SWIMFAN Q&A with ERIKA CHRISTENSEN Movie Interview by Martyn Palmer © 2005 PHASE9 ENTERTAINMENT

Earlier this summer, Erika Christensen celebrated her 20th birthday. Appropriately enough, it was the same day that one of her new movies, SWIMFAN, premiered in her home town of Los Angeles. "That was a nice birthday present. I mean, how cool is that?" she asks and it's hard not to agree that it is indeed a special moment. But then, since she appeared in Steven Soderbergh's award winning TRAFFIC, playing Michael Douglas's drug addicted daughter, almost two years ago, life has been particularly good and Ms Christensen would be the first one to tell you how much she appreciates it. "Yes, I definitely have a different life, before and after TRAFFIC", she says. "I really couldn't have asked for a better movie to get a good foot hold. It was an incredible role for me, an incredible script, director and a great cast and it was about a subject that I'm really passionate about and interested in, as subject that is relevant to any part of the world. So it was just an amazing experience, I had a blast doing it." But even before TRAFFIC - in fact ever since she was 12 years old - Erika has been working hard and building a reputation as one of her generation's most talented young actors. Born in Seattle the eldest of three children (she has younger brothers, twins, aged 16) her family moved to Los Angeles when she was just four and she discovered a love of performing after her mother, Kathy, persuaded her to join a children's theatre group to give her some after school distractions. "When I was 11 my Mum found this group of kids who just did performances around LA, they sang songs and danced and she thought it might be fun for me so I went ahead and joined this group, got over my stage fright and performed around LA for a year or so and fell in love with being on stage, that rush you get from connecting with the people in the audience," she recalls. "And then at about 12 I just knew, something clicked, and I knew I wanted to be an actor and my parents, to their credit, granted this 12 year-old girl a chance to give it a try. They helped me find an agent and a manger and I immediately started working, doing commercials, and they realised I really could be an actor and we've never looked back." By 13, she had won a starring role in Disney's LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, and over the next few years notched up an impressive string of appearances in top US television shows like FRASIER, THE PRACTICE and THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN. Since TRAFFIC, she has hardly stopped. There's the yet to be released HOME ROOM, a drama centred on a High School shooting, the much anticipated comedy, THE BANGER SISTERS in which she stars alongside Goldie Hawn, Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon (playing the latter's daughter) and of course, the thriller SWIMFAN. When we speak, she is back at work on another drama, PERFECT SCORE, filming in Vancouver, Canada. Directed by Australian John Polson - who as an actor has starred alongside Russell Crowe in THE SUM OF US and with Tom Cruise in MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 - SWIMFAN is a gripping thriller about an obsessive stalker. Jesse Bradford plays Ben, a reformed bad boy who finds purpose to his life after discovering his talent as a swimmer. After earlier run ins with the law, he's now a grade A student, a top athlete with Olympic potential and happily settled with a girl he loves, Amy (Shiri Appleby). Then he meets the new girl at school Madison (Christensen), a beautiful and mysterious newcomer who is obviously attracted to the most popular boy in town. They meet, seemingly by chance, and Ben tells her that he has a girlfriend. But Madison is not easily deterred and they meet again, seemingly by chance. Finally, her persistence pays off when she seduces him in a one-night stand. But guilt ridden Ben makes it clear that he wants friendship and nothing more. Madison has other ideas and begins to stalk him, gradually worming her way into every area of his life - she visits his mother, becomes friends with his girlfriend and even dates his best pal in a bid to make him jealous. And then Madison's unwanted attentions become far more sinister. Continued on page 2

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