Before she graced the Broadway stage and joined the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Erika Jayne was an actress. Long before the “XXPEN$IVE” singer had a residency in Las Vegas, she was just trying to make it in show business, which led to some history-making experiences, like being the first person to ever die on Law & Order in its premiere episode.
The RHOBH cast member spoke with Playbill in an interview posted to their Instagram account on Feb. 18, where she opened up about how she was the very first murder victim on the premiere episode of Law & Order, which aired in 1990. “I died,” she said in the interview. “The doctor gave me the wrong medicine, and I died. I wasn’t murdered, but it was negligence.”
Although she ended up dying in the end, she revealed that she has very fond memories of that time in her life. “It’s wild because I remember the day that I auditioned, and the director asked me to lay down on this couch and convulse,” she recalled. “I — hand to God. And I did, and he was like, ‘Well, that’s really good!'”
Erika had previously confirmed this on X (formerly Twitter) in 2017. At the time, she took to the social media platform, where she reposted a photo of her from the episode when she was much a much younger performer. “Actually, yes it is me,” she wrote. “Good eye.”
Erika Jayne posts an image of herself on September 19, 2024 to her Instagram.
Photo: Erika Jayne/Instagram
Details on Erika Jayne’s acting career
Before she made her way to Beverly Hills, Erika moved to New York City when she was 18 years old with dreams of becoming an actress. Erika’s first on-screen appearance was in Law & Order, according to IMDB.com, before following up with a role in the 1992 film, Fly By Night; the 1995 TV movie, Alchemy; and the 1996 film, Lowball.
But she never gave up on her dreams of being a performer. Erika returned to TV movies when she appeared in Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens in 2016. She also appeared on the soap opera, The Young and the Restless as high-powered real estate agent, Farrah Dubose, in 2016 through 2018, sharing the screen with RHOBH alum, Eileen Davidson.
Erika Jayne says being on Broadway “will always be special”
Performing is something that will never leave Erika, as she is completing in her second run as Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway (wrapping up on Sunday, Feb. 23, according to Broadway News). Over the past two months, Erika has been very active on Instagram, sharing photos in costume, laying on stage, and being so excited about the role.
Erika took to Instagram on Feb. 18, where she posted a photo of her standing in the middle of Times Square, in front of a billboard the words, “Extended by popular demand thru Feb 23! Erika Jayne is Roxie Hart” written on it, next to her face. She then took to the caption of the post, where she revealed that she will never get over this time in her life.
“I don’t care what anyone says, these moments will always be special to me,” she wrote.