Being Erica - Characters - Erica's Family

Erica's Family

Gary Strange (John Boylan) – Erica's father. Once a hippie and marijuana enthusiast, he is now a rabbi. He is seen occasionally wearing T-shirts with Jewish-themed phrases such as "I'm With Moses" and "I'm on Shabbat-ical" or Star Trek phrases like "Live Long and Prosper". In Erica's flashbacks, Gary and Barbara were shown to be fighting frequently and barely speaking to one another afterwards. He was married to Barbara Strange, but they divorced a year after Leo's death, partly because he had an affair. With Barbara he had three children: Leo, Erica and Samantha. During season 3 he and Barbara start seeing each other again, as he has always loved her even after their divorce. In the episode "This Be the Verse", a younger Gary is played by Brett Ryan.

Barbara Strange (Kathleen Laskey) – Erica's mother. Her relationship with Erica had been tenuous prior to the series but has improved over the years. Erica believed her mother was the reason for her parents' divorce, when in reality, it was her father's infidelity – a fact which was kept secret from Erica. In order for her to fully understand who Barbara Strange really is, Dr. Tom sends Erica further back to a hippie commune in 1974 where her parents went before they married. Disguised as a hippie, Erica realizes the magnitude of her mother's sacrifice for her father's happiness. She then makes amends with Barbara, who explains that she tried to make her marriage work for her children's sake. Barbara is seen with her new boyfriend, Norm, in "The Unkindest Cut" until he breaks up with her in season three. Barbara reveals she has breast cancer but has since gotten a clean bill of health and celebrates with a new perspective on life. She has a one-night stand with Gary in "Bear Breasts", but has reservations about reconciliation. They are then seen to have reunited once more in "Erica Interrupted". In "Baby Mama" it's revealed that she had a baby when she was seventeen and gave him up for adoption, which she always felt guilty about, but after finally meeting him as an adult named Daniel, he tells her it was the right thing to do and that he had an amazing childhood. In the episodes "This Be the Verse" and "Baby Mama", a younger Barbara is played by Lauren Collins.

Dr. Samantha Rachel "Sam" Strange (formerly McIntosh) (Joanna Douglas) – Erica's younger sister and a surgeon, Josh's longtime girlfriend and ex-wife albeit briefly, Lenin's current domestic partner, and mother of Leo. At the start of the series, Sam appears in conservative, drab clothing whenever she is with Josh. However, as the series progressed, she begins to dress more casually after divorcing him. In Season 1, Sam and Erica are close until Erica attempts to dissuade Sam from marrying Josh five minutes before the wedding. In response, Sam refuses to forgive or talk to Erica for several episodes until she returns to Erica for comfort after separating from Josh. In Season 2, Sam leaves Josh and he eventually files for divorce with her counter-filing in response. She enters into a short-lived affair with Kai Booker but finds new love during the third season with janitor Lenin Crosby at her new hospital. In Season 4, Sam appears unexpectedly at Erica's doorstep, announcing that she is pregnant. She later gives birth to a baby boy she names Leo Crosby in honor of her late brother.

Leo Strange (Devon Bostick) – Erica's deceased older brother, who died 13 years before the series begins. His death is Erica's biggest regret. Season 1 finale shows Erica rewriting history, and Leo doesn't die in the barn. Instead, shortly after she's fixed it and returns to an entirely changed present time where she's successful and Leo is an architect, Leo gets in a fatal car accident, as no one is allowed to play God or interfere with the paths of others; only their own. During her group therapy session in "Two Wrongs", Erica travels back to Leo's fraternity pledge for her regret of spending a weekend with a stranger instead of her brother, leading to him dropping out of university. As she corrects her regret with Adam as her traveling companion, Erica learns that Leo had been gang-raped by his fraternity brothers and attacks the leader for the serious crime. Leo reappeared in the third-season penultimate episode as Erica's hallucination as she wakes up back where she started before her therapy. His sister Sam names her first son in his honor. Leo returns one last time as Erica is transported by Dr. Naadiah into a hallway of doors that represents his limbo; each door leads to a different memory of his life, and Leo has been continually revisiting these. Erica tries in vain to convince him that he needs to open the mysterious door at the end of the hallway, which he has been resisting — although he eventually does so, and enters a luminous white light.

Ruby (Dan Redican) – Erica's gay uncle on her mother's side. He owns a successful wedding gown business, White Dreams, where Erica worked for half a day.

Daniel (Landy Cannon) - Erica's half-brother she never knew about. Barbara got pregnant when she was in high school, and gave Daniel away after he was born. She always felt guilty about this, but after finally meeting Daniel he tells her it was the right thing to do and that he had an amazing childhood. He does not meet the rest of the Strange family during the timeframe depicted in the series.

Leo Strange-Crosby - Sam and Lenin's firstborn son, Erica's nephew, and Gary and Barbara's grandson. He was born via home birth, and named in honour of his late uncle.