Erica Leerhsen, born in 1976, is an accomplished actress who has carved an interesting path for herself in the horror genre. Having studied acting and film near the end of the 1990’s, Erica’s career began almost immediately with a supporting role in sequel Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000). Though the movie wasn’t as successful as its predecessor, it still put Leerhsen in the path of casting directors who scooped her up for another Hollywood feature, where she played ‘Pepper’ in 2003’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. She appeared in several independent, out of genre films for the next few years before returning to horror as ‘Nina’ in 2007’s Wrong Turn 2: Dead End. The sequel was one of the best selling straight-to-DVD titles of the year.
Following these successes, Leerhsen started booking lead roles in higher quality, independent features including Living Hell (2008), Haunted Traxxs (2009) and The Butterfly Room (2012). In between her many film roles, Erica also booked guest spots on popular television shows including “Alias,” “CSI: Miami,” “The Good Wife,” “Ghost Whisperer” and “The Sopranos.”
So, where is Erica Leerhsen now?
She continued acting later into the 2010’s with more roles on television, with her latest being “Person of Interest” in 2012. As far as horror films go, she played the lead role in Phobia (2013) as well as a supporting character in 2013’s straight-to-DVD hit, Mischief Night. However, Erica also started taking the time to explore different genres of film again. She played small parts in the romantic short film, Pacific Standard (2014), and rom-com Magic in the Moonlight in the same year.
Leerhsen did not pursue any professional acting gigs in 2015 and does not have any in development as of this writing. Here’s hoping for a career revival in 2016 because she’s too talented and too great to retire!
