Jeri Ryan
Biography
(See Seven Bio at
Bottom of Page)
Biography
Jeri Ryan was born Jeri Lynn Zimmerman on February 22, 1968 in Munich, Germany to her proud parents Jeri and Sharon Zimmerman. She has one brother. She grew up a self-admitted army brat being raised on military bases in Kansas, Maryland, Georgia, Texas, and Hawaii before settling in Paduch, Kentucky at the age of 11. Her father, a master sergeant, retired at that time, whereupon her homemaker/mother embarked on a career as a social worker. She feels that her vagabond years of moving around the world helped prepare her for a performing career. "You'll find that lots of actors are Army brats," says Ryan. "That's because you need to learn to be the new kid in school and play a different role to fit in. When you're a child and going through the moving, it's tough, but as an adult now, I realize it taught me to be adaptable."
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As a little girl, she wanted to be
either an actor or a veterinarian. Her acting career
started in the fourth grade acting in community theater
with the Market House Theater in such productions as
"Gracie at the Bat", "Cinderella,"
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "You're
a Good Man, Charlie Brown" as Lucy, and "The
Drunkard" during the mid-1980s. Jeri graduated eigth
in her class from Lone Oak High School with a GPA of 3.69
in 1986. She was also the yearbook editor and was voted
most talanted in her class. Jeri attended Northwestern University as a National Merit Scholar and earned a BS in theater. While there, she won the sixth annual Miss Northwestern Alpha Delta Phi Pageant in 1989. She won the talent portion of the competition by singing "On My Own" from "Les Miserables" and tied for the swimsuit competition. Later the same year, she won the Miss Illinois Pageant and went on to place fourth in the 1990 Miss America Pageant. |
Her professional career started with her being an extra on the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles; however, this scene did not make the final cut. She briefly did some modeling for about a year, from her senior year in college until she started getting auditions regularly. She started acting professionally after she graduated from college. She did some commercials her senior year and then got her first guest-starring role in a series on "Who's the Boss?" Ryan's television experience also includes roles in a variety of made for TV movies including "Coed Call Girl", "Nightmare in Columbia County" and NBC's "In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco". Her feature film credits include the independent films "The Last Man" (which she considers her best role to date) and "Men Cry Bullets." She guest-starred on several television series including Matlock, Who's the Boss?, Murder, She Wrote, Reasonable Doubts, Time Trax, and Diagnosis Murder. Additionally, Ryan appeared in two episodes of Melrose Place, as a lesbian soap opera actress who endured a staged marriage to a gay bridegroom. Additionally, she was a former series regular on NBC's Dark Skies as a mysterious government agent with foreign ties who helps in the secret war against hostile extraterrestrials just prior to starting work on Voyager. She has signed a three year contract with Paramount.
On all previous shows, she was billed as Jeri Lynn Ryan. A new manager hired before her Voyager job convinced her to drop the "Lynn," figuring that it did not sound like a name that would grow with her. He didn't see her at 44 years old as Jeri Lynn.
Jeri has one son, Alex, from a previous marriage, who she claims serves as inspiration for her Seven of Nine character.
Miscellaneous Jeri Trivia
Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton are among her favorite actresses.
Anthony Hopkins is here favorite actor.
She considers herself a night person.
She likes all kinds of music. "Particularly REM and Cat Stevens... pretty much everything but rap."
She loves Impressionist art, particularly Monet and Renoir.
Her favorite author is Charles Dickens.
Her favorite color is blue.
Her absolute favorite food is Cheesecake.
Two of her favorite restaurants are McDonalds and Taco Bell.
Favorite vacation spot: Positano, Italy.
Favorite movie: "Sophie's Choice"... followed closely by "Toy Story."
Favorite Star Trek Movie: First Contact
Favorite TV Show: Mad about You
Her son's(Alex) favourite TV Show: Bill Nye the Science Guy (followed by Winnie the Pooh)
In her spare time, she enjoys tennis and snow skiing as well as cooking and baking (She claims to make a mean pie).
If she wasn't acting, she'd be: A caterer, or a stay-at-home mom
She considers herself a religious person and is Catholic.
Boxers or Briefs?: BOXERS!
Tigger or Piglet?: She's a tigger gal
If she could go to a holodeck and have a romantic fling with someone, who would it be(other than her husband)? Cary Grant. "He's the epitome of class, and sophistication, and everything good."
Favorite Seinfeld Episode: The one where Kramer is banned from buying fruit at the grocery store
Best Subject in School: English and Geometry.
Worst Subject in School: Math, particularly Algebra.
Favorite Sport: Tennis
Seven of Nine Biography
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Seven of Nine was born Annika Hansen on Stardate 25479 on the Tendara Colony. She was the daughter of unconventional Federation exobiologists who were stationed on the U.S.S. Raven, NAAR-32450. Her parents fancied themselves explorer's and aimed their small ship for the Delta quadrant to research the Borg and were never heard from again. They we able to track and study the Borg at close range for 3 years. The Borg Collective assimilated her at a young age when the Borg attacked her parents research vessel. Apparently, they were the first humans to be assimilated by the Borg. She was designated Seven of Nine Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One. She remained with the collective as a Borg drone for over 20 years until the Borg encountered Species 8472 and Voyager. During her time with the Borg, she served directly for the Borg Queen. As a part of the agreement between Captain Janeway and the collective, Seven was used to speak for the Borg and facilitate their cooperative effort to defeat species 8472. |
| In the confusion following the attack on Species 8472, Seven was separated from the Collective. She was forced to remain on the U.S.S. Voyager and adapt to Starfleet rules and regulations. She has hardly known life as a human and so nearly everything happening to her--her emotions, thoughts, and feelings--are all a new experience. However, Captain Janeway, as well as all other crewmembers on Voyager, are making her feel like part of the team and are trying to help her re-discover her human origins. | |