rik was born in New York City and raised in Hong Kong, Australia, Germany, and Connecticut. He was brought up with a deep appreciation for and education in the arts and history from his parents. Erik comes from a long line of artists on both his mother and father's sides of the family - illustrators, painters, and sculptors. His great-great-grandfather Wilhelm Kyhn was a nationally cherished painter in his native Denmark. With encouragement from his father, Erik began drawing, studying studio arts and constructing historical scale models and vignettes (with emphasis on the period of the Second World War) at age seven. He’s kept up his passion for pencil drawing all throughout his life (see Studio Arts.) At age eleven Erik began a life-long artistic and historical fascination with the Titanic. Erik became one of the youngest members of The Titanic Historical Society, completely consumed by the story and that era, the ‘golden age of the steamship’ and trans-Atlantic travel. Much of middle-school class time was vigilantly dedicated to drawing ships, much to the anger of Erik's teachers. His peers thought he was nuts, asking “What’s with all the Titanic stuff?” When he was thirteen, Erik met members of the team that first discovered the Titanic wreck, including Martin Bowen and team leader Dr. Robert Ballard. When Erik presented Ballard with one of his drawings of the ship, it was one of the high points of Erik’s childhood. He also had the later pleasure of twice meeting preeminent Titanic painter Ken Marschall, generally regarded as the finest photo-realistic maritime artist (see Studio Arts.) Erik's direction dramatically expanded when his parents bought him and his younger brother Kristian an 8mm videocamera for Christmas. So when just a freshman in high school Erik was making and starring in his own self-indulgent home movies he developed with Kristian (see Carthage Productions.) Their process for fake fight scenes: set the camera up on a tripod, press record, and pretend to knock the shit out of each other for ten minutes. The brothers derived great pleasure and hilarity from then watching over and over what they had videotaped. They evolved to actually writing a story and changing the position of the camera. Most of these early ‘projects’ were horribly derivative combat and fight scene movies. Later, many hapless friends were forced to act in them. However, by late high school, the lads, their storytelling and narrative abilities did mature. The brothers were asked to shoot their high school recruitment video. By Erik’s senior year he and Kristian had made an hour-long Vietnam War drama, something they were very proud of. The early 'Davies & Davies' Productions entertained countless friends and family members - usually several times over, often against their will. But the later work has stood the test of time. As Kristian put it, "Growing up, we were each other’s biggest fans." It was the truth. The brothers kept up the collaborations throughout much of their college years, shooting a short narrative whenever their schedules allowed. At Ithaca College Erik designed his own course curriculum, an independent double-major encompassing speech communication, writing, studio arts and cinema. A year living and working for an advertising agency in Chicago followed college. One winter was enough to drive him out of Chicago. Erik relocated to New York, working as a production assistant for film and television. The jobs ranged from prestigious -- working with Woody Allen -- to working on a mop infomercial. About this time came the headlong plunge into acting... A friend introduced Erik to the Deena Levy Theatre Studio to which he has dedicated over five years of work and study (three years full-time, two part-time). Deena is a truly awe-inspiring and brilliant teacher, a graduate of the revolutionary Experimental Theater Wing at New York University. Her introductory “More Than Acting Weekend Workshop” was a stunning eye-opener for Erik, to say the least. Julianna Margulies, Kim Dickens, Mark Valley, and Rachel Nichols are among her alumni. During his time with Deena, through affiliated and independent courses, Erik additionally has had the privelege of learning from such great teachers of technique as Cynthia Eisemann, Andrea Haring and Beth-Ann Cole. In 1999, film-maker Genevieve Appleton began shooting a documentary about Deena’s school. Four years in the making, Actor’s Transformation: The Work of Deena Levy and Her Students will be televised on Bravo Canada in 2004. The film was also an Official Selection for The 2003 Female Eye Film Festival in Toronto. It is an excellent documentary. Erik earned his first lead in an independent feature portraying 'Daz' in Special Breakfast Eggroll: 99¢ (Winner- Best Comedy Feature: 2003 New York International Independent Film & Video Festival). He portrayed the principal role of 'Oleg' on NBC's special cross-over episode of ER & Third Watch (which earned him his SAG card). Most recently he portrayed 'Josh' in Unpublished Letters at The Workshop Theater Company and 'Estragon' in Waiting For Godot with the Deena Levy Theatre Studio.
In 2003 Erik narrated his first audiobook, Random House' "The
Fabric of The Cosmos" by theoretical physicist Brian Greene.
Since then there have been three more Random House titles: Tami
Hoag's "Kill The Messenger," Sir Stephen
Hawking's "A Briefer History Of Time,"and
Chris Jones' "Too Far From Home." |
Site contents © 2007 Erik Davies