortel Theater, in New York City. “Theater will always be in my bones and I feel it's always where I’m going to root out bad habits I might pick up along the way. So I will always go back to theater, but right now, I'll leave it be for a while.” Amy Ryan 1999 saw Ryan make her feature film debut in writer/director Eric Mandelbaum's drama “Roberta,” playing Judy, the new girlfriend of a young Manhattan computer specialist (played by Kevin Corrigan). Also that year, she played BW in the play "The Author's Voice and Imagining Brad" at the Greenwich House, in NYC. Entering the new millennium, Ryan had a small role in the Oscar nominated film, “You Can Count on Me” (2000). She also received critical acclaim and her first Tony Award nomination as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for playing the love-starved Sofya Alexandrovna in a revival of Chekhov's “Uncle Vanya” (2000) at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, directed by Michael Mayer. The following year, she was cast as Peggy in the Broadway revival of “The Women” (2001) at the American Airlines Theatre, directed by Scott Elliott. That same year, she played Meg in "Crimes of the Heart" at the Second Stage Theatre, in NYC, and portrayed Pam in "Saved" at the American Place Theatre, also in NYC. She also landed a recurring role as Rebecca Rifkind on the short-lived A&E courtroom television drama, “100 Centre Street” (2001-2002), created by Sidney Lumet and starring Alan Arkin. After playing Cammie in Neil LaBute's play "The Distance From Here" (May 2002) at the Almeida At King's Cross, in London, England, Ryan joined the cast of HBO’s original series “The Wire,” playing Port Authority Officer Beatrice 'Beadie' Russell. Her character was featured prominently in the second season (2003) after she discovered thirteen corpses in a container on the Baltimore docks. She continued to play the role until its finale in March 2008. Ryan also played an impoverished single mother in the indie film “Keane” (2004) and earned positive reviews as Chris Cooper’s star-struck wife in “Capote” (2005). She was also nominated for Broadway's 2005 Tony Award for Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for her performance as Stella Kowalski in a revival of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire." Ryan then played Sarah in Christopher Shinn's new play, "On the mountain" (2005), at the Playwright's Horizon, in NYC, and starred as Susan in "The 24 Hour Plays 2006" (2006) at the American Airlines Theatre. In 2007, Ryan garnered rave reviews for her portrayal of a drug addicted mother whose child was abducted, in Ben Affleck's directorial debut, "Gone Baby Gone." Her stunning performance in the film earned her Golden Globe, SAG (Screen Actors Guild) and Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress. She also won a handful of awards at the Critics Choice Awards, National Board of Review Awards, New York Film Critics Circle Awards, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards, Florida Film Critics Circle Awards, Online Film Critics Society Awards, Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards, San Diego Film Critics Society Awards, and Satellite Awards. That same year, she also teamed up again with Sidney Lumet for “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” (2007), playing Ethan Hawke’s ex-wife. Her work in the film won her a Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award and a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards for Best Supporting Actress, as well as a Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast. “I don't have a stockpile of offers, but the scripts I've been reading make me realize it's a different chess move to make. More than ever it's about choices and trying not to repeat myself and just play drug-addicted single-mom characters. It's natural that people will think of me for roles like that, but the trick is to stay one step ahead and not make choices to be safe.” Amy Ryan Moviegoers recently caught Ryan co-star with Angelina Jolie in Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling" (2008). She also played Holly Flax, the love interest for Steve Carell's character, during the fourth and fifth season of the NBC Emmy-Award winning sitcom "The Office." “It's a funny thing to enter a show that you're a great fan of and it's nice to tell lighter stories. I love the dark, grittier side of life, but it's nice to take a break from that, put a skirt on and brush your hair.” Amy Ryan (on playing a character on "The Office") Ryan has completed her latest film, "Bob Funk," a comedy written and directed by Craig Carlisle starring Rachael Leigh Cook. She will soon wrap up "The Missing Person," a dark comedy written and directed by Noah Buschel in which she co-stars with Michael Shannon and also produces. She is currently working on Paul Greengrass' upcoming war drama film, "Green Zone," alongside Matt Damon, Jason Isaacs, Brendan Gleeson, and Greg Kinnear. "The career stuff is easy. It is just about saying, 'Yes, I would love to come and do that.' But I have not cleaned my bathroom in three months." Amy Ryan
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