The Ladies of Star Trek: Voyager

Jennifer Ann Lien as Kes

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Kes is a two-year-old female Ocampa who joined the USS Voyager after Neelix, her Talaxian mate, and Captain Janeway's away team saved her from the Kazon-Ogla. She appears to be about twenty years old because her species has a life span of only eight or nine years. Kes was together with Neelix until stardate 50348, when she broke up with him for no apparent reason. She studies medicine with the holographic Doctor, is the only crew member who treats him as an individual, and had a great and positive influence on him. She is also learning from Tuvok how to develop and control her empathic and mental abilities.. Kes' telepathic abilities are very powerful and can be dangerous if they are misused. She was taught by another Ocampa, Tanas, how to boil water telepathically. Kes tried to demonstrate this to Tuvok, and she accidentally raised the temperature of his blood and almost killed him. Her body was taken over by a powerful warlord in Warlord. She was controlled overwhelmed by another alien with overpowering desires to mate (Elogium). Kes' medical treatment causes her to travel back and forth in time (Before and After). She evolves into a higher energy lifeform and departs Voyager but pushes the ship out of Borg space and ten years closer to home (The Gift). Kes donated one of her lungs to Neelix when his were stolen by the Viideans. Cargo Bay 2 became Kes' hydroponics bay, where she grows food to help conserve Voyager’s replicators and the energy they require. Kes' quarters are on Deck 8, and one of her favorite drinks is spinach juice with a pinch of pear, as recommended by Tom Paris.

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Jennifer Ann Lien was born on 24 August 1974, in Chicago Heights, Illinois.  She is the youngest of three children, with an older brother and an older sister.  She likes to play the trombone, and thinks that modeling is fascinating, but she has never actually been a model.  Jennifer knew early in life that she wanted a career in acting, and was encouraged by an English teacher and a drama teacher.   She began performing at age 13 in summer theater, including roles in Shakespeare's The Tempest and Othello. She then moved on to more contemporary dramatic and musical theater.  Jennifer’s first appearance on film was a role as a pair of twins in an industrial film. She made her television début as a guest star in an episode of Oprah Winfrey’s drama series, The Women of Brewster Place.  Jennifer moved to New York at the age of 16 when she was hired to play Hannah Moore, a misfit orphan on Another World, the NBC daytime drama.  She played that part until November 1992, when she decided to give her face a rest, and concentrate on her voice.  Jennifer appeared on Saturday Night Live regular Adam Sandler's comedy album, has been a guest voice on The Critic, and dubbed lines in the English version of the French film, Baby Blood.   She returned to work in front of the camera for the part of Roxanne on the short-lived ABC sitcom, Phenom, and the short independent film trailer, The Hairy Bird.  She then became Kes on Star Trek: Voyager.  Jennifer still found time to lend her voice to other shows.  She was a guest star in an episode of Duckman and an episode of Johnny Quest.  She also narrated a program called Perceptions, and did the voice of Vitani in Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride. Jennifer left Star Trek:Voyager in the fall of 1997 and started working on an animated series, Man in Black, as the voice of Elle.  She made a personal appearance on 2 July 1996 at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, Illinois, where her mother, Delores Lien, graduated and now teaches Developmental English.   Jennifer has said, "My mom is a real inspiration." Jennifer Lien did not leave Star Trek: Voyager voluntarily, according to rumor.  Paramount decided that someone had to leave the show, since the number of male viewers between 18 and 35 was too low according to the producers.  Garrett Wang (Ensign Harry Kim) was selected as the "victim".   People Magazine voted him one of the year's 50 most beautiful people before his departure was announced.  The free publicity was valuable and it would be inappropriate for Paramount to eliminate Garrett from the cast at that point, so someone else had to go.   Jennifer became the substitute victim. Rumors concerning why she might want to leave began to circulate. Some said she didn't want to be stereotyped as Kes, others that she was fired because she was unable to handle her popularity and properly handle her job at conventions.  Paramount’s official reasons were that the writers had run out of stories for Kes and that her departure was a mutual agreement among the producers.   These reasons can hardly be believed if you consider the third season episodes, Warlord, Darkling, and Before and After, where Jennifer Lien proved that she is not only beautiful, but a talented actress.  The real truth is that Jennifer Lien did not leave voluntarily; she had no idea why she was to leave. She was the victim of a ratings war, and was caught in the crossfire of internal feuding.

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