Name: Erika Eleniak
Date: September 29 1969
Birth Place: Glendale California, USA
Height: 5' 5''
Sex: F
Nationality: American
Occupation: Actress, Model
Erika Eleniak was
born on 29 September, 1969 in a small suburb of Los Angeles
called Glendale. Her great grand-father who was of Ukrainian
descent, gave her, her name. Her parents divorced soon after
her birth.
When Erika was around
ten years old, her father (whose dreams of becoming an actor
proved unsuccessful) was going out with a woman who worked in
film production. She helped Erika on the way to becoming an
actress, and Erika started out by modelling for a children's
clothing label. When she moved into adolescence she was appearing
in advertisements for shampoo and motorcycles.
But Erika was slowly beginning to get in the alcohol and drugs
scene. Erika's chance of salvation from this cycle came at seventeen
when she met Steve Ferguson by chance on a Santa Monica beach.
When she was eighteen, Steve signed her up to Alcoholics Anonymous
and even helped her through detoxification. However Steve and
Erika's relationship became complicated when Steve's father
Robert married Erika's mother. There was talk of Erika marrying
Steve, but she never did.
In 1989 when Erika
was twenty she asked Steve to put her in contact with a Playboy
photographer, as she wanted to appear in Playboy. The photographer
accepted Erika, and she appeared in the July 1989 issue of Playboy
in a series of provocative photos on nautical studies.
The year of 1989 proved to be a very important year in Erika's
life. She won the role of Shauni McClain in the Baywatch television
series which would bring her international fame.
While working on the series, Erika met Billy Warlock who played
Eddie Kramer on the show. Neither of them were single, but their
friendship began to slowly turn into love. In fact, he was the
reason that Erika left the show after only two seasons. But
their relationship eventually fizzled out, perhaps because Billy
confessed: "I can't bear anyone else to see her body".
Erika's return to
the movie scene was impressive. In 1992, she was once again
bought to public attention in the movie "Under Siege"
with Steven Seagal. The film was a major success. She was later
seen in "Chasers", with a scene that seemed to make
an impression on most of the male population of the United States.
Her partner in this film, William McNamara, was also her partner
in life at the time. Erika soon filmed another movie with William
called "A Girl in the Cadillac".
After Erika and Williams
relationship ended, she was quoted as saying: "I go out
a lot with many different friends, but there isn't one that
I would want to marry. Yet, I would like to get married. I can
easily imagine myself living on a ranch in Montana with a family."
Meanwhile, Erika was still filming. She was in "Bordello
of Blood", "Panic in the Park" and "87th
Precinct: Heatwave". Then in 1997 she met Philip Goglia
and the two got married in the beginning of March, 1998.
Erika's latest films
are Second to Die where she played Sara, and The Opponent in
which she played Patty. Both movies were released in 2000.
