Jeri Ryan was born Jeri Lynn Zimmerman on February 22, 1968 in Munich, West Germany, to Sharon, a social worker, and Gerhard Florian Zimmerman, a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army. She and her brother Mark grew up on several military bases, including Kansas, Maryland, Georgia and Texas. Finally, at the age of 11, her family settled down in Paducah, Kentucky. Later, after graduating from Lone Oak High School in 1986, she attended Northwestern University Chicago as a National Merit Scholar. While studying there, she won a number of beauty contests (a.o.- 6th annual Miss Northwestern Alpha Delta Phi Pageant in 1989).
With a B.S. in Theater, she came to Los Angeles, California and since then she has been on several television series and films - including popular series like Matlock (1986), Melrose Place (1992) and Star Trek: Voyager (1995) as well as Dark Skies - l'impossible vérité (1996). Her television experience also includes roles in a variety of telefilms including Obsession coupable (1991), NBC's In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco (1993), Co-ed Call Girl (1996), The Sentinel (1996), Men Cry Bullets (1998), Dracula 2001 (2000), The Last Man (2000) and Bye Bye Love (2003). Jeri Ryan resides in an area of Los Angeles, California with her husband chef Christophe Eme, her son Alex and daughter Gisele.
