Biography

Roles

Newsweek announcing Erika’s birth
(with the wrong date)

Erika Alma Hermina Slezak

Grandparents: Leo and Elsa Slezak (Leo, was an acclaimed opera singer)
Aunt: Margarete Slezak (Margarete was an actress)
Parents: Walter and Johanna Slezak. (Walter Slezak, won a Tony for his performance in Fanny.)
Siblings: Ingrid, Leo
Godmother: Alma Mahler (widow of Gustav Mahler)
Husband: Brian Davies
Children: Michael, Amanda

Born: August 5, Hollywood, California

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Erika was admitted to the prestigious school when she was only 17, one of the youngest students ever accepted. But honors in the world of the arts are a tradition in her family.

Her father, the late Walter Slezak, starred in many films and Broadway hits, among them Fanny, for which he won the Tony Award. Erika's grandfather was the world-famous operatic tenor, Leo Slezak, who sang in Vienna and Berlin, as well as at New York's Metropolitan Opera.

Born in Hollywood, Erika learned to speak German at home before she learned English. For high school she attended the Sacred Heart Schools in Greenwich, CT, and Philadelphia, PA.

When did Erika first decide she wanted to act?

"I can't recall a time when I didn't want to act. When I was a sophomore in high school, my father talked to me about training for a career in acting?One thing my father did for me was not discourage my ambitions. But he made sure I had no illusions about the acting profession, explaining that it was going to be harder for me because I had a famous father. I would have to prove myself more than others and, as usual, he was right."

Before making her debut in television on One Life to Live, Erika established solid credentials in the theater. She was a member of the Milwaukee Repertory Company for three seasons, where she starred in everything from Shakespeare to Noel Coward, and she acted for another season at the Alley Theater in Houston.

Erika is the only Slezak of her generation to pursue an acting career. Her sister, Ingrid, is an attorney and her brother, Leo, is a pilot.

Erika and her husband, actor Brian Davies, have two children, Michael and Amanda (deceased 2024). The family lives in Connecticut.

source: ABC online with minor updates

List of Theatrical Roles Played by Erika Slezak

High School

  • Henrietta Barrett in "The Barretts of Wimpole Street"

  • Tsai Yong in "Lute Song"

  • Amahl's mother in "Amahl and the Night Visitors"

  • Role in "Daddy Long Legs"

Professional Debut

  • “Rhinoceros” in 1962 alongside actor/Father Walter Slezak, Westport Country Playhouse

Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London

  • The Countess in Jean Anouilh's "The Rehearsal"

  • Adele in Lorca's "The House of Bernarda Alba"

  • Sue Smith in Otto Harbach's and Frank Mandel's "No, No Nanette"

Milwaukee Repertory Theater, 1966-1967 Season

  • Electra in Sophocles' "Electra", 10/20/66, 33 performance

  • Gilda in Noel Cowards's "Design for Living", 12/29/66, 26 performances

  • Nerissa in Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice", 1/26/67, 41 performances

  • Role in Douglas Taylor's "The Sudden and Accidental Death of Horse Johnson", 2/28/67, 9 performances

  • Old Cook in Bertolt Brecht's "Puntila and His Servant", 4/6/67, 26 performances

  • Hedda in Henrik Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler", 5/4/67, 27 performances

Ivanhoe Theater, Chicago, Summer of 1967

  • Elizabeth Imbrie in Philip Barry's "The Philadelphia Story"

Milwaukee Repertory Theater, 1967-1968 Season

  • Desdemona in Shakespeare's "Othello", 10/12/67, 33 performances

    • Review "Desdemona, to be sure, is not one of the best of heroine roles to play, but Erika Slezak offers a credible and most appealing portrayal."

