The Jack Ryan character comes from Tom Clancy's novels.
This is Harrison Ford's first of two films playing the part, the other being Clear and Present Danger (1994).
Jack Ryan has also been portrayed by Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October (1990), Ben Affleck in The Sum of All Fears (2002), and Chris Pine in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014).
There is also a TV series (Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan) with two seasons up till now, and a third season in development.
It's a missed opportunity there is no universe-continuity in the Jack Ryan films (apart from the two with Harrison Ford). The character sees a lot of development in the books (even ends up in the White House).