Not much is known about Erin Cummings, one of the three leading ladies in 2009’s “Bitch Slap,” in which she played Hel for director Rich Jacobson. She was born in Texas, began performing as a child in local plays and events, and studied advertising at the University of North Texas. After a move out West she has been very prolific in her short career in entertainment, making an earning as a guest star on soaps and related daytime television. She was a recurring character in 2006 on “Dante’s Cove” before appearing in the indie films “Bitch Slap” and “The Anniversary.”
Her biggest role is as Sura in the 2010 series, “Spartacus: Blood and Sand.” She’s also had roles in a number of other TV series as well.
She’s still known of course for her sizzling scenes in “Bitch Slap” opposite Julia Voth. We interviewed Erin about her steamy sex scene with Julia and she discussed prepping for that scene in detail:
Yeah, well, first of all, since this was Julia’s first film and I’ve been going at this for almost a decade now, we had a really great dialogue back and forth about, y’know, just certain expectations and things. Our trailers…we actually had a door that connected our trailers, so we would a lot of times have the door open, and we would have lunch together, and we really development a friendship. I’m not saying that we didn’t develop the same friendship with America, but it was definitely a different level. I think Julia and I became really close during the filming, but we really got a chance to know America (Olivio) a little bit better and on a different level once we’d wrapped and started doing publicity. She’s really nothing like her character. (Laughs) Thank God! But, yeah, Julia and I got to know each other and felt very comfortable with one another. But for me, anytime that I have to do any sort of sex scene or anything physical like that, even if it’s a fight scene, I like to be very vocal with the actor that I’m working with and go, “Okay, what are your personal boundaries? What are you comfortable with? What’s the intention behind this scene?” I rented a couple of episodes of “The L Word” and actually, y’know, looked at a few of the scenes and how they were done, and I showed them to Rick and Eric and asked, “Is this kind of on the level of what you’re looking for?” And Julia and I watched it, and I asked, “Would you feel comfortable doing this? Would you feel comfortable doing that?” So we did kind of have a dialogue beforehand, which I think is, for me, the best way to do it. It’s what I did with Julian McMahon on “Nip/Tuck,” and it’s what I did with Andy Whitfield on “Spartacus,” and I think it allows for much more freedom when you’re shooting, because you know what the boundaries are and you know how far you can push things without having to worry that you’re in some way hurting or offending your co-star.
You can see that steamy scene in “Bitch Slap.” towards the end of this video:
Erin on the Screen
Erin made her debut as Noelle in “The Analysts” in 2003. She has guest starred on “Dante’s Cove,” “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Cold Case,” “Dollhouse,” and “Nip/Tuck.”
Erin on the Video
“Spartacus” Behind the Scenes
A look at Erin and others preparing for “Spartacus.”
“Bitch Slap” Trailer
Erin in the action trailer.
Erin Says
On her career:
“I always loved entertaining people and being in front of people, but I’d never heard of anybody who’d gone out to Hollywood to be actor, so it just seemed like this pipe dream.”