  • Wilhelmina in Allen Davis' "Head of Hair", 11/21/67, 6 performances

  • Alcmena in Jean Giraudoux's "Amphitryon 38", 12/14/67, 26 performances

  • Queen Elizabeth in Schiller's "Mary Stuart", 1/18/68, 26 performances

  • Juliet in Douglas Taylor's "Oh Pioneers", 2/20/68, 9 performances

  • Dixie in Clifford Odets' "The Big Knife", 3/28/68, 26 performances

  • Cecily in Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest", 4/25/68, 35 performances

  • Queen Elizabeth in Schiller's "Mary Stuart", 6/12/68, 15 performances

  • Alcmena in Jean Giraudoux's "Amphitryon 38", 7/68, 14 performances

Milwaukee Repertory Theater, 1968-1969 Season

  • Sabrina in Thornton Wilder's "The Skin of Our Teeth", 10/11/68, 36 performances

  • Dulcy in George S. Kaufman's and Mar Connelly's "Dulcy", 11/15/68, 36 performances

  • Masha in Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters", 1/31/69, 36 performances

  • Charlotte Corday in Peter Weiss' "Marat/Sade", 3/7/69, 36 performances

  • Freida in J.B. Priestley's "Dangerous Corner", 4/25/69, 36 performances

Houghton Lake, Michigan, Summer of 1969

  • Connie in Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park"

  • Marian in Meredith Wilson's "The Music Man"

    • Review "Miss Slezak, who, for the first time this season, has allowed an audience another sparkling facet of her theatrical abilities in her magnificent soprano voice, makes one wonder if she, in real life, doesn't indeed perform the job of head librarian in some dusty, small rural community."‍ ‍

  • Lieutenant Ann in "Mr. Roberts"

Alley Theater, Houston, 1969-1970 Season

  • Marianne in Moliere's "Tartuffe", 12/4/69, 38 performances

  • Kitty in Brandon Thomas' "Charley's Aunt", 3/12/70, 44 performances

  • Elvira in Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit", 4/30/70, 38 performances

Studio Arena Theater, Buffalo, 1970-1971 Season

  • Desdemona in Shakespeare's "Othello", 2/4/71, 30 performances

Roundabout Theater, New York, New York, 1973-1974 Season

  • Elizabeth in W. Somerset Maugham's "The Circle", 3/26/74, 71 performances

Television

  • ABC’s ONE LIFE TO LIVE as Victoria Lord, 1971-2012

  • Lifetime Danielle Steel’s FULL CIRCLE as Jean Roberts, 1996

  • Fox's THE RESIDENT in Haunted as Dr. Eileen Jacoby, 2018

  • CBS's BLUE BLOODS in Identity as Donna Duvall, 2019

  • Hallmark's NEXT STOP, CHRISTMAS as Aunt Myrt, 2021

  • CBS's BLUE BLOODS in Nothing Sacred as Donna Duvall, 2023

Film

  • GUEST ARTIST as Helen with Jeff Daniels; directed by Timothy Busfield, 2019

    • Reviews

      • From Chicago Sun Times:

        ...In the opening and by far most cinematic scene in the film, we’re in Manhattan’s theater district at the height of the holiday season, with Daniels’ once-celebrated playwright Joseph Harris crawling inside of a bottle and looking like he’s one step away from being homeless when his cynical, world-weary agent (soap opera veteran Erika Slezak in a great cameo) says she somehow managed to find him a paying job, as a theater company in Michigan has signed on to premiere his latest work...

      • From The Hollywood Reporter:

        ...As his fed-up agent (a well-cast Erika Slezak, longtime star of One Life to Live) ungently reminds him, that Podunk assignment is the best he can hope for in his dissolute state. Their bitchy barbs over daytime drinks have a tartness that’s sorely lacking in the rest of the film, however bone-deep the rage, disdain and general disappointment Daniels brings to his role...

Reviews from other repertory work:

"Towering above her court and the play itself is Erika Slezak, who turned in her finest performance since her debut in "Electra" last season. She is at once imperial and womanly. her reading is a fine blend of good timing and color."

"But the evening was Miss Slezak's. In a role totally dissimilar from her conniving "Hedda Gabler" last spring, she clicked off her lines facilely. What a radiant inspiration, indeed, for a god's high infidelity!"

"The acting however, was up to the usual fine standards of the Repertory company. Erika Slezak has been cast in a role that suits her stage personality and acting abilities-Alkmena, the somewhat airy, yet always practical housewife, who persuades Jupiter not to take her as his lover."