REVVING UP THE SCREEN

Playing the strung-out prostitute daughter of a U.S. anti-drug politico in Steven Soderbergh’s gritty new movie, Traffic, is a far cry from playing Wally Cleaver’s girlfriend in the big-screen version of Leave it to Beaver (1997). But eighteen-year-old actress Erika Christensen has now managed to pull off both convincingly.

After seven years of local musical theater, videos, TV shows, and the Beaver, the Southern Californian has hit a real high with this druggy role, in which she truly stands out amid great performances by Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Don Cheadle, and a score of others. Christensen is convincing, as she explains, “My experience with drugs in real life goes about as far as taking Tylenol once for a headache.”

She researched her role by talking with recovering addicts, but eschews angst-ridden Method acting. “When I am acting,” she says, “I don’t think it is me that I am calling upon. It’s pretend. It’s creation.”

Her secret? Enormous self-confidence, which she conveys with great charm. She says, “I like to tell people, ‘I’m conceited, but you wouldn’t know it from talking to me.’”

By Gregg Goldstein

Photograph by Anthony Mandler