Eliza Patricia Dushku (/ˈdʊʃkuː/;[1] (born December 30, 1980) is an American actress known for her television roles, including major supporting role as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer[2] and its spinoff series Angel. She starred in two Fox series, Tru Calling and Dollhouse.[3] She is also known for her roles in films, including True Lies, The New Guy, Bring It On, Wrong Turn and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,[4] as well as her voice work on video games.
Dushku was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, the daughter of Philip R. Dushku, an administrator and teacher in the Boston Public Schools, and Judith "Judy" (née Rasmussen), a political science professor.[5] Dushku's father is an Albanian from the city of Korçë and her mother is of Danish and English descent.[6][7] Dushku attended Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, and graduated from Watertown High School.
Career
Early career
Dushku came to the attention of casting agents when she was 10. She
was chosen in a five-month search for the lead role of Alice in the film
That Night. In 1993, Dushku landed a role as Pearl alongside Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in This Boy's Life, a role that she said opened a lot of doors. The following year, she played the teenage daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies. She had parts as Paul Reiser's daughter in Bye Bye Love, as Cindy Johnson in Race the Sun, and roles in a television movie and a short film.
Dushku took time off from acting to finish her junior and senior years of high school. She was accepted to the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and Suffolk University in Boston, where her mother serves as professor of government.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Dushku at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con.
After completing high school, Dushku returned to acting with the role of Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a Slayer much more troubled than the main character Buffy Summers.
Though initially planned as a five-episode role, the character became
so popular that she stayed on for the whole third season and returned
for a two-part appearance in season four, after which the remainder of
her original story arc was played out as part of the first season of the Buffy spin-off series Angel. Repentant and rededicated, Faith returned as a heroine in other episodes of Angel and in the last five episodes of Buffy. Dushku was inundated with piles of fan mail from legions of prisoners. She said:
I've been getting fan mail from maximum security penitentiaries and death row. What are the authorities thinking of in playing a show with young teenage girls to Death Row inmates? They write everything – disgusting things that you don't even want to know about. And they send me pictures – "Oh, here's a picture of me before I was incarcerated!" – and there's some guy sat on the sofa with a bottle of beer and a moustache, and a big gut. It's so creepy. Way more creepy than Buffy.[8]
Subsequent roles
In 2000, Dushku starred in the hit cheerleader comedy Bring It On.[4] She followed that up with Soul Survivors,[4] reuniting her with Race The Sun co-star Casey Affleck. In 2001, she appeared in The New Guy with DJ Qualls and City by the Sea with Robert De Niro and James Franco.[4] The latter film garnered attention from a wider adult audience and several good reviews. The same year, Kevin Smith invited Dushku to be a part of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.[4]
In 2003, Dushku starred in the horror film Wrong Turn[4] and The Kiss, an independent comedy-drama. Starting that same year, she starred in a new Fox TV series, Tru Calling, where she played the main character, medical student Tru Davies.
After having a grant pulled out from under her, Tru is forced to take a
job at a local morgue where she discovers her power to "re-live" the
previous day over again if one of the deceased asks for her help to
change what has happened. Dushku turned down a role in a spin-off of Buffy The Vampire Slayer
which would have been about Faith. She has had many roles as a "bad
girl" in movies and relishes the opportunities. In an interview with Maxim
in May 2001, Dushku says of her roles, "It's easy to play a bad girl:
You just do everything you've been told not to do, and you don't have to
deal with the consequences, because it's only acting."[9]
Dushku starred in an Off-Broadway production entitled Dog Sees God from December 2005, playing "Van's sister", a character paralleled with Lucy Van Pelt from the Peanuts
comic strip on which the play production is based. She quit in February
2006 along with other members of the cast amidst rumors of abuse from
the producer, which were later dismissed.
She played the lead character on Nurses, a hospital comedy/drama for Fox. This was the second Fox pilot in which she was cast, but not broadcast.[10] She appeared in the Simple Plan music video, "I'm Just a Kid", as the band's love interest, as well as Nickelback's video for "Rockstar".
Dushku has had roles in five video games. She voiced the role of Yumi Sawamura in the English-language version of Yakuza for the PlayStation 2, which was published and developed by SEGA, and released in September 2006. Dushku also stars as Shaundi, one of the lead characters in Saints Row 2, which was developed by Volition and published by THQ.[11] It was released in North America on October 14, 2008, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. She was the voice talent for the role of Rubi Malone, the main character in the game WET. She appeared at Spike TV's 2008 Video Game Awards in December 2008.[3] Danielle Nicolet took over the role of Shaundi in Saints Row: The Third.
Recent work
Tribeca Film Festival, April 2007
On October 1, 2005, she announced at Wizard World Boston that shooting had begun for Nobel Son in which she would star with Alan Rickman, Danny DeVito, Bill Pullman, and Peter Boyle. The movie was released at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.[12] Another project is On Broadway, an independent movie filmed in her native Boston. The movie is receiving great reviews[13] and a few of them highlight Dushku's performance. It is shown in independent film festivals and has won six awards.
