Born in Jakarta, Indonesia Erika Lemay first developed an interest for performing at a young age. Her early performances include stand-up comedy, singing, dancing, gymnastics, martial arts and sketch comedy. At sixteen she began to focus on the theater. She has since gone on to act in film and TV. In her native Indonesia, where she was raised, she was thought to be a Muslim because of her conservative views on other cultures such as Japanese, French and Indians.
After studying dance at the University of Jakarta, she joined the faculty of the dance department. After this she continued her studies at the Beijing University of Chinese Art, where she honed her skills and her artistic inclinations further. It was while she was there that she came across the work of Julia Cameron. After deciding to pursue a career in the arts, she entered the world of theater with a play entitled “The Body”, as this was one of her favorites.
She is known for her height, slim body and petite physique. Her career spanned four decades, during which she played different characters in more than one show. Apart from acting, she was also a painter and an author. Eventually she decided to concentrate on writing and to pen some of her most famous books such as “Naked Girl” and “Watershipmen’s Song”. Her later works focused on issues such as AIDS, discrimination against women and her advocacy for the rights of minorities.