Jeri Ryan

Jeri Ryan

Active - 1991 - 2019  |   Born - Feb 22, 1968 in Munich, West Germany  |   Genres - Science Fiction, Drama, Action

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Biography by AllMovie

Jeri Lynn Ryan is the stunning actress adored by science fiction fans for her portrayal of the Borg-human Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager. She was born in Munich, Germany, but was raised on several military bases all over the world. Settling on Illinois for college, she joined a sorority and competed in beauty pageants, making it all the way to the Miss America Pageant in 1990. She started her acting career with TV movies (Co-Ed Call Girl) and made several guest appearances on shows like Matlock and Melrose Place. In 1997, she gained a reoccurring role on the short-lived NBC series Dark Skies and joined the cast of Voyager. She has since gained a loyal fan base for this role, which requires a costume so tight it takes nearly an hour to get into it. In 2001, she moved on to the role of Ronnie Cooke on the Fox drama Boston Public, a role creator David E. Kelley penned specifically for her. After that show's demise, Ryan popped up as a guest on a number of series, notably The O.C. as a con artist, but the drama she faced on screen was nothing compared to her tumultuous personal life. When her former husband, Jack Ryan, ran for the Illinois state senate in 2004, details of their 1999 divorce became public, including her allegations that he had tried to pressure her into visiting sex clubs. But the scandal failed to tarnish the actress' reputation, and in 2006 she landed a regular role as a district attorney on Shark. Once that show ended, she maintained her presence on TV with guest roles on Law & Order: SVU, Leverage and Psych, before joining the main cast of the new show Body of Proof. She made her feature film breakthrough in Men Cry Bullets, followed by starring roles in The Last Man and Down With Love.

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Factsheet

  • Won the Miss Illinois pageant in 1989 and came in fourth place in the 1990 Miss America pageant.
  • Her Star Trek: Voyager character Seven of Nine required a costume that was so tight at first, she passed out on set.
  • David E. Kelly wrote the role of Ronnie Cooke on Boston Public specifically for her.
  • During divorce proceedings, she alleged that her ex-husband Jack Ryan had pressured her into visiting sex clubs. This information became public in 2004 when he was campaigning for Illinois State senate and prompted him to withdraw from the race.
  • Opened the French restaurant Ortolan in Los Angeles with her then-fiancé, now husband, chef Christophe Eme, in 2005. The restaurant appears in an episode of Boston Legal featuring Ryan.