Erika Eleniak

This is an offbeat romantic comedy that's the directorial debut of TV producer Joshua Brand, co-creator of St. Elsewhere (1982-88) and Northern Exposure (1990-95). John Leguizamo stars as Sergio, a Toronto pastry shop worker who faints whenever he sees Hattie (Sadie Frost), a neighborhood girl with whom he is smitten. Hattie, however, wants to see the world and avoids all commitments. Sergio's employer, the kindly Linzer (Armin Mueller-Stahl), wants his shop burned down so that he can use the insurance money to give his wife (Joan Plowright) the lifestyle she deserves, so he offers Sergio $20,000 to torch the store. Sergio refuses but then one night the bakery is burnt to the ground. The real culprit is Garet (William Baldwin), a wealthy pyromaniac with a limp who's madly in love with Stephanie (Erika Eleniak). The slightly unhinged Garet uses the fire as his public declaration of affection. Although innocent, Sergio also claims culpability so that he can use Linzer's payoff to whisk Hattie away. To protect Sergio, however, Linzer confesses to the crime, and to prevent her husband from being jailed, Mrs. Linzer also claims responsibility. With four people confessing, local constable Sgt. Zikowski (Mike Starr) is at a loss. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

The Sunshine State receives a cruel blast of cold when the temperature plunges and the planet Earth enters into another ice age in a frostbitten disaster thriller starring Jeff Fahey and Erika Eleniak. David Koch (Fahey) is a top climatologist at INTER SCI, and his most recent discovery is most disturbing. Soon after discovering that the shift in polarity that triggered the previous ice age happened in only one day, Koch singles out frightening evidence that it's about to happen all over again. Now, as the cold winds begin to blow and the mercury rapidly plummets towards -459.67º F, David and a small band of determined survivors including his one-time love Bryn (Elaniak) must race to a special, temperature-controlled chamber at INTER SCI if they have any hope of ensuring that the human race is still around for the next big thaw. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A major earthquake brings the City That Never Sleeps to a screeching halt in this made-for-TV suspense drama. New York City Mayor Lincoln (Charles S. Dutton) and Fire Chief Ahearn (Tom Skerritt) are contentious political rivals forced to set aside their differences and work together when a catastrophic earthquake rips into the city. Lincoln's urgency to dig the city out of the rubble becomes personal when he learns that his daughter Evie (Lisa Nicole Carson) is trapped in a buried subway car -- what's more, one of her fellow passengers is a murder suspect who has just won acquittal, but whom the mayor believes may have been guilty. Elsewhere, Dori (Sharon Lawrence) is a mother who, after accidentally injuring her child in an auto accident, becomes all the more panicked when she learns that her boy is trapped inside a damaged school building that could turn deadly in the event of an aftershock. Originally aired in November 1999, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York also features Cicely Tyson, Erika Eleniak, Jennifer Garner, and Fred Weller. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV film served as the pilot for the internationally popular adventure series Baywatch. David Hasselhoff stars as Lt. Mitch Buchanan, the man in charge of the LA County lifeguard squad at Malibu beach. Future series regulars spotlighted herein are Shawn Weatherly as Jill Riley, Parker Stevenson as Craig Pomeroy and Erika Eleniak as Shauni McLain. Not that it should matter to the film's "babewatchers," but there is a plot-a "Fatal Attraction"-style thriller involving a woman scorned. And, as bonus, there's a thriller explosion-at-sea vignette. Baywatch: Panic at Malibu Pier was first telecast April 23, 1989, some six months before the premiere of the series proper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Erika Eleniak is the "broken angel" in this made-for-TV domestic drama. The troubled daughter of William Shatner and Susan Blakely, Erika drops out of sight after a shooting incident at her high school prom. Deducing that his daughter has become involved in drug dealing, Shatner goes on a nightmarish odyssey through the gang-controlled streets of LA. Every so often, Roxann Biggs, playing a social worker, delivers the Author's Message in spell-it-all-out terms. More praiseworthy for its intentions than its execution, Broken Angel first aired March 14, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide