Erika Christensen played Michael Douglas's drug-addled daughter in the 2000 film Traffic (directed by Steven Soderbergh). Traffic won the Oscar as the year's best film and put Christensen on the Hollywood map. She followed up with another high-profile role as an obsessive seductress in the 2002 thriller Swimfan. Round-faced, with curved lips and watchful blue eyes, she has specialized in dramas and thrillers, often playing restless characters with a little something to hide. She played Susan Sarandon's daughter in The Banger Sisters (2002), an SAT-hacking student in The Perfect Score (2004), a flight attendant in Flightplan (2005, opposite Jodie Foster) and a resourceful bank clerk in How to Rob a Bank (2007). She also had a starring role in the short-lived TV series Six Degrees (2006-07).
She is no relation to Star Wars actor Hayden Christensen... Christensen, like Tom Cruise, is a Scientologist... Her brother, Dane Christensen, had a small role in her 2005 film The Upside of Anger.
Career Highlights: Traffic, The Upside of Anger, The Sisters
First Major Screen Credit: Traffic (2000)
Biography
If early career praise is any indication of future success, singer/actress/dancer Erika Christensen may have a rewarding and fruitful career ahead of her. Refining her diverse talents in such early projects as Michael Jackson's "Childhood" video, as well as singing on Neil Diamond's The Christmas Album II, Christensen's demanding turn as the drug-addicted daughter of the drug czar in Steven Soderbergh's critically acclaimed Traffic has recently focused much attention on the young actress.
Born in 1982 and training as an actress since childhood, Christensen began her career in live theater. With early television credits including Frasier and Third Rock From the Sun to her name, Christensen made her film debut in 1997's Leave It to Beaver as Wally Cleaver's girlfriend Karen. Christensen's early roles were of mostly light comedic substance, a trend she has recently countered by gravitating toward more dramatic roles in both television and film. Nominated for the 1998 Young Star Award for her performance in the television series Nothing Sacred, Christensen continued her dramatic turn in such television series as The Practice and Touched by an Angel.
In addition to her television roles, Christensen's film credits have also progressed into the more dramatic. Following Leave It to Beaver with the Disney film Can of Worms, Christensen's next role would face her with the formidable challenge of sympathetically portraying a broken, drug-addicted teen in Traffic. The following years found Christensen leaning toward more dramatic roles, which worked to her advantage in terms of developing as a serious-minded young actress, and despite roles in such popcorn-munchers as Swimfan (2002), the actress continued to challenge herself with roles in such films as that same year's Home Room. An unflinching journey into the dark heart of post-Columbine high school America, Christensen's role as a once popular student thrust into despair after being wounded in a high school shooting proved she had not lost her dramatic edge. On the lighter side, Christensen would next turn up alongside actresses Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon in the comedy dramaThe Banger Sisters before conspiring to ace her SAT in a less-than-legal fashion in The Perfect Score (2003).
Erika Jane Christensen (born August 19, 1982) is an American actress whose film appearances include Traffic (2000), Swimfan (2002) and The Perfect Score (2004), among others. She also co-starred in the short-lived drama Six Degrees on ABC.
Christensen is a member of the Church of Scientology.[3] Her parents became Scientologists during their 20s and raised her to be a Scientologist as well as home-schooling her.[2]
Career
Christensen had several small roles in various television programs before starting her movie career. These shows include The Geena Davis Show, Frasier, The Practice, 3rd Rock from the Sun, and Touched by an Angel. She was named one of People magazine's "Breakthrough Stars of 2001." For her performance as a heroine addict in Traffic she received the awards for Female Breakthrough Performance at the MTV Movie Awards, Female Standout Performance at the Young Hollywood Awards, and Outstanding Performance by a Cast Ensemble at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2005, she briefly went into music as she recorded a version of "Let's Fall In Love" with John Stevens for his debut album Red. In 2006, she starred in the series Six Degrees, which debuted on the ABC fall schedule in 2006 but low ratings caused its cancellation after one season. She made a cameo in the Joaquin Phoenix-directed video "Tired of Being Sorry" for Balthazar Getty's band Ringside. She is part of the cast of the film adaptation of Veronika Decides to Die.[4] Christensen is also a regular in the upcoming NBC series Parenthood, based on the Ron Howard film. It will debut in early 2010.
