Biography
Best known to TV audiences for her role as Faith on the WB Network's
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Eliza Dushku also has a number of films to her name. Dushku, who made her film debut starring opposite
Juliette Lewis in the 1992 period drama
That Night, began acting professionally when she was barely in her teens.
Born of Albanian-Danish descent in Boston, MA, on December 30, 1980, Dushku grew up the youngest sibling of three older brothers. Following her debut in
That Night, which cast her as a young girl who becomes infatuated with the rebellious teen who lives across the street, the young actress did supporting work in
This Boy's Life (1993) and played the daughter of
Arnold Schwarzenegger and
Jamie Lee Curtis in
True Lies (1994). In 1998 Dushku got one of her biggest breaks to date when she was cast as troubled slayer Faith on
Buffy. Although Faith was only meant to appear in a handful of episodes, the show's creators liked Dushku enough to make Faith a recurring character, and also featured her on
Angel,
Buffy's spin-off.
Dushku had perhaps her most successful big-screen role to date in
Bring It On (2000), a high-school comedy that cast her as
Kirsten Dunst's reluctant but tough fellow cheerleader. The film was one of the summer's biggest money-earners, and Dushku, unsurprisingly, was soon busy with a number of new film projects. Included amongst them were
Soul Survivor (2001), a teen horror movie that also featured
Casey Affleck and
Wes Bentley, and
The New Guy (2001), another comedy about the horrors of high school life. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide