Erica Farrell (born 1974*) is a Canadian woman who attended Degrassi Junior High School, Borden High School, and Degrassi High School. After high school, she went to the Dominican Republic to teach under-privileged children. She was the twin of Heather Farrell, and was portrayed by actress Angela Deiseach. (Occasionally, the closing credits spell the character name as Erika.)
Original Degrassi (Season 1-5)
Starts as: Grade 8
The Twins
Erica and Heather were portrayed as the perfect set of twins, often speaking up for other characters during their problems.
Trying To Break Out
Erica tried to break out from her "twinness". When Heather showed up at a dance in the same outfit as Erica, Erica told Heather to grow up. The twins eventually forget about fighting to be different.
The Mono Scare
At a dance at Degrassi where students from another school called St. Mary's were invited, in the episode "Sealed With a Kiss" (Season 2, episode 8, 21st episode of the series), Some older high school students also were admitted without proper checks. One of these older students named Aaron became a new boyfriend to Erica. They left the gym for a secluded hallway and engaged in French kissing. The next day, however, based on symptoms, Erica was worried that he had given her
mononucleosis (or "kissing disease"). She kept it a secret, but after Heather went with the boy, pretending to be her twin (determined to prove she was not as "prudish" as Erica claimed), got kissed by him, and revealed it to Erica, Erica revealed her suspicion of mononucleosis. They went to the hospital to get checked, but it turned out that Erica merely had tonsillitis.
Erica's pregnancy
Erica sees the message Liz O'Rourke wrote.
When Erica began high school she discovered she was pregnant after an unprotected encounter with a boy over the summer. Erica decides to get an abortion, despite Heather's protests. Liz O'Rourke finds out and leads a hate crime against Erica, and when Erica finds out that It was Liz: she fights her in the halls of Degrassi. Erica is sent home for the day, and Heather eventually needs to go to counseling to deal with having to support Erica.
Graduation
Erica graduated from Degrassi and moved to the Dominican Republic. She later appeared in the season 3 premiere of "Degrassi : The Next Generation".
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Erica at Spike's Baby shower on Degrassi TNG
(* Although many Grade 8 first season characters have birthdays in 1974, since Emma Nelson, daughter of one such student, was born in June 1989, and since Grade 8s start at the age of 12 or 13 and finish at 13 or 14, 1974 birthdays should be retconned as 1975.)
Trivia
- Erica and her sister Heather were the first set of twins on the show. The second set are the Coynes, Fiona and Declan and the third were the Anderssons, Bo and Ingvar. The fourth set is Frankie Hollingsworth & Hunter Hollingsworth.
- Erica and Heather were also the first set of identical twins in the Degrassi Franchise. The second set are Bo and Ingvar Andersson.
- Erica and Liz had the first female fistfight in Degrassi history.
- Erica had the first abortion in Degrassi history.
- Erica is 6 minutes older than her sister Heather Farrell.
- Erica is one of three people to get an abortion, the other two were Tessa Campanelli and Manny.
- Erica is the second female to go through teen pregnancy. The others were Christine, Tessa, Manny, Liberty, Mia, Jenna, and Vanessa.
- Erica, Heather, and Caitlin all share the same line, "What a creep."
- Erica said this line in Just Friends.
- Heather said this line in Sealed With a Kiss.
- Caitlin said this line in Showtime (1).
- coincidentally, all three of them were in the Class of 1992.