Early Life
Ryan was born Jeri Lynn Zimmermann in Munich, West Germany, the daughter of Gerhard Florian "Jerry" Zimmermann, a Master Sergeant in the United States Army and his wife Sharon, a social worker. She has one older brother, Mark. As a "military brat", Ryan grew up on Army posts in Kansas, Maryland, Hawaii, Georgia and Texas. When she was eleven, her father retired from the Army and the family settled in Paducah, Kentucky. She graduated from Lone Oak High School in 1986 (as a National Merit Scholar), and then attended Northwestern University, where she was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority.
In 1989, Ryan was chosen Miss Illinois. She was the third runner-up in the 1990 Miss America Pageant, winning the preliminary swimsuit competition. She graduated from Northwestern in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre.
Read more about this topic: Jeri Ryan
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“Progress would not have been the rarity it is if the early food had not been the late poison.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“I devoutly believe it is the writer who has matured the film medium more than anyone else in Hollywood. Even when he knew nothing about his work, he brought at least knowledge of life and a more grown-up mind, a maturer feeling about the human being.”
—Dudley Nichols (1895–1960)