Erica Strange

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Erica Strange is the title and lead character on the TV series Being Erica.

She is a 32-year-old single woman living in Toronto. Her life is a mess as a result of her bad decisions, and at the start of the series she meets a mysterious therapist named Dr. Tom who offers her the chance to go back in time to fix her mistakes.

Erica is played by Erin Karpluk. However, Samantha Weinstein sometimes plays a much younger version of the character in scenes where Karpluk would be too old to play Erica, notably in the episode where she revisits her Bat Mitzvah.

Erica is Jewish. Her parents are divorced, and her father is a former hippie who became a rabbi. Her older brother, Leo, is deceased, under circumstances which haven't been revealed on the show yet, but his death has had a profound impact on Erica and her family. Her younger sister, Sam, is a doctor. She has a gay uncle named Ruby who owns a bridal business.

Erica has a Master's Degree in English literature, and would like to be a writer, but has been unsuccessful in her career. She takes an entry-level job at a publishing company as the assistant of an editor who is younger than herself early on in the series, and is envious of the professional success of one of her friends who is a newspaper columnist.

Erica is also unsuccessful romantically. She has a growing but complicated romantic attraction to one of her longstanding male friends, Ethan, who has recently returned to Toronto after separating from his wife Claire, with whom he previously lived in Montréal. Erica was once almost involved with a woman named Cassidy, but Erica's intellectual crush on her lesbian friend didn't translate into mutual physical attraction.