RISING STAR

erika christensen

Claim to Fame: She won an MTV Movie Award in 2001 for her performance as an honor student with a hard-core drug addiction in the Oscar-winning movie Traffic.

Next Big Thing: First up is Swimfan (out on September 6). She plays the new girl at school whose obsession with the star of the swim team turns Fatal Attraction-ugly. Then, in The Banger Sisters (Out on September 20), she rebels against her prim-and-proper mother.

Erika Christensen, 20, may play a psycho stalker in Swimfan, but not in real life, she has normal crushes like any other girl. “But I’ve never been in real love,” she says. Even so, she likes to hang on to mementos that remind her of guys she likes. “I save weird things. Like one guy gave me a piece of white tape as a gag gift because he knew I had a crush on him,” says Erika. “He was making fun of me, but I thought it was sweet.”

When it comes to her films, that boy would be hard-pressed to find anything to make fun of. Erika is a serious actor whose movies send a message. “It’s my responsibility as an actress to say something I want the audience to hear,” she says. Erika borrows a mantra from Spider-man, her latest infatuation (the comic book hero, not Tobey Maguire!), to guide her career choices: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Is there a part for her in Spiderman II? We hope so.

❏ Lauren Brown