Erika Slezak (born August 5, 1946 in Hollywood, California) is an American actress of Austrian descent. She is the daughter of actor Walter Slezak.

She portrays Victoria "Viki" Lord on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live, a role she has depicted since March 17, 1971.

Viki's story

Slezak's character has gone through many tragedies. Victoria, who is known as "Viki", has had to live with Dissociative Identity Disorder (also known as DID). She has also had to go through the process of many divorces (such that her full legal name is now Victoria Lord Gordon Riley Burke Riley Buchanan Buchanan Carpenter Davidson), the deaths of loved ones, breast cancer, stroke, and heart disease. Viki also found out that she had two long-lost daughters: Megan (played by Jessica Tuck from 1988 through 1992) and Natalie (Melissa Archer); this is in addition to her other children, Kevin (Timothy Gibbs, then Dan Gauthier), Joey (Nathan Fillion, Don Jeffcoat, Bruce Michael Hall), and Jessica (Erin Torpey, then Bree Williamson).

Awards

She has won the "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series" Daytime Emmy in 1984, 1986, 1992, 1995, and 1996 (the most won by any daytime actress, and the most wins for one performer playing the same character. Additionally, she has won many Soap Opera Digest Awards, including one for Favorite Couple with Mark Derwin in 2000.

In 2005, it was announced that Slezak was nominated for another Daytime Emmy for Lead Actress. If she wins, it will be her sixth Daytime Emmy and first in nine years.

External link

• Official site