Contents
* 1 Early life
* 2 Career
* 3 Personal life
* 4 Filmography
* 5 Notable awards and nominations
* 6 References
* 7 External links
Early life
Ryan was born Jeri Lynn Zimmermann in Munich, West Germany, the daughter of Gerhard Florian "Jerry" Zimmermann, a Master Sergeant in the United States Army, and his wife Sharon, a social worker. She has one older brother, Mark. As a military brat, Ryan grew up on Army posts in Kansas, Maryland, Hawaii, Georgia, and Texas. When she was eleven, her father retired from the Army and the family settled in Paducah, Kentucky. She graduated from Lone Oak High School in 1986 (as a National Merit Scholar), and then attended Northwestern University, where she was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority.
In 1989, Ryan was chosen Miss Illinois. She was the third runner-up in the 1990 Miss America Pageant, winning the preliminary swimsuit competition. She graduated from Northwestern in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre.
Career
After college, she pursued acting full-time in Los Angeles. She made her acting debut in Who's the Boss? and followed that with guest-starring roles in TV shows like Melrose Place, Matlock, and The Sentinel as well as TV movies such as Co-Ed Call Girl.
Her big break came when she won a regular role as the extraterrestrial investigator Juliet Stuart on the TV show Dark Skies. The show was cancelled after one season, but the role had drawn the attention of the science-fiction community.
In 1997, came her biggest role to date. Ryan was chosen for the role of Seven of Nine, a Borg drone who had been "de-assimilated," or freed from the Borg's collective consciousness, on the science fiction series Star Trek: Voyager. After Voyager ended in 2001, Ryan joined the cast of Boston Public in the role of Veronica Cooke, nicknamed "Ronnie," a frustrated lawyer who quits the bar to become a high-school teacher. The show's producer, David E. Kelley, wrote the role specifically for her. The show ended in 2004.
Ryan has recently appeared in such films as Down With Love. She also appeared as Lydia in the independent film Men Cry Bullets. Ryan then starred in her first film lead, in the "indie" comedy The Last Man, as the last woman left on Earth. The film was released by Lion's Gate.
She also had a recurring role as Charlotte Morgan on The O.C. in the autumn (U.S. September through December) of 2005 and guest-starred as Courtney Reece on David E. Kelley's Boston Legal in 2006. Ryan then co-starred in the CBS legal drama Shark, as Los Angeles County District Attorney Jessica Devlin alongside series lead James Woods, but she did not return for episodes aired after the WGA strike. CBS cancelled the broadcast of the series.
She debuted as defense attorney Patrice La Rue on the April 7, 2009 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, her first role since giving birth to her daughter Gisele.
Ryan next won a recurring role on the TNT drama Leverage, which began its second season in July 2009, as Tara Cole, a con woman whom Sophie (Gina Bellman) calls on for help.
Ryan at the 2010 Las Vegas Star Trek convention in Nevada.
She was in the Kevin Tancharoen directed short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth.
Ryan is a regular in the medical drama series Body of Proof, which is scheduled[dated info] to premiere on January 25, 2011 on Fox Life in Italy, and in the U.S. on ABC at the end of March 2011.
Personal life
In 1990, while dealing blackjack at a charity event, the actress met investment banker and future Republican political candidate Jack Ryan. The couple married on June 15, 1991 and had a son, Alex, on August 15, 1994. Throughout the marriage, Ryan and her husband took turns commuting between Los Angeles and Chicago for their careers, but finally divorced on August 27, 1999. Although Ryan mentioned in an interview for Star Trek that the frequent separations had been difficult for the marriage, the reasons for the divorce were kept sealed at their mutual request.
Ryan had at one point dated Star Trek: Voyager producer Brannon Braga. Between February and November 2000 the two of them were stalked by one Marlon Estacio Pagtakhan, who was convicted for harassment and threats in May 2001. According to Crime Stories, aired on the UK Crime channel on 05/07/2009, the stalker had letters stating that he was going to sexually assault Jeri and torture her boyfriend Brannon.
When Jack Ryan's campaign for an open United States Senate seat in Illinois began in 2003, the Chicago Tribune newspaper and WLS-TV, the local ABC affiliate, sought to have his records released. Both Jeri and Jack agreed to make their divorce records public, but not the custody records, claiming that their release could be harmful to their son.
