| Jeri Ryan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jeri Lynn Zimmermann February 22, 1968 Munich, West Germany |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1991 – present |
| Spouse | Jack Ryan (1991–1999) Christophe Émé (2007-present) |
Jeri Lynn Ryan (born February 22, 1968 [1][2] in Munich, West Germany) is an American actress, best known for her role as the ex-Borg Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager, as Tara Cole on Leverage, and as Ronnie Cooke on Boston Public. She was also a regular on the science fiction show Dark Skies [3] and the legal drama series Shark.[3]
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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.[4] She has one older brother, Mark. As a military brat, Ryan grew up on army posts in Kansas, Maryland, Hawaii, Georgia, and Texas.[5] When she was eleven, her father retired from the Army and the family settled in Paducah, Kentucky. She graduated from 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.
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 an extraterrestrial investigator named 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 cast to play Seven of Nine, a Borg drone freed from the collective on the science fiction series Star Trek: Voyager. After Voyager ended in 2001, Ryan joined the cast of Boston Public in the role of Ronnie Cooke, a frustrated lawyer who quits 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 films, such as Down With Love. She also played Lydia in the independent film Men Cry Bullets. Ryan then starred in her first film lead in the indie comedy The Last Man, playing the last woman on Earth, 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 on David E. Kelley's Boston Legal in 2006. Ryan starred in the CBS legal drama Shark, playing Los Angeles District Attorney Jessica Devlin opposite James Woods, but 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.[6]
Ryan played a recurring role on the TNT drama Leverage, which began its second season in July 2009.[7] She played Tara, a con woman whom Sophie (Gina Bellman) calls on for help.
Ryan will appear in the upcoming medical drama television series Body of Proof, which will premiere on ABC in Fall 2010.[8] She stars in the Kevin Tancharoen directed short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth.[9]
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.[10][11][12] 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."[13] 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, clearing the way for Barack Obama to win the 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.[14] In February 2005, Ryan, a "lifelong Francophile",[14] 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. They 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.[15] On September 7, 2007, Ryan announced that she and Émé were expecting their first child together, a daughter, in March 2008.[14][16] On March 2, 2008, Ryan gave birth to daughter Gisele Émé in Los Angeles, California.[17]
| 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 | The Last Man | Sarah | |
| Disney's The Kid | Larry King Guest | ||
| Dracula 2000 | Valerie Sharpe | Alternate Title: Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000 | |
| 2003 | Down With Love | Gwendolyn | |
| 2010 | Mortal Kombat: Rebirth | Sonya Blade | |
| Television | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Show | Role | Notes |
| 1991 | Who's the Boss? | Pam | |
| The Flash | Felicia Kane | ||
| Top of the Heap | Tyler | ||
| Nurses | Lisa | ||
| Reasonable Doubts | Rachel Beckwith | ||
| 1992 | Just Deserts | Nicole | |
| 1993 | The Jackie Thomas Show | Pauline Yardley | |
| Matlock: The Fatal Seduction | Carrie Locke | ||
| 1994 | Time Trax | Lauren Sanders | |
| 1995 | Murder, She Wrote | Maura | |
| Charlie Grace | Claire | ||
| 1996 | The Client | Jennifer | |
| Melrose Place | Valerie Madison | ||
| Diagnosis Murder | Melissa Farnes | ||
| 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 | The Sentinel | Alexis Barnes | |
| 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 | The O.C. | Charlotte Morgan | |
| The 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 |
| Secrets in the Walls | Rachel Easton | Television Movie | |
| Body of Proof | Kate Murphy | Main cast | |
| Preceded by Dawn Spicuzza |
Miss Illinois 1989 |
Succeeded by Marjorie Vincent |