Rise to Fame
Ben Affleck's directorial debut needed a convincing negligent mother, not a movie star. He picked Amy Ryan, who'd spent the previous decade earning Tony nominations on Broadway and playing a port authority officer on The Wire. That Gone Baby Gone (2007) role earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, introducing her to audiences who'd somehow missed she was already excellent.
In the Spotlight
She played Holly Flax on The Office for 20 episodes, gave Michael Scott his emotional anchor, and made the HR rep the character fans actually rooted for. Gone Baby Gone got her the nomination, but The Office built the reputation. She's kept working since without becoming a franchise player, including Birdman, Beau Is Afraid (2023), and a return to Broadway in 2024 as the lead in Doubt: A Parable. She's never been the most famous person in the room and keeps finding ways to be the most interesting one.
Side Notes
Her actual surname is Dziewiontkowski. She took her mother's maiden name as her stage name, which either says something about Polish surnames or about her roots in Queens, where she grew up delivering newspapers by bike. When she joined The Office as Holly Flax, it was partly her own doing: she was a fan and had lobbied her agent for a role. The character was written for one episode. She stayed for 20.