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. 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.
