Amy Ryan

Actor

Amy Ryan had been on the New York stage for fifteen years when she "broke out" in films as the wretched mother from the 2007 thriller Gone Baby Gone. She began her professional career right out of high school, in a national tour of Biloxi Blues (1986). A New Yorker, Ryan has done television work since the early 1990s, but she earned her reputation for solid performances on Broadway, earning Tony nominations for Uncle Vanya (2000, with Laura Linney) and A Streetcar Named Desire (2005). 2007 was the year her screen career took off. She was part of the family in the Steve Carell comedy Dan in Real Life, she played Ethan Hawke's fed-up ex-wife in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and she received an Oscar nomination for her role in the Ben Affleck-directed thriller Gone Baby Gone (with Casey Affleck). Ryan's also known for her role as a Baltimore port cop in the cable TV series The Wire, and for her appearance in 2008 as the object of Carell's affections in The Office.

Extra credit: Ryan is coy about her age and her real name. Although one source said she was 17 when she was in Biloxi Blues (1986), most interviews and profiles only indicate she "is in her late 30s" as of 2007.