|
|
 |
|
ERIKA CHRISTENSEN BIOGRAPHY |
|
|
| |
Erika Christensen was born in Seattle,
Washington on August 19, 1982. There she started her education
in the Montessori school system until she moved to Los Angeles
with her family at the age of four. She then entered the Delphi
Academy and gravitated to an artist's career at an early age. At
eleven Erika started singing, dancing and acting with
professional children's theatre groups as well as volunteering
to perform for foster family events and community groups. Within
a year, Erika had performed in hundreds of shows throughout
Southern California and in many venues including The Serendipity
Theatre Company and the Pasadena Dance Theatre. At the age of
twelve Erika declared her life-long goal was to be an actor. She
immediately started working professionally and enrolled in a
school that allowed her to continue her academic studies while
working on film sets. At thirteen, she landed the coveted role
of "Karen", Wally Cleaver's girlfriend in Universal Picture's
feature film Leave It To Beaver. Her performance was critically
noted for the chemistry she brought to the character.
Erika then graduated from the Voyager Charter School at the age
of sixteen with a 4.0 grade average at the top of her class of
1998. She continued to hone her skills by performing in popular
television shows and gravitated to more dramatic roles where she
was nominated for the Best Performance by a Young Actress in a
TV Series Drama. Then at seventeen, Erika stunned audiences as
Michael Douglas' drug addicted daughter in Steven Soderbergh's
Oscar and Golden Globe winning film, Traffic. Erika had never
taken drugs herself, so she turned to the drug rehabilitation
group Narconon to research her role. Her performance was
disturbingly real and she, along with the rest of the cast,
received the prestigious Screen Actor's Guild Award for their
work. Erika individually received the Movieline Award for "Standout
Performance" and MTV's "Breakthrough Performance Female" Award
for her role.
Also in 2002, Erika played the daughter of an ex-groupie [Susan
Sarandon], in Fox Searchlight's, The Banger Sisters costarring
Goldie Hawn and Geoffrey Rush. She also starred in the 20th
Century Fox film Swimfan which debuted as #1 at the box office
and in which she reprises a classic femme fatale role in a love
triangle. In the summer of 2002 Erika filmed Paramount Picture's,
The Perfect Score, due to be released in September of 2003.
Erika supports various charity events including the Ronald
McDonald House for children with cancer and the Hollywood Police
Activities League. She also supports the Mothers Against
Violence in America (MAVIA) and Students Against Violence (SAVE)
through her donated drawing which appears on the cover of their
fund-raiser calendars and has designed a car for auction to
benefit the Save the Music Foundation. In 2002, Erika was the
keynote speaker at the National Foundation for Women Legislators
Conference in Washington D.C. In her speech, Erika proclaimed
that through her research, she knows rehabilitation is not only
possible, but can be achieved regularly if we use the right
tools. |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
