Jeri Ryan Interviewed

Jeri Ryan, who of course stars on 'Star Trek: Voyager' as Seven of Nine, was recently interviewed by two university newspapers - Wayne State University's 'The South End' and Towson University's 'The Towerlight'. Courtesy of the official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage, transcripts of the interviews are now available online.

Talking to the South End's Armen Shaomian, Ryan revealed a bit of how she got her role in 'Dracula 2000', where she plays a reporter who turns into a vampire. Apparently her character wasn't in the official script, but was added at a later stage. "Miramax came to me with it," said Ryan. "I met with executives and they told me that they wanted to work together and they came to me with the part that was already underway. It was great. (It was) small enough that it could work, not in every scene, so I could do this logistically with my Voyager schedule. [...] We shot it in the middle of my season of 'Voyager.' I would fly back and forth between Toronto and New Orleans where the movie was shooting and then fly back the next morning and report to Voyager."

In the interview with the Towerlight's Jennifer Hykes, Ryan also talked about Voyager, which she thinks has helped her career a lot. "I've gotten a lot of response from people in the mainstream media and the non-genre section of the industry. [...] I'm in a lucky position because I've been successful enough with this role that it's gotten me known and basically handed me a career, but I'm not so widely known that I'm going to be pigeonholed."

Even if Voyager being a sci-fi series hasn't hurt her career, perhaps the fact that her character is presented as a sex symbol could lead to some problems? According to Ryan, this is not the case, as her character is handled very well. "I don't mind," said Ryan about her sex symbol status. "The whole 'sex symbol' or 'babe' thing doesn't bother me. It's the costume that I wear on the show which is ... a little snug shall we say and doesn't leave a whole lot to the imagination. I don't have a problem with it because of the way this character's been written, how intelligent she is and how strong she is and what a wonderful female portrayal she is."

Finally, in the interview Ryan said that this season she has begun actively looking for projects outside of 'Star Trek' that will help break her out of the world of 'Voyager'. 'Dracula 2000' was a good example of this, even if it was another genre film. "I was always a fan of horror films as a kid. I loved horror movies. [...] I'm not seeking out genre films, but this just came my way, and Miramax was good enough to add a role for me because we wanted the chance to work together."

To read the full interview from 'The Towerlight', click here. For the full 'South End' interview, click here.

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