Variety announced on August 2, 2006, that Dushku would co-star with Macaulay Culkin in Sex and Breakfast, a dark comedy written and directed by Miles Brandman. A reviewer described Dushku as "charming" and giving the character "an edge."[14] The movie was released in Los Angeles on November 30, 2007, and on DVD on January 22, 2008. She starred in Open Graves, a 2008 horror-thriller about a satanic game co-starring Mike Vogel. She played the main character in The Thacker Case and The Alphabet Killer, both thrillers based on real-life events, one of them directed by Rob Schmidt with whom she had worked on Wrong Turn. Both movies were released in 2008.[15] The Alphabet Killer contains Dushku's first topless scene.[16]
The film earned mixed reviews, but reviewers praised Dushku's
performance, commenting "Eliza Dushku commands the screen but cannot
reconcile the script's conflicted and increasingly idiotic agendas."[17] She appeared in Bottle Shock, a drama about Napa valley wine.[2] The film was directed by Randall Miller, who helmed Nobel Son.[2][18]
Dushku at 2009 Comic Con
On August 26, 2007, Dushku signed a development deal with Fox Broadcasting and 20th Century Fox.
Under the pact, the network and the studio would develop projects
tailor-made for the actress. They approached her with existing pitches
and scripts.[19]
Consequently, it was announced on October 31 that Dushku had lured Joss Whedon, of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, back to TV, as they agreed to create a show called Dollhouse. Dushku produced the show and played the main character, 'Echo', which aired on Fox during the 2008–09 TV Season. In an interview, Dushku talked about how Dollhouse, and how her reconnection with Whedon came about:
I invited Joss Whedon to lunch after I did the business deal with Fox. We'd had a cool relationship in the past and I so wanted to do something else, and I wanted to get back into a television show. I had him on the brain for sure but I hadn't called him yet, but I sort of took a leap of faith and set things up with Fox and then called Joss. We went to a four-hour lunch where I just sort of used my womanly wiles. No, we've become such good friends, kind of like brother and sister and kind of like he was my watcher, my handler from when I first moved out to L.A. when I was 17 and I was a little bit of a wild child. He's watched me and helped me and taught me over the years. I told him how bad I wanted and needed him back and he accepted and here we are.[20]
Dushku described Whedon as "my favorite genius ... favorite friend
... big brother ... and the only person out here I've ever
wholeheartedly trusted, because he's never let me down."[21] Dollhouse
was renewed for a second season. The producers cited their confidence
in the strength of Joss Whedon's fan base and high DVR numbers as their
reasons for keeping the show. FOX cancelled Dollhouse on November 11, 2009. The show officially wrapped filming on the second and final season on December 16, 2009.
Dushku was the voice actor for contract killer "Rubi Malone" in the action video game Wet.[22] She also secured exclusive rights to make "The Perfect Moment", a film based on the life of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and enlisted the help of Ondi Timoner.[2]
In 2010 Dushku provided her voice for Noah's Ark: The New Beginning and appeared in the film Locked In.[23] She also guest-starred in an episode of CBS' comedy The Big Bang Theory[24] which aired on November 4, 2010.[25]
In 2011, Dushku featured alongside Jayson Floyd in "One Shot", a short action clip on YouTube directed by and starring Freddie Wong, which was released on May 13, 2011.[26] In August of the same year, Dushku visited Albania with a crew from the Travel Channel and Lonely Planet to film a documentary entitled Dear Albania, promoting tourism in her father's country of origin.[27][28][29][30]
Dushku has a lead role in an online animated "motion comic" series, titled Torchwood: Web of Lies, based on the BBC series' Torchwood: Miracle Day.[31]
In June, 2012, Dushku starred against Katie Cassidy, Gina Gershon, and Michelle Trachtenberg in The Scribbler directed by John Suits and produced by Gabriel Cowan.[32]
Personal life
Dushku in Dallas, Texas 2012
Dushku resides in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California.[33] She visited her father's family in Albania in 2006 after receiving an invitation from Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha. She visited Kosovo and got an Albanian Eagle tattoo on the back of her neck.[34][35] While on her second visit to Albania in 2011, she applied for Albanian citizenship and obtained the Albanian passport and ID Card. She became an honorary citizen of Tirana,[36] and was given the honorary title of Tirana Ambassador of Culture and Tourism in the World by Tirana mayor Lulzim Basha.[37][38] Additionally, she was given honorary citizen status in her father's home town of Korçë, Albania.