On June 22, 2004, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Schnider agreed to release the custody files. The decision generated much controversy because it went against both parents' direct request and because it generally reversed the early decision to seal the papers in the best interest of the child. It was revealed that six years previously, Jeri had accused Jack Ryan of asking her to perform sexual acts with him in public, and in sex clubs in New York, New Orleans, and Paris. Jeri Ryan described one as "a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling." Jack Ryan denied these allegations. Although Jeri Ryan refused to comment on the matter during the campaign, the document disclosure led Jack Ryan to withdraw his candidacy; his main opponent, Barack Obama, then won the Senate seat.
Ryan's avocation, according to statements she has made in interviews, is gourmet cooking. While starring in Boston Public she moonlighted on weekends in the kitchen of the Los Angeles restaurant The House. In 2003, Ryan met French chef Christophe Émé at a chef's charity event. The two eventually began a relationship, and Émé moved in with Ryan and her son Alex in their San Fernando Valley home. February 2005, Ryan, a "lifelong Francophile",opened—in partnership with Émé—the restaurant Ortolan. Located on Third Street in Los Angeles, California, the restaurant serves French food with a modern interpretation. The two have appeared on Iron Chef America, where Émé and one sous-chef challenged Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto and his two sous-chefs. The restaurant is seen in season two, episode twenty-six of Boston Legal as Denny Crane (William Shatner) and Alan Shore (James Spader) are discussing the arrival of Courtney Reece (Jeri Ryan) at "her favorite restaurant."
Ryan married Émé in the Loire Valley, France, on June 16, 2007. On September 7, 2007, Ryan announced that she and Émé were expecting their first child together, a daughter, in March 2008. On March 2, 2008, Ryan gave birth to daughter Gisele Émé in Los Angeles, California.
Filmography
Film Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Notes
1991 Nightmare in Columbia County Dawn Elizabeth Smith Television movie
Alternate title: Victim of Beauty
1992 Flash III: Deadly Nightshade Felicia Kane Alternate Title: The Flash 3: Deadly Nightshade
1999 Men Cry Bullets Lydia
2000 Last Man, TheThe Last Man Sarah
2000 Disney's The Kid Larry King Guest
2000 Dracula 2000 Valerie Sharpe Alternate Title: Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000
2003 Down With Love Gwendolyn
2010 Mortal Kombat: Rebirth Sonya Blade
2010 Dead Lines Sophie Fyne
Television Year↓ Show↓ Role↓ Notes
1991 Who's the Boss? Pam
1991 Flash, TheThe Flash Felicia Kane
1991 Top of the Heap Tyler
1991 Nurses Lisa
1991 Reasonable Doubts Rachel Beckwith
1992 Just Deserts Nicole
1993 Jackie Thomas Show, TheThe Jackie Thomas Show Pauline Yardley
1993 Matlock: The Fatal Seduction Carrie Locke
1994 Time Trax Lauren Sanders
1995 Murder, She Wrote Maura
1995 Charlie Grace Claire
1996 Client, TheThe Client Jennifer
1996 Melrose Place Valerie Madison
1996 Diagnosis: Murder Melissa Farnes
1996 Pier 66 Beth Saunders
1997 Dark Skies Juliet Stewart Regular: 8 episodes
1997–
2001 Star Trek: Voyager Seven of Nine Main Character: 102 Episodes
1999 Sentinel, TheThe Sentinel Alexis Barnes
1999 Dilbert Seven of Nine Alarm Clock
2001–
2004 Boston Public Ronnie Cooke Main Character: 59 Episodes
2004 Sudbury Gillian Owens
2004–
2005 Two and a Half Men Sherri
2005 O.C., TheThe O.C. Charlotte Morgan
2005 Commuters, TheThe Commuters Anne
2006 Boston Legal Courtney Reese
2006–
2008 Shark Jessica Devlin Regular: 34 episodes
2009 Law & Order: SVU Patrice Larue
2009–
Current Leverage Tara
2010 Psych Dr. Kim Phoenix Guest Star
2010 Secrets in the Walls Rachel Easton Television Movie
2010 Body of Proof Kate Murphy Main cast
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