According to reports, Eric began his career in 1978, and starred in several productions, including Boetie Gaan Border Toe, Ma-Plotters, Lui Maar Op Belinda (Season 1 and 2, as Frans), Die Byl (Seasons 1-3 as Dr. Fritz Barnard), Flatland and The Power of One (co-starring Morgan Freeman and Daniel Craig). He was mainly known for acting in Afrikaans TV series after making his debut in the 1978 PACT production of Die Keiser. Eric continued working on/off for PACT until 1986, including acting as Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he won the Vita Theatre Award, one of many accolades during his career.

According to TVSA, in 1995, he started to produce his own one-man shows and successfully toured South Africa and Namibia. In recent times he was best known for starring in the first three seasons of Die Byl (The Axe), which began in 2016. Eric played a lead role as pathologist Dr. Fritz Barnard in the crime drama series, which was loosely based on the real-life South African detective Piet Byleveld.