Erika Eleniak was born in Glendale, California.[1] Her father, Dale Alan Eleniak, is of Ukrainian descent and her mother, Iris Maya (Neggo) Arnold is of Estonian and German descent. Eleniak's paternal great-grandfather, Wasyl Eleniak, was one of the first pioneer Ukrainian immigrants to settle in Canada.[2]
Career
Eleniak's first feature-film role was at age 12, in the 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial as the girl kissed by Elliott Taylor (Henry Thomas) in the classroom scene. Her 10-year-old costar, Henry Thomas, told People magazine that he disliked filming the scene: “When I had to kiss the girl, I had to do it two times! I don’t like girls."[3] In 1988, Eleniak appeared as Vicki De Soto, a victim of the creature in the horror film The Blob, which was a remake of the 1958 film of the same name.
Eleniak appeared in the July 1989 issue of Playboy in a pictorial with a nautical theme. That same year, she began a recurring role in the TV series Charles in Charge as Charles (Scott Baio)'s girlfriend Stephanie Curtis, and also won a role on Baywatch as female lead Shauni McClain, which she played from 1989 to 1992. She also played Carrie, the high-school girlfriend of Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos), in "One Last Kiss," the November 16, 1990 fourth season episode of Full House.
In 1992, Eleniak returned to film acting, playing Jordan Tate, a Playboy Playmate hired to perform a striptease for J.T. Adams (Patrick O'Neal), the captain of a U.S. Navy battleship in Under Siege. In the film, she is described as "Miss July 1989"—the month that Eleniak was Playmate of the Month in real life.
Eleniak has suffered from weight issues. At one point, she was underweight due to an eating disorder and was once hospitalized for laxative abuse.[5] By 2006, she was overweight and participated in the fourth season of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club.
In 2006, Eleniak appeared on '80s Movie and Music Fest Cafe, a British comedy podcast on iTunes, in which she discussed her career with presenters Ross Dyer and Julian Bayes. She gave a lighthearted view of Baywatch and her challenge during filming of Celebrity Fit Club.[6]
Personal life
Eleniak was once engaged to her Baywatch co-star Billy Warlock, who had played Eddie Kramer, her love interest on the show, as well.[7] Eleniak married bodybuilder Philip Goglia on May 22, 1998, but after just six months, the marriage ended in divorce.[8][9] After filming Snowbound in 2001 in Calgary, Alberta, Eleniak became enamored with the city. She began dating Roch Daigle, a key grip who worked on the set. She had wanted to leave Los Angeles as she found commuting to and from Telluride, Colorado difficult. She purchased a home in Calgary, where Daigle lived.[10] The two eventually married. Eleniak became pregnant in 2005, but six and a half weeks into her term, the pregnancy was discovered to be ectopic, which required emergency surgery, and ended in a miscarriage.[citation needed] Eleniak later became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter.[11]
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