Erin Murphy was only two years old when she got the most famous role of her career, but even back then, Murphy knew she loved acting. Murphy was cast as Tabitha Stephens, daughter of Samantha and Darrin, on the second season of Bewitched in the mid-1960s. While she originally shared the role with her twin sister Diane, it was Erin who would continue to play the role. She stepped away from TV and movie acting as a teenager, but she has worked all kinds of jobs in the years since, and she has even made a return to acting recently. Let's take a look at what Erin Murphy, who played Tabitha Stephens on Bewitched, looks like today.
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00:00Tabitha Stevens' arrival as Samantha and Darren's daughter on Bewitched in 1966 was a pivotal
00:05turning point for the series.
00:06Tabitha blossomed into a main character, with her own plot-driven episodes, all the way
00:10through the last season in 1972.
00:12But what happened to the girl best known for playing the daughter of America's favorite
00:15witch next door?
00:16Here's what little Tabitha Stevens, aka actress Erin Murphy, looks like now.
00:22Booking babe
00:23Erin Murphy was born in Encino, California in 1964, and she quickly landed in the spotlight.
00:28At just 11 months old, Murphy booked her first gig in a Folgers commercial, and then
00:32did a laundry detergent commercial with future president Ronald Reagan.
00:35Just before she was two years old, she and her fraternal twin Diane booked the role of
00:39Tabitha on Bewitched.
00:40As fraternal twins, we really don't look that much alike.
00:43So they would show me for the close-ups, and they'd show my sister from the back or from
00:47a distance."
00:48But it was Murphy who was bitten by the acting bug, telling ABC News,
00:51"...I liked the lights and loved being on my set.
00:53My sister used to cry when they would bring her on set.
00:56Even now, she hates it."
00:58Murphy's rep
00:59When Bewitched aired its final episode on March 25th, 1972, Murphy was almost nine years
01:03old.
01:04Even still, she dug right into new work.
01:06In 1973, she made a guest appearance on Lassie, and quickly made her way back to even more
01:10national commercials.
01:11Murphy told Life After 50 magazine,
01:13"...I did over 80 commercials up until I was in junior high.
01:16By then, I kind of lost interest, because I was into things like cheerleading and school
01:19activities."
01:20But it wouldn't be long before she hit the small screen once again.
01:24Back on TV
01:25After graduating from El Toro High School in 1981, Murphy landed a few odd jobs, and
01:29then found her way back to TV.
01:31When she got her first taste of reality as a correspondent for the Fox reality channel,
01:34she told Life,
01:35"...With Fox, I can make lunches and take my kids to school, work for a few hours and
01:38still be home before school let out."
01:40Then in 2008, Murphy appeared on Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling.
01:44"...Aaron Murphy!"
01:45But if you can't imagine little Tabitha Stevens as a wrestler, neither could Murphy.
01:49She said,
01:50"...I had never even watched wrestling before I did the wrestling show.
01:52It was scary and wonderful and awful and kind of everything you would imagine, and
01:55I'm really glad I did it."
01:58Total drag
01:59In 2010, Murphy appeared as a contestant on another reality TV show, this time RuPaul's
02:03Drag U.
02:04She told Socialite Life,
02:05"...You go in there and it's all for good fun, but I have to say a lot of the drag tricks
02:08translate well to the red carpet, so I kind of got some posing pointers."
02:12But why this shift to reality TV?
02:14She says it's all about her kids, telling the mag,
02:16"...I think the biggest influence having a big family has had on my career is that it's
02:19made me rethink my job choices.
02:21I can't do a sitcom or an hour-long drama, which is something I would be typically drawn
02:24to, but I'm not willing to be away from the family 12 hours a day, six days a week."
02:29Boss lady
02:30With her children in school, Murphy wasn't content to just sit at home, so she helped
02:34start a company, and is now the co-owner of Slim Chillers, maker of locale vodka popsicles.
02:39She described the brand, saying,
02:40"...our signature products are four frozen pops that are flavored as an appletini, a
02:43cosmopolitan, a lemon drop, and a watermelon lemonade martini."
02:48Dusting off her chops
02:50If there's one thing Murphy said she'd never, ever do, it was theater.
02:53But in 2016, she told the Windy City Times,
02:55"...in the last two years, I decided to act again, so I started doing local L.A. theater."
02:59She started rehearsing her fourth play in 2016, called Dead Pilot Society, about TV
03:03comedy pilots that never aired.
03:05It may seem like Murphy will do just about anything, but she does have her boundaries,
03:08saying,
03:09"...I say no to many things.
03:10I never did horror films or Playboy, but was asked many times."
03:14Charity work
03:15Murphy isn't just all about herself.
03:17In fact, she's all about helping many others.
03:20According to A&U Magazine, Murphy has been an AIDS activist for many years.
03:23She also delivers food through Meals on Wheels, raised money after Hurricane Katrina, has
03:27spoken out against bullying, and is a child help celebrity ambassador.
03:30But one cause hit especially close to home for the new mother of six when one of her
03:33sons was diagnosed with autism.
03:35Murphy told Fox News,
03:36"...I was involved with autism charities before Parker was born, and then obviously once he
03:40was diagnosed, I put that as my focus.
03:42I go to board meetings, I volunteer, I speak at events.
03:45I think it's important to be there for other parents who have questions.
03:48It's one of those disorders that have become so prevalent."
03:51Coming soon
03:52Now that some of Murphy's kids are fully grown and the others are no longer small children,
03:56it may just be time for her to get back to her passion of acting.
03:58In 2017, she starred in TV movie Life Interrupted, and while the project didn't garner much buzz,
04:03it just might signal Murphy's return to acting.
04:05Whether or not she goes full-fledged sitcom star again, we're certain to see her slaying
04:09the screen soon.
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