Ryan was born in Munich, Germany to American parents. She has one younger brother, Mark. Her father was in the United States Army and raised the family on military bases all over the country until they finally settled in Paducah, Kentucky when Ryan was 11. After Ryan graduated high school in 1986 as a National Merit Scholar, she attended Northwestern University and enrolled in beauty pageants and swimsuit competitions to pay for college. In 1989, Ryan became Miss Illinois and won the Miss America swimsuit competition, while coming in fourth for the Miss America title in 1990. Ryan graduated college in 1990.

After college, Ryan decided to pursue her dream of an acting career. Her husband encouraged her and even gave her a plane ticket to Los Angeles. She moved there and made her first acting debut as an extra in Planes, Trains & Automobiles, but was cut out of the final version. She continued to act in commercials and eventually TV shows like Melrose Place, Matlock, and The Sentinel as well as TV movies like 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 drew the attention of the science-fiction community for her beauty.

In 1997, Ryan was cast to play Seven of Nine, a Borg drone freed from the collective on the science fiction series Star Trek: Voyager. The role drew her instant fame and her wardrobe made her a sex symbol among science-fiction fans. After Voyager ended in 2001, Ryan already had a new series. David E. Kelley, producer of Boston Public, wrote a role specifically for her. She played Ronnie Cooke, a frustrated lawyer who quits to become a high school teacher. The show was cancelled in 2004. Ryan has recently appeared in movies such as Down With Love.

In 1990, while dealing blackjack at a charity event, Ryan met investment banker and future political candidate Jack Ryan. The couple married in 1991 and had a son, Alex, in 1994. Throughout their marriage, Ryan and her husband took turns commuting between Los Angeles and Chicago for their careers, but finally divorced in 1999. The reasons behind their divorce were kept sealed. In 2004, details of her divorce proceedings with Jack Ryan were unsealed by a California judge. They revealed that she had accused Ryan of attempting to coerce her into sexual acts in public and in adult clubs. This information led Jack Ryan to withdraw his Republican candidacy for an open United States Senate seat in Illinois.

After her marriage ended, Ryan began a relationship with "Star Trek: Voyager" and "Star Trek: Enterprise" executive producer Brannon Braga.

--Wikipedia