Erica Leerhsen

At 48 years old, Erica Leerhsen has this physical status:

Erica Lei Leerhsen (born February 14, 1976) is an American actress.

She first gained recognition for her leading part in the moderately successful horror sequel Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000).

Her work led her to take on a recurring role in the first season of The Guardian and star in the horror hit The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003).

She has since appeared in numerous films of that genre, including Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007), Lonely Joe (2009) and The Butterfly Room (2012).

She has also acted in the Woody Allen films Hollywood Ending (2002), Anything Else (2003) and Magic in the Moonlight (2014) as well as in Allen's play A Second-Hand Memory (2004).

Early life

Leerhsen was born in New York City, and was raised in Ossining, Westchester County, New York, along with her two younger sisters, Debbie and Nora. Their father, Charles Leerhsen, is a longtime editor of celebrity publication Us Weekly. She attended St. Augustine's School and Ossining High School and attended the Boston University College of Fine Arts. While in college, Leerhsen performed in stage productions of The Call of the Wild and The Tempest. After graduating in 1998, she earned BFA in acting the same year.

Personal life

In February 2007, she married professional cyclist Antony Galvan, but the couple divorced in 2008. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California with husband Davis Wilson, whom she married on June 29, 2012. Besides acting, Leerhsen enjoys yoga, running, and playing basketball.

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Career

Leerhsen made her film debut in the short film Junior Creative (2000), as Sarah, and then appeared in Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000), shortly after that actress appeared in the horror film Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000), although she later auditioned for the role that ultimately went to Kim Director. Following its premiere, critics gave the sequel scathing feedback, but the sequel took in $26.4 million in North America, which eventually increased to gross US$47.7 million globally. She was nominated for the Fangoria Chainsaw Award for her role in the film. Leerhsen's fame was greatly enhanced, and her film work was followed by a number of appearances on television. She appeared in an episode of the third season of The Sopranos, where she played Amanda Bowles, a vivacious yet caring associate who died midway through season one. In Woody Allen's Hollywood Ending, she appeared in a supporting role. At the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, screened out of competition. The film received mixed critical feedback, but it grossed a lukewarm US$14.5 million at the end of its theatrical run.

In the horror film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2004), Leerhsen starred alongside Jessica Biel, in which she played one of the doomed teens. In a 2007 interview with website Icons of Fear, she confessed that she screamed so loudly during her audition for the film that people on other floors of the building called the cops to inform that a woman was being injured. The film's initial reviews were mixed, but it was a box office hit, winning the number one spot in its first week and then going on to earn more than $80 million in the United States. In his film A Second-Hand Memory (2004), she reunited with Allen, where she was described as a "sweet secretary and superficial, nouveau-riche Hollywood wife" by Variety.

Leerhsen starred opposite Michael Pea in the independent comedy drama film Little Athens (2005), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released straight-to-DVD to mixed critical reception. Although Variety stated that Leerhsen and co-star Jill Ritchie were "stuck with barely developed, deeply disliked gals," she was lauded by Mark Bell of Film Threat, who later stated that the actress "proves that the Blair Witch 2 was as much a blip in her acting skills as the film was in the pop culture conscience. Rachel Miner's interplay with her is true in the way smalltown friendships really are: simple on the surface, but on a vast web of information and history, every nuance, word, or situation should be considered and documented."

Leerhsen appeared in Ghost Whisperer as the female leading character in Mozart and the Whale's limited theaters in 2006. In a 2006 episode of CBS crime drama series CSI: Miami, Leerhsen appeared as a guest. Leerhsen played the drug-addict wife of a mafia boss in The Warrior Class (Jake Webber). The film was shot in 2004, but it was released on February 6, 2007, before it was broadcast directly to DVD.

Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007), directed by Joe Lynch, co-starring Henry Rollins and the Texas Battle, she headlined the horror movie Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007). Unlike the 2003 film, the sequel premiered on DVD, but analysts were still highly rated when it reached US$9 million in domestic home video sales. David Walker, a DVD talker, found her to be a "stand out" and said she "puts a new spin on what could have been a tiresome retread of the scream queen role." Leerhsen "continues to impress" according to Brian Collins of Bloody Disgusting, and she had "got chops far beyond what is ordinarily required for this sort of film."

Leerhsen appeared in the horror film Living Hell, where she played Carrie Freeborn, a hazmat specialist. Richard Jefferies' film premiered on the SCI FI Channel on February 23, 2008, and it was then released in the United States on June 10 under the title Organizm. The independent horror film Lonely Joe, starring Leerhsen, premiered in 2009 and was released in theaters and select theaters. Filming began on October 15, 2007 and ended on November 6, 2007. Michele Connelly, a New York City reporter who returns to her hometown ten years after her younger brother's gruesome murder, was reprised. She was almost struck by the train while filming a scene and staggered forward. As it reached at 30 mph, her scene was shot only 12 inches from the train's side. She remained on shooting the scene again, unshaken.

Leerhsen produced First Dates, a comedic short film about many single people in the dating scene. On January 8, 2011, the film premiered at the AFI screening room in Los Angeles. She made one-episode appearances in The Good Wife in 2011 and in Person of Concern in 2012. In The Butterfly Room, an Italian–American horror film directed by Jonathan Zarantonello, she portrayed the next-door neighbor of a bipolar and butterfly-obsessed elderly lady (Barbara Steele). In 2012, the film premiered on the European film circuit and was released in Italy on June 6, 2014, and in the United States in a single theater on April 11, 2014. Leerhsen appeared in The Message, a low-budget horror film festival that premiered in Cape Fear Independent Film Festival 2012, and it revolved around a young woman who is expected to accept her character flaws.

Lesley Parker, a female doctor who was committed to assist a group of people with their phobias who became embroiled in a murder mystery involving a patient that may be a vampire, appeared in Phobia as Lesley Parker, a teenager who was still mourning the intrigue surrounding a patient who may be a vampire. On September 1, 2013, the film was released. She appeared in Mischief Night, a small-scale slasher that was released on October 30, 2013 on DVD and limited theatre runs.

Leerhsen appeared in Woody Allen's romantic comedy Magic in the Moonlight (2014), portraying Caroline, a member of a wealthy American family in the 1920s French Riviera. Emma Stone, Jacki Weaver, Colin Firth, and Marcia Gay Harden starred in the film, but critics gave the film mixed feedback, but the film was still a huge success. Leerhsen's appearance in the film was her fourth time she had worked with Allen, who praised her for her acting skills; "Every time I cast her, she comes out without fail." She arrives, she asks no questions, she does the role—I have no idea how she's done it out—but it's always effective."

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