Fact: Jeri Ryan was asked to play the role of ‘Seven of Nine’ 4 times before finally giving in. She admits that at the time, she had never seen Star Trek.
In 1995 Jeri Taylor the executive producer of Star Trek: Voyager wanted Jeri Ryan to play the role Seven of Nine and several others in the set of nine in the series. Jeri declined several times but finally gave in to the lobbying. She went on to play the role in 103 episodes. In order to get prepped for her role as the Borg, the producers gave her a copy of Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Encyclopedia, all the day prior to her audition for the part.
She had a two part audition process before Ryan was asked to come in to talk through the part with the executive producers. She stated that the experience and her part getting picked up was a little weird,
“It was a little awkward since the cast had been together for three years already. And one of the original characters was being written out pretty much at the same time I was being added. But the cast was terrific, and very welcoming.”
For her role, Jeri Ryan was eventually nominated on three occasions at the Saturn Awards for portraying the very sexy ‘Seven of Nine,’ winning in 2001 for ‘Best Supporting Actress on Television.’
Jeri Ryan also has a background in pageant work. She was Miss Illinois in 1989 and came in fourth place in the 1990 Miss America Pageant.
