Erica Durance - Smallville's Lois Lane

Erica Durance is quite possibly the hottest Lois Lane ever.
Actually, of all the women that have portrayed Superman's girlfriend, I think only Terri Hatcher (in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) really gives Erica any competition.
Erica was born on June 21, 1978, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, again justifying my "Canada is trying to take over the world with beautiful women" theory.
Although she was born in Calgary, she was raised in Three Hills, Alberta, and after she graduated from high school, she moved to Vancouver, British Columbia.

Erica made her acting debut in 2002 in the independent adventure horror film, The Untold.
The Sci Fi Channel aired it in the US under the title Sasquatch and in the film, Erica was listed as "Erica Parker" back then, and she got to co-star with one of my favorite B-movie stars, Lance Henriksen.

In 2003 she appeared in House of the Dead.
Yes, the fiasco directed by Uwe Boll.
To tell the truth, she was one of the few reasons I even watched the film.
But if you watch it, don't expect to see a lot of her.
Well... really you will see a "lot" of her (if you know what I mean), she just doesn't get much screen time.

2004 was a really big year for Erica as she appeared in seven TV shows and movies.
She appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Krista James in the memorable (to me at least) episode where Teal'c get's his own apartment, ""Affinity".
Erica also appeared on The Chris Isaak Show as Ashley in the episode, Let the Games Begin.
Then she appeared in the drama short, The Bridge as Amy.
She appeared on the Fox sci-fi drama Tru Calling as Angela Todd on the episode Drop Dead Gorgeous where she starred opposite Eliza Dushku.
Next up was a role on the science fiction television series, Andromeda as Amira, an intergalactic librarian, in the episode Time Out of Mind.
(Notice most for her characters names start with "A"?)
She broke the "A" run by appearing on the Canadian supernatural drama television series, The Collector, as Rachel Slate in the episode, Another Collector.

But then Erica's career really hit an up-swing when she appeared on the WB (now the CW) TV series Smallville as Lois Lane.
Lois first appeared in the Smallville season four premier "Crusade".
Her Lois was quick, smart, wise-cracking and pretty darn good in hand to hand combat (as she was raised as a military brat) and of course, beautiful.
As a side note here, her father, Lieutenant General Sam Lane, was played by another of my favorite B-movie stars, Michael Ironside.
Of course I had a real problem seeing "this" Lois as a twelfth grader...I mean c'mon...
But I did like her Lois.
Sure she needed rescuing, she was Lois after all, but this Lois didn't go down without a fight.
In Smallville's season five, she became a regular.

To be totally fair, acting wise, Margot Kidder was probably the closest to the Lois Lane of the comics, but Erica has that tough, sexy and smart delivery that really plays well off Tom Welling's Clark Kent.
To Erica's credit, she has been nominated for two Saturn Awards in the Best Supporting Actress category for her portrayal of Lois Lane.

As far as being beautiful, it seems Erica is getting noticed outside the Smallville fan community.
She was the cover girl on FHM's May 2006 issue, and was listed as number 38 on their list of the World's 100 Sexiest Women.
In 2007 she came in at number 20, in 2008 she moved up to number 15 and in 2009 she was ranked number 14.
Erica was also the October 2007 cover girl for Maxim.

In real life, Erica shows a "Lois Lane" type determination as well.
Not satisfied to rest on her laurels as a TV actress and sex symbol, she has been in other projects as well.
She appeared in Stranded (2006) as Carina, The Butterfly Effect 2 (2006) as Julie Miller, I Me Wed (2007) as Isabelle Darden, Final Verdict (2009) as Megan Washington and Beyond Sherwood Forest (2009) as Maid Marian.
She will be appearing as Jules Wilde in the 2009 TV movie The Building, where she gets to co-star with her husband, Canadian actor David Palffy.
Interestingly, David was also in House of The Dead, he played Anubis on Stargate SG-1, and he was also on Andromeda.
His brother Jeff Palffy a talent/model agent actually "discovered" Erica.
And she will possibly be appearing with another famous superhero Kevin Sorbo, (okay, I know Hercules was a TV show) in Sleeping with the Lion.

Erica Durance will be showing up as Wonder Woman or rather someone that thinks shes the Amazonian Princess on NBC’s Harry’s Law.
Harry’s Law creator, David E. Kelly, was the one behind the Wonder Woman pilot for NBC that wasn’t picked up.
Revenge huh?
Actually Erica would have made a good Diana on his pilot.
Maybe he should retry that.

The Untold (2002)
111 Gramercy Park (2003)
House of the Dead (2003)
Devil Winds (2003)
Smallville Lois Lane 2004–2011
Stargate SG-1(2004)
The Bridge (2004)
The Chris Isaak Show (2004)
Tru Calling (2004)
Andromeda (2004)
The Collecter (2004)
The Butterfly Effect 2 (2006)
Island Heat: Stranded (2006)
I Me Wed (2007)
Ecstasy (2007)
Robin Hood: Beyond Sherwood Forest (2009)
Final Verdict (2009)
The Building (2009)
Smallville: Absolute Justice (2010)
Sophie (2010)
Charlie's Angels (2011)
Gemelle (2011)
Saving Hope (2012)
Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie (2012)
Sleeping with the Lion (2012)
Harry's Law (2012)