Denzel Washington & Morgan Freeman do it all the time, just to name a few.^^
I do think that she had more than two emotional scenes and she did handle all of them well.
And if there are someone to blame in that case it's not Jennifer Lien and her character but bad writers.
bad writing or not, a good actor can make a "bad" scene good
That's a bunch of baloney. An actor can only do so much with what they are given. Have you watched some of Sci-Fi's cheesy movies? I don't think anybody can make some of those turds good.
Kate Mulgrew, Jeri Ryan, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ & Roxanne Dawson did it with half the stories they were given on Voy. Say what you want about Voyager's stories but the acting by those actors was always on point. Speaking Technobabble is like talking baby talk but they all made you believe tacayon particles in the warp core were real.
So yes, I do agree a good actor can make a bad script bearible.