Jennifer Lien

The conventions are something within themselves, a unique world. It's a very different experience in that I can talk to other people involved in the world of Star Trek, like authors and actors from other Star Trek shows. I also get to meet people from other SF shows, because they tend to have guests from other series at the conventions I attend. The fans love the conventions, love meeting the people involved in their favorite shows. That makes you want to give them everything you can. I try to tell them what's going on, share my laughter and tell them about the wonderful experience I've been having on Voyager. The feedback is just so positive. The fans seem to really like the show, and that's good. If they have any negative feedback, they give it to me, too, which is fine. They're usually pretty respectful, and they come up with things that are very interesting – positive and negative – and I get sucked into it.

Lien has had run-ins with the law from 2012 to 2019 which resulted in her being charged with a number of offences including domestic violence, indecent exposure and vehicle-related offenses, that led the court ordering her to undergo mental health treatment.

Lien is married to writer and filmmaker Phil Hwang; their son, Jonah, was born on September 5, 2002. Upon the birth of her son, Lien retired from acting and voice-over work but was credited as executive producer on her husband's 2008 film Geek Mythology. In August 2010, Lien said she intended to work as a nutritionist after completing her studies.

Lien's Voyager contract was not renewed after season three to allow Jeri Ryan to join the cast as Seven of Nine within the existing budget. In 2000, Lien returned for a season six episode titled "Fury".

In a 2000 interview, Lien said that she liked every kind of music, and that she played the trombone, which she started in high school. She said she supported charities helping people with AIDS and had worked with Camp 40, of which she said: "I want to be doing what I can for people who need it."

After Voyager, Lien appeared in the movie American History X as Edward Norton's younger sister. In 1998, she appeared in SLC Punk! playing Sandy, the wild girlfriend of Matthew Lillard's character. She also voiced Agent "L" for the first three seasons of Men in Black: The Animated Series (1997–1999) and the first seven episodes of the 2000 season. She also voiced Vitani in the 1998 Disney direct-to-video film The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride.

In a 1995 interview, Lien said the following about these conventions:

In 1994, Lien was cast as Kes on Star Trek: Voyager. Her character is an Ocampan, a species in the Star Trek universe that lives for only eight to nine years, who joins the starship's crew after it is stranded 70,000 light-years from Earth.

In 1993, Lien was cast as Roanne in Phenom, a sitcom starring Judith Light. She also participated in the recording of Adam Sandler's comedy album They're All Gonna Laugh At You in which she played the part of the Valedictorian on the track "The Buffoon And The Valedictorian", as well as one of the daughters on the track "Oh, mom...".

In a 1992 interview, Lien said: "My childhood was wild because I was very uncomfortable living where I lived (the South Side of Chicago). It was very industrial – if you didn’t fit in you got your ass kicked. I was just my own person, and I adopted this really tough skin because I had to if I wanted to survive. A lot of my friends were into drugs, and I saw a lot of them die." In a 1993 interview, Lien said:

In a 1992 interview, Lien said: "A couple of years ago, I was trying to get an audition for a baseball movie, so I said that I could play baseball. We'd always played a lot while I was growing up, like in the backyard. But when I showed up at the audition, I was faced with these Goliath-like, testosterone women who could really play. I did survive the two days of training and auditions, but I basically pulled every muscle in my body!"

Lien's first television appearance was in a bubble gum commercial playing twins. Her first appearance on a television series was as a music academy student in a 1990 episode of Brewster Place, starring Oprah Winfrey. The same year she provided her voice for the dubbed English language version of Baby Blood, a French horror film. Lien moved to New York in 1991 after she was cast as Hannah Moore on the series Another World. She attended and graduated from the Professional Children's School while working on this series.

Jennifer Anne Lien (born August 24, 1974) is an American actress, best known for playing the alien Kes on the television series Star Trek: Voyager.

Jennifer Lien was born August 24, 1974, in Illinois, the youngest of three children, and joined the Illinois Theatre Center at the age of 13.