Remembering Jennifer Lien

 Jennifer Lien: What happened to her?

While I was reading Samurai Frog's break down of the last season of Star Trek Voyager. I got to thinking about the lovely and talented Jennifer Lien. She was amazing as the bright eyed Kes on Voy. And there was potential for her to move into bigger and greater roles. She actually had talent that wasn't based on her body, which is a contrast to 7 of 9. 7 of 9 was a good character, but they kept shoving her assets into our faces and she became T&A mascot for the network, and I find that sad.

Jennifer Lien had so much more to offer.

When they added Borg Miss Big Boobs to the show, they had to get rid of an extra character. The ax came down to Garrett Wang or Jennifer Lien. They almost fired Wang because he got a lot of press for misbehaving on set and off set. However People Magazine featured him as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World story. Lien was fired instead.

From Memory Alpha, ((In an article appearing in Star Trek: Communicator issue 134, Lien recalled, "I was on for a few seasons, then they asked me to leave. They decided not to renew my contract. I didn't ask why I was not being renewed, I just said 'okay' and moved on. ))

I personally think she was very hurt by her firing, which explains why she pretty much hung up her acting career. It doesn't help your confidence when someone less talented obtains or replaces you. I've been passed over for a promotion years ago with someone less talented and it still has me bitter about the company.

She did in fact do some voice work in animated shows, and could have made a good career out of it. But, she turned away from Hollywood.

However, Lien did make this statement about her time there years later and turning from an actress to a mother. From Trek Movie.com, ((I had a good time. It went on after I left and continued, but my time was great. I have no complaints. I have no regrets. Everything worked out the way it should have. Everything happens for a reason. So I don’t look back and say it should have been like this or it should have been like that. I’m perfectly at peace and content with my life. I don’t live in the past and I don’t wish anything were different. ))

She's at peace today, but I wonder if her firing harmed her in long run. She did a couple seasons of Men in Black: The Series and that was pretty much it. Plus, having her fired probably brought that heat onto Jeri Ryan, which I mentioned before. Even Braga mentioned some of this heat, despite the fact he started to bang Ryan.

From Memory Alpha, (("I will say that there were definitely uncomfortable feelings among the cast, which is totally understandable. We let Jennifer Lien go, and brought someone new on [namely, Jeri Ryan], and that's bound to cause some unsettled feelings. There were rough spots here and there, but it's nothing worth noting. Everyone was very professional." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 30, No. 9/10, p. 78) ))

Well, yeah rough spots in the fact that Kate Mulgrew wasn't that welcoming to having Ryan on board.

It would be interesting to see where Lien would be if she stayed on the show for the 7 years.