Jeri Ryan biography 2022
Jeri Ryan biography
Jeri Ryan was born on February 22, 1968, in Munich, Germany, to parents Sharon and Jeri Zimmerman. Jeri and her brother lived typical army kid childhoods, moving from base to base across the country before settling in Paduch, Kentucky, USA.
By this time, Jeri Ryan was already 11 years old, her father had retired, and her mother had decided to pursue a career in social work.
Unknowingly, Jeri had already started on her own career path: the family's frequent moves up to this date had taught her how to become a bit of an actress without making any effort herself, as she changed schools and was forced to make new friends.
Jeri took to the stage for the first time in fourth grade, appearing in Market House Theater productions of Gracie at the Bat, Cinderella, Snow White, the Seven Dwarfs, and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
In 1986, Jeri graduated from Lone Oak High School at the top of her class. Fittingly, she was voted the most talented of all her classmates. Jeri attended Northwestern University and earned a degree in theater. In 1989, while studying at Northwestern, Jeri Ryan won the sixth annual Miss Northwestern Alpha Delta Phi Pageant.
That same year, she won the Miss Illinois pageant and placed fourth in the Miss America pageant 1990. Her professional career began when she was cast as an extra in the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
Unfortunately, Jeri didn't make the final cut. But soon enough, Jeri started getting calls for auditions for TV shows, and she started performing right after she graduated from university.
She started by doing some commercials and then moved on to her first guest role. It was in the sitcom Who's which? which starred Alyssa Milano. Jeri soon starred on several hit TV shows, including Matlock, Murder, She Wrote, Reasonable Doubts, Time Trax, Melrose Place, and Diagnosis Murder. Ryan's stint in television continued with roles in the made-for-TV movies Coed Call Girl, Nightmare in Columbia County, and NBC's In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco.
Jeri also starred in independent films, including The Last Man and Men Cry Bullets. In 2000, she played a reporter-turned-vampire in Dracula 2000. Jeri's first attempt at a lead role in a TV show failed when NBC's Dark Skies was canceled shortly after its debut.
Her Star Trek Voyager role (Seven of Nine) developed a cult following. Paramount signed Jeri for the duration of the series, which ended in 2001.
That same year, Jeri breathed a sigh of relief when a chapter in her personal life also ended. That spring, a California judge sentenced Marlon Esracio Pagtakhan to five years of probation. Pagtakhan had pursued Jeri. With this behind her, Jeri met with TV writer David E. Kelley. He was so impressed with her that he cast her in his new high school drama, Boston Public.
She joined the cast in 2001 and remained in that capacity until the show's demise in 2004. In 2003, she had a small role as Gwendolyn in the Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor romantic comedy Down with Love.
In the summer of 2004, Jeri found her name splashed across the tabloids when a sex scandal involving her ex-husband, Jack Ryan, came to light. Jeri and Jack were married in 1991, gave birth to a son, Alex, in 1995, and then divorced in 1999.
Their relationship became news again when it was revealed in June 2004 that Jack, then running for the Republican Senate, had solicited Jeri to engage in public sexual acts with him at sex clubs. This news release effectively ended his bid in the Senate.
last updated September 2022
