Erika Eleniak, best known for playing Shauni McClain on Baywatch, looked very different from her iconic beach lifeguard persona when she attended a charity event in Los Angeles on Saturday. It was a rare public appearance for the actress.
Oh my gosh, you will NOT believe where I saw her! It’s been a year since those terrible wildfires, and she was at this amazing event honoring the firefighters – The Brave and the Rescued, it was called – at the LA City Fire Museum. She looked incredible, of course, and it was just… breathtaking to see her supporting those heroes. She’s 56, can you believe it? Still absolutely stunning!
Unlike how she looked on the popular 90s TV show, Erika showed off her detailed arm tattoos when she arrived at the event.
Drew Barrymore started her acting career in Steven Spielberg’s 1982 film, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She later became a Playboy Playmate, appearing in Hugh Hefner’s magazine.
The actor became famous for playing a lifeguard on the TV show Baywatch from 1989 to 1992, and is particularly remembered for wearing a red swimsuit. They starred alongside well-known actors like David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson.
Since then, Erika has kept acting, appearing in films like Under Siege, A Pyromaniac’s Love Story, and the 1993 movie The Beverly Hillbillies.
Erika started getting tattoos in her twenties and recently discussed her detailed designs on the Still Here Hollywood podcast.
She said: ‘I have a lot of tattoos. It’s been a long road.’
Erike explained that each of her tattoos holds a special meaning, and shared that the one on the inside of her arm is a tribute to her mother, Irish, who has passed away.
She added: ‘I love tattoos. I love that my body is a canvas to tell my stories. It’s fun.’
Though Baywatch famously featured its cast in swimsuits running on California beaches, Erika recently shared that the actual filming experience was quite different.
She explained to Fox News that filming the show in January was incredibly cold. Despite the freezing temperatures, they used powerful lights to create the illusion of a warm, sunny environment. She specifically remembers having to run into the water on what felt like the coldest day of the year.
‘Our lips were so blue that we couldn’t use the footage. It was ridiculous. It was so cold.’
After the third season, Erika left the show and has since talked about how difficult it’s been to find new acting roles because she’s often seen as only suitable for one type of character.
She expressed her gratitude for the show, explaining that she chose to leave when she felt she was at her peak, hoping to leverage that positive momentum in future endeavors.
I had to work incredibly hard to prove myself, facing unfair judgments based on my appearance. People underestimated me, assuming I’d get roles simply because of how I looked. While I did land some good parts, I really had to work for them.
Eleniak was born in Glendale, California, to parents with Ukrainian, Estonian, and German roots. Their family had originally immigrated to Canada.
The actress became famous in 1982 for her role as the girl who kisses the alien child, Henry Thomas, in a memorable classroom scene from the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Her next film role was in 1983’s Imps*, which only received a belated release in 2009.
Starting in 1987, she made her first television appearances with guest spots on shows like Silver Spoons, Still the Beaver, and Boys Will Be Boys.
She hadn’t acted in several years when she took a role in the 1988 remake of ‘The Blob,’ playing one of the people terrorized by the creature. That film has since become a beloved cult classic in the science fiction horror genre.
She continued to build her career with roles in several larger films, such as the action movie Under Siege with Steven Seagal, the comedy The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), the romantic comedy A Pyromaniac’s Love Story (1995), and the horror film Bordello of Blood (1996), which was based on the Tales From The Crypt series.
After her initial success, her films became less common, mostly appearing as lower-budget independent projects throughout the late 1990s, the 2000s, and the 2020s.
In 2024, Eleniak returned to the screen in Lolipop Gang, marking her first role in five years. She played a version of herself in the film.
She started her run on Baywatch in 1989, the same year she graced the cover of the July issue of Playboy magazine.
Before becoming famous on Baywatch, Yasmine Bleeth graced the cover of Playboy magazine in July 1989. She got the opportunity through a roommate who already modeled for the magazine and introduced her to a photo editor who suggested she try it.
Eleniak earned the reputation of being ‘difficult’ to work with at Playboy in the late 1980s because she felt uneasy during photoshoots and often disagreed with the photographers’ suggestions. As she explained on the ‘Still Here Hollywood’ podcast, she approached the work as a modeling job, emphasizing that she always saw herself as an actress who also appeared in Playboy, not as a typical ‘Playmate’.
Eleniak married bodybuilder Philip Golgia in 1998, but the marriage ended in divorce after only six months. She then began a relationship with film industry worker Roch Daigle in the early 2000s. They moved to Calgary, Canada, married in 2005, and eventually had a daughter together.
According to IMDb, Erika recently narrated an eight-part podcast series called The Murder Years, which was released last year.
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2026-01-18 12:49