Meg Ryan and Jack Quaid have spent years building separate Hollywood careers, but they rarely pose together on a red carpet. On September 19, the mother and son attended the opening celebration for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles.
Ryan wore a black jacquard midi dress with ruffles, while Quaid chose a gray suit, white shirt and patterned tie. Ryan, 64, also wore sunglasses as she stood beside her 34-year-old son for photographs outside the museum.
EW described the outing as their first red carpet appearance together. They have shared a film set, however: Ryan directed Quaid in Ithaca, her feature-directing debut, which reached theaters in 2016.
Some of their earlier public photographs came from basketball games rather than premieres. A PEOPLE gallery includes the pair courtside at a December 2017 Knicks game at Madison Square Garden, along with a much younger Quaid accompanying his mother to a Lakers game in April 2004.
Ryan and Quaid Joined Hollywood at the Museum’s Opening Gala
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Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise and Oprah Winfrey were among the guests at the September 19 celebration, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Queen Latifah hosted the evening’s program, while a 27-piece orchestra performed during the cocktail reception. Guests toured the galleries before a rooftop drone show with narration from Winfrey and Samuel L. Jackson. George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the museum’s founders, also addressed the gathering.
Ryan Knew Her Son Could Act Before She Directed Him
Ryan’s first memorable assessment of her son’s acting came in a school gym. In a 2023 Glamour interview, she recalled watching him play Bottom in a middle-school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She and his father, Dennis Quaid, were sitting on opposite sides of the room. “Oh, no. He’s good. He’s really good,” she remembered thinking, before noticing Dennis having much the same reaction. She already knew how difficult the profession could be.
In Ithaca, Jack played Marcus Macauley, an older brother serving in the Army during World War II. Alex Neustaedter played Homer, the teenage bicycle messenger at the center of the story, with Ryan portraying their mother. The film’s cast also included Sam Shepard, Hamish Linklater and Tom Hanks. Its limited theatrical release began on September 9, 2016.
At a festival discussion that year, Ryan recalled feeling insecure when her son arrived in Virginia for the production, which she shot in 23 days. He had been working on HBO’s Vinyl with Martin Scorsese, and she worried about the contrast between that production and her small independent film. According to the firsthand account of the Sonoma International Film Festival conversation, Jack reassured her: “Mom. Mom. It’s cool. You’re just as good as Marty.”
Jack had been nervous about the arrangement, too. He told Entertainment Tonight that he initially worried about working with his mother, then realized how useful it would be to have a director who knew him so well. He described the experience as “spectacular” and added, “We had a great shorthand with each other.” He also praised her directing and said he was proud of her.
For Ryan, some of the work felt familiar from Jack’s childhood. She remembered him making “crazy little movies” with his friends, and one chaotic scene aboard a train brought those years back to her during filming. Watching him work on her set reminded her of the homegrown productions he had already been putting together long before either of them arrived in Virginia.
Quaid was still publicly cheering his mother on in a 2025 interview with Entertainment Tonight at the Novocaine premiere. Ryan had reunited with Billy Crystal for a Hellmann’s Super Bowl commercial and appeared at the Oscars, prompting questions about her return to the spotlight. “Obviously, I am very biased, but no one deserves it more than her,” he said, according to PEOPLE’s account of the interview.
The Lucas Museum Opens With More Than 1,300 Works
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The Los Angeles institution was founded around narrative art, encompassing visual storytelling well beyond the films associated with Lucas. According to the museum’s announcement, its galleries occupy more than 100,000 square feet across over 30 gallery spaces. The building, designed by architect Ma Yansong, stands in Exposition Park.
The inaugural exhibitions include painting, comics, illustration and cinema, with artists represented across the museum including Frida Kahlo and Norman Rockwell. Works are organized around subjects such as childhood, family and community, alongside galleries devoted to particular artists and forms of storytelling.
Film material includes Star Wars in Motion, which draws on the first six Star Wars films through vehicles, concept art, props and costumes. Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder and General Grievous’ wheel bike are among the objects featured. The September 19 gala preceded the museum’s public opening, scheduled for Tuesday, September 22.