However, by 2020, Ryan’s career hit a plateau. She was typecast as "the tough detective" or "the grieving widow." She needed a foil. She needed Chloe Foster. If Samantha Ryan is the fire, Chloe Foster is the oxygen that makes it burn faster. Foster emerged from the New York experimental theater scene, a graduate of Juilliard who famously turned down a Marvel role to star in a Polish art film about beekeeping. That audacity defines her.
Critics were stunned. Variety called her performance "a masterclass in restrained rage." What sets Samantha Ryan apart is her background in physical theater. She doesn’t just deliver lines; she occupies space. In her solo works—such as The Handler (2017) and Echo Park Echo (2019)—Ryan developed a reputation for playing characters who are intellectually intimidating but emotionally starved. Fans of her early work note a recurring motif: windows. Ryan’s characters are always looking out of windows, trapped in gilded cages of their own making. samantha ryan chloe foster
Directed by indie auteur Mira Laskari, The Third Woman is a 112-minute slow-burn thriller set entirely in a single apartment during a blizzard. Samantha Ryan plays Ruth , a forensic accountant auditing a deceased artist’s estate. Chloe Foster plays Vivien , the erratic, grief-stricken muse who may or may not be a ghost. However, by 2020, Ryan’s career hit a plateau