Eliza Patricia Dushku (pronounced /ˈduːʃkuː/;[1] born December 30, 1980) is an American actress best known for her roles on television, such as her recurring appearances as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer[2] and its spinoff series Angel, as well as the main character, Tru Davies, in the short-lived Fox series Tru Calling. She currently produces and stars in the series Dollhouse as Echo, created by Buffy and Angel creator Joss Whedon.[3] She has also appeared in several films, including True Lies, The New Guy, Bring It On, Wrong Turn and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.[4]
Early life
Dushku was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, the daughter of Philip R. Dushku, an administrator and teacher in the Boston Public Schools, and ex-wife Judith "Judy" (née Rasmussen), a political science professor at Suffolk University in Boston.[5] Dushku's father is Albanian American and her mother is Danish American, though both of her grandmothers were English American.[6][7] Dushku attended Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, and graduated from Watertown High School. She was raised a Mormon, the faith of her mother (though she is not actively practicing).[8] She has three older brothers: Aaron, Benjamin (Ben, born February 5, 1976), and Nathaniel (Nate, born June 8, 1977, in Boston, Massachusetts), the latter of whom is a model and actor. Her parents divorced when she was still an infant.[9] In 2005 she visited her father's family in Albania after being personally invited by the president. While there she also visited the Albanian Community in Kosovo and got an Albanian Eagle tattooed on the back of her neck.[10][11]
Career
Early career
Dushku came to the attention of casting agents when she was 10. She was chosen at the end of a five month search throughout the United States for the lead role of Alice, playing with Juliette Lewis 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 also had parts as Paul Reiser's daughter in Bye Bye, Love, as Cindy Johnson with Halle Berry and Jim Belushi in Race the Sun, as well as roles in a television movie and a short film.
Dushku took