Jeri made her acting debut in Who's the Boss? and followed that with guest-starring roles in TV shows like Melrose Place, Matlock, and The Sentinel as well as such TV movies as Co-Ed Call Girl.
Her big break came when she won a regular role as the extraterrestrial investigator Juliet Stuart on the TV series Dark Skies. The show was cancelled after one season, but the role had drawn the attention of the science-fiction community.
In 1997, Ryan was chosen for a role on the science fiction series Star Trek: Voyager as Seven of Nine, a Borg drone who had been "de-assimilated," or freed, from the Borg's collective consciousness, When she joined the cast in Season 4, ratings increased 60%. She appeared in Wes Craven's Dracula 2000. After Voyager ended in 2001, Ryan joined the cast of Boston Public in the role of Veronica Cooke, nicknamed "Ronnie," a frustrated lawyer who quits the bar to become a high-school teacher. The show's producer, David E. Kelley, wrote the role specifically for her. The show ended in 2004.
Ryan appeared in the film Down With Love and as Lydia in the independent film Men Cry Bullets. Ryan's first film lead was in the "indie" comedy The Last Man, as the last woman left on Earth.
In 2005, she had a role in a pilot called Commuters, a suburban big city version of Desperate Housewives. She also had a recurring role as Charlotte Morgan on The O.C. in 2005; and she guest-starred as Courtney Reece on David E. Kelley's Boston Legal in 2006. Ryan then co-starred in the CBS legal drama Shark as Los Angeles County District Attorney Jessica Devlin alongside series lead James Woods.
She debuted as defense attorney Patrice La Rue on the April 7, 2009, episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, her first role since giving birth to her daughter Gisele.
Ryan next won a 7-episode role on the TNT drama Leverage in Season 2 as grifter Tara Cole to fill in while Gina Bellman (Sophie) was on maternity leave.
She was in the Kevin Tancharoen-directed short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth as Sonya Blade.
Ryan is a regular in the medical drama series Body of Proof.
Ryan has also continued to appear in guest roles on genre television shows, most recently on the SyFy series Warehouse 13 as US Marine Major Amanda Lattimer, ex-wife of the show's male lead character Peter Lattimer, in the episode "Queen for a Day,".
