| Erika Eleniak | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name: | Erika Eleniak |
| Born: | September 29, 1969 |
| Occupation: | Actress, Model |
| Years active: | 1989-present |
| Known for: | her role in Baywatch as Shauni McClain |
Erika Eleniak (born September 29, 1969) is an American Playboy Playmate and actress who's best known for her role in Baywatch as Shauni McClain; Eleniak has also starred in the films E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, The Blob, Under Siege and The Beverly Hillbillies.
Early Life[]
Eleniak was born on September 29, 1969 in Glendale, California. She is the daughter in a family of four girls and one boy. Her father (who was born in Edmonton, Alberta) is of Ukrainian descent and her mother is of Estonian and German ancestry; Eleniak's parents were divorced later on.
Eleniak attended Robert Fulton Junior High in Van Nuys and graduated from Van Nuys High School. During her teenage years, she became a regular on the San Fernando Valley party circuit and began to use alcohol and drugs regularly. After a chance to meet with Sam Ferguson on a Santa Monica beach, he recommended that the 18-year-old Eleniak go to Alcoholics Anonymous and supported her recovery. Their relationship became complicated when Sam's father, Robert, married Eleniak's mother.
Career[]
Modeling[]
In 1989, when Eleniak was 19, she asked Ferguson to put her in contact with a Playboy photographer. As a result, Eleniak appeared in the July 1989 issue of the magazine in a pictorial with a nautical theme.
Television[]
In 1989, Eleniak had a recurring role on the 1980s sitcom Charles in Charge as Scott Baio's character Charles' girlfriend Stephanie Curtis. That same year, she won a role on Baywatch as female lead Shauni McClain, which she played from 1989 until 1992, leaving the series after the second episode of season 3. Eleniak also played the high school girlfriend of Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos) on an episode of Full House called "One Last Kiss" in 1990.
Reality Television[]
In 2005, Eleniak appeared as one of the two "Ginger Grants" on the second season of the reality television seires The Real Gilligan's Island (the other was her former Bordello of Blood co-star Angie Everhart).
Eleniak suffered from weight issues all through her life. At one point, she was underweight due to an eating disorder and was once hospitalized because of "laxative abuse". In 2006, she was overweight and became a participant on the fourth season of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club, in which two teams of celebrities competed to lose the most weight.
Film[]
Eleniak's first featured film role was iin the 1982 film E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial as the girl kissed by Elliott in the classroom scene. Her first film role (as an adult) was as Vicki De Soto, a victim of a creature in the 1998 horror remake The Blob.
In 1992, Eleniak returned to film acting, playing Jordan Tate, a Playboy Playmate hired to do a striptease for the captain of a U.S. Navy battleship (USS Missouri) in Under Siege. In the film, she is described as "Jordan Tate, Miss July 1989" (which is the month that Eleniak was Playmate of the Month in real life).
Eleniak attempted to capatalize on this success by starring as Elly May Clampett (originally played by Donna Douglas on the 1962-1971 TV series) in the screen adaptation of The Beverly Hillbillies in 1993. However, the film flopped at the time. The next year, Eleniak starred in the Dennis Hopper-directed romantic comedy film Chasers. William McNamara (one of her films co-stars) also became her fiance for a brief period. Eleniak went on to shoot another movie with her then fiance, Girl in the Cadillac (1995). Eleniak also starred in an interactive game durring 1995; she played identical twins in the 1995 video game Panic in the Park. She continued to make more independent films including A Pyromaniac's Love Story (1995), Tales from the Crypt Presents: Bordello of Blood (1996) and Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Heatwave (1997), The Pandora Project (1998) with Daniel Baldwin, One Hot Summer Night (1998) with Barry Bostwick, Final Voyage (1999) with Ice-T, Stealth Fighter (1999), The Opponent (2000), Snowbound (2001), Vegas, City of Dreams (2001) with Angelica Bridges, Shakedown (2002), Second ot Die (2002) and Betrayal (2003).
Other Appearances[]
In 2006, she appeared on 80's Movie and Music Fest Cafe (a British comedy podcast on iTunes) in which she discussed her career with presenters Ross Dyer and Julian Bayes. Eleniak even gave a lighthearted view of Baywatch and her challenge during filming of the reality show Celebrity Fit Club.
Personal Life[]
Eleniak married Philip Goglia on May 22, 1998. However, that marriage ended in divorce. After filming Snowbound in 2001 in Calgary, Alberta, Eleniak became enamored with the city. She also fell in love with Roch Daigle (a key grip who has worked on the set). Having wanted to leave Los Angeles for years and finding commuting to and from Telluride, Colorado too difficult, Eleniak purchased a home in Calgary, where Daigle lived. In 2005, Eleniak became pregnant, but 6½ weeks into her term, the pregnancy was discovered to be ectopic, which required emergency surgery days later. It ended in miscarriage, but Eleniak soon became pregnant once again and as a result, her first child (daughter Indyanna) was born in January 2006.