Erika Eleniak

Career

Eleniak was Playboy’s July 1989 centrefold at 19, the same year she became the female lead, Shauni McClain, on Baywatch (1989–1992). Warner Bros. built a scene directly around her Playmate profile in the mainstream action film Under Siege (1992), casting her as a Playmate hired for a birthday striptease aboard the film’s battleship setting — a rare case of a major studio release incorporating a performer’s softcore credential as a plot point rather than concealing it. She continued in television and film through the 1990s, including the horror-comedy Bordello of Blood (1996).

Signature: The only performer on this list whose Playboy credential was written directly into the plot of a major studio blockbuster, rather than kept separate from her mainstream career.

Index score — The Pornstar Ranked Performer Index v3.0

Full award record1 entries

• 1989Playboy — Centerfold (July)

Best known for

Mainstream credits

• Baywatch (1989–1992)
• Under Siege (1992)

Official links

Official siteXInstagram

Ranked alongside

• Teri Weigel
• Krista Allen
• Laura Gemser
• Sylvia Kristel
• Corinne Cléry
• Cynthia Brimhall

Sources and verification2 sources

Last audited 25 August 2026 · Wikipedia — Erika Eleniak · Wikipedia — List of Playboy Playmates (confirms July 1989 Playmate of the Month)

Not yet confirmed:

• Total film credit count