Portrayed by Taylor Schilling on Hulu's Pam & Tommy, Erica Boyer was a legendary adult film star in the eighties and nineties. Born Amanda Margaret Gantt, Boyer worked in the porn industry for over 25 years, accumulating 184 credits throughout the length of her career. As depicted in Pam & Tommy, Boyer was briefly married to Rand Gauthier, the former porn star turned electrician who infamously stole and distributed a private tape belonging to the titular couple. It is also accurate that Boyer introduced Gauthier to the adult film industry, after which he performed in at least 75 videos before he became a handyman.
Boyer and Gauthier met and got married in the late eighties, ultimately filing for divorce in 1991. While Pam & Tommy shows the couple being separated - but not legally divorced - in 1995, this was not the case in reality. Though Boyer maintained some contact with Gauthier, she did not know that he was responsible for the leak of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee's honeymoon tape until years after the fact.
In 1996, Boyer was once again married, this time to NFL tight end Derrick Jensen, who played eight seasons for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders from 1979 to 1986. In the late nineties, the couples' only son, Davis Jensen, was born. Around that time, Boyer also retired from the adult film industry and moved to Florida to settle down with her new family. She opened her own massage therapy business and did volunteer work as a clown and face painter.
Boyer was respected and well-known in the adult film industry throughout her career. She was especially distinguished for her lesbian work, winning the "Lascivious Lesbian" award at the first-ever X-Rated Critics Organization Awards show in 1985. In Pam & Tommy, the character of Erica is shown to be in a serious relationship with a woman named Danielle. Though it's unclear if Danielle is based on a real person, it is true that Boyer was known amongst her friends and peers to have a preference for women; although she was attracted to men as well.
Tragically, Erica Boyer was killed in a pedestrian accident on New Year's Eve in 2009. She was 53 years old. Boyer had remained married to Derrick Jensen until the end of her life, and her son Davis was only 12 at the time of her death. The many heartfelt tributes that poured in from people who knew her after the accident make it clear that Boyer was a truly beloved figure within her industry. Though Erica Boyer's presence in Pam & Tommy is more fiction than fact, her inclusion in the narrative serves as a valuable reminder of the remarkable woman that she really was.