Eric was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, but grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, where Peach Tree & West Peach Tree converge. He began his acting career as a child in a local theater company called the Actors and Writers Workshop. After completing studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Eric continued his studies and began working professionally in New York City, where he eventually won a Theater World Award for his role on Broadway in Burn This.

Eric is a gifted actor, receiving Golden Globe nominations for his film roles in King of the Gypsies and Star 80. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe and Academy Award for his performance in Runaway Train. At the Sundance Film Festival in 1996, he received critical acclaim for his starring role in the motion picture It’s My Party and in the Emmy-nominated television adaptation of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, directed by Jonathan Kaplan.

Additional film credits include The Pope Greenwich Village, Raggedy Man, The Coca Cola Kid, Nobody’s Fool, Miss Lonelyhearts, Final Analysis, Heaven’s Prisoners, The Nature of the Beast, The Specialist and Love is A Gun. Eric appeared in the Emmy-nominated miniseries The Odyssey, played a colorful role in the television series Falcone and starred in ABC’s critically acclaimed dramatic television series, C-16. Other notable TV guest appearances were in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Touched By An Angel, Oz, and The King of Queens.

More recently, Eric was voted best actor at the NY Independent Film Festival in the year 2000 for his work in La Cucaracha. Eric also appeared in the independent film Spun.

Eric currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Eliza.