Jennifer Anne Lien (born August 24, 1974)[1] is an American former actress known for playing the alien Kes on the television series Star Trek: Voyager.

I was always writing plays or watching movies or reading books, and when I was in seventh grade, I joined the drama club and found that I could fit right in, I could relax, I could do anything I wanted.

[6] 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.

Her character was an Ocampa, 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.

"[11] The showrunners reluctantly terminated Lien's contract as a member of Voyager's main cast due to unresolved personal issues that affected her performance.

[13][14] After Voyager, Lien appeared in the film American History X as the younger sister of Edward Norton's character.

Lien has attended science fiction conventions in relation to her role as Kes when she was working on Voyager and after her film career ended.

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 is married to writer and filmmaker Phil Hwang; their son was born on September 5, 2002.

[16] Upon his birth, Lien retired from acting and voice-over work but was credited as executive producer on her husband's 2008 film Geek Mythology.