She is the founder and CEO of Boston Diva Productions[39] and serves on the board of directors of the THARCE-Gulu
organization (The Trauma Healing and Reflection Center in Gulu), an
organization dedicated to helping the survivors of war (including former
child soldiers) in Northern Uganda. As a role model to campus leaders for her activism, Dushku was invited by the Millennium Campus Network (MCN) as a national keynote speaker and honored as a Global Generation Award winner alongside US Secretary of State John Kerry at MCN events in 2011.[40]
Dushku began dating former Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Rick Fox in October 2009, and in August 2010 the couple confirmed that they were living together.[41][42]
Dushku announced in December 2011 that she had decided to switch to a vegan diet after watching the documentary Forks over Knives.[43]
Awards and nominations
Her performance in Tru Calling garnered Dushku two nominations in 2004: for a Teen Choice Award as Choice Breakout Star – Female, and for a Saturn Award as Best Actress in a Television Series. Maxim magazine ranked Dushku 6th on the "Hot 100 Women of 2009" list.[44] Dushku was nominated in 2009 for a Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actress for her role of Echo,[45] and she was named Ambassador for the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show Entertainment Matters program in October 2011.[46]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | That Night | Alice Bloom | |
| 1993 | This Boy's Life | Pearl | |
| 1994 | Fishing with George | Piper Reeves | Short film |
| 1994 | True Lies | Dana Tasker | |
| 1995 | Bye Bye Love | Emma | |
| 1996 | Race the Sun | Cindy Johnson | |
| 2000 | Bring It On | Missy Pantone | |
| 2001 | Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back | Sissy | |
| 2001 | Soul Survivors | Annabel | |
| 2002 | The New Guy | Danielle | |
| 2002 | City by the Sea | Gina | |
| 2003 | Stan Winston: Monster Mogul | Herself | Short film |
| 2003 | Wrong Turn | Jessie Burlingame | |
| 2003 | The Kiss | Megan | Video |
| 2006 | The Last Supper | Waitress | Short film |
| 2007 | On Broadway | Lena Wilson | |
| 2007 | Nobel Son | City Hall | |
| 2007 | Sex and Breakfast | Renee | |
| 2008 | Bottle Shock | Joe | |
| 2008 | The Alphabet Killer | Megan Paige | Associate producer |
| 2008 | The Coverup | Monica Wright | |
| 2009 | Open Graves | Erica | |
| 2010 | Locked In | Renee | |
| 2011 | Batman: Year One | Selina Kyle/Catwoman (voice) | Animated film |
| 2011 | DC Showcase: Catwoman | Selina Kyle/Catwoman (voice) | Short animated film |
| 2012 | Noah's Ark: The New Beginning | Zalbeth (voice) | Animated film |
| 2012 | Dear Albania | Eliza | Documentary/Director |
| 2013 | Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie | Lipstick Lesbian (voice) | Animated film |
| 2014 | The Scribbler | Silk | Post-Production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Journey | Cat | TV movie |
| 1998–2003 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Faith | 20 episodes |
| 2000–2003 | Angel | Faith | 6 episodes |
| 2002 | King of the Hill | Jordan Hilgren-Bronson (voice) | Season 7 Episode 1: "Get Your Freak Off" |
| 2003–2005 | Tru Calling | Tru Davies | 26 episodes |
| 2005 | That '70s Show | Sarah | Season 7 Episode 15: "It's All Over Now" |
| 2007 | Nurses | Eve Morrow | TV movie |
| 2007 | Ugly Betty | Cameron Ashlock | Season 2 Episode 9: "Giving Up the Ghost" |
| 2009–2010 | Dollhouse | Echo/Caroline Farrell | 27 episodes/Producer |
| 2010 | The Big Bang Theory | FBI Special Agent Angela Page | Season 4 Episode 7: "The Apology Insufficiency" |
| 2010 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Herself (Guest Judge) | Season 3 Episode 7: "Face, Face, Face of Cakes" |
| 2011 | Herd Mentality | Casey | TV movie |
| 2011 | Robotomy | Shockzana (voice) | Season 1 Episode 10: "From Wretchnya with Love" |
| 2011 | White Collar | Raquel Laroque | Season 3 Episode 9: "On The Fence" |
| 2011 | The Cleveland Show | Herself (voice) | Season 2 Episode 22: "Hot Cocoa Bang Bang" |
| 2011 | The Guild | Herself | Season 5 Episode 8: "Social Traumas" |
| 2011 | Torchwood: Web of Lies | Hollu Mokri (voice) | 7 Episodes/Animated TV series |
| 2011 | The League | Kristen | Season 3 Episode 10: "The Light of Genesis" |
| 2011-2012 | Leap Year | June Pepper | 5 Episodes/Consulting Producer |
| 2013 | Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. | Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk (Voice) | Animated TV series |
| 2013 | The Saint | Patricia Holm | TV movie |
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds | Faith |
| 2005 | Yakuza | Yumi |
| 2008 | Saints Row 2 | Shaundi |
| 2009 | Wet | Rubi Malone |
| 2011 | Fight Night Champion | Megan McQueen |
| Year | Title | Role | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | "I'm Just a Kid" - Simple Plan | Popular girl | Music Video |
| 2006 | "Rockstar" - Nickelback | Cameo | Music Video |
| 2010 | "Jar of Hearts" - Christina Perri | Dancer | Music Video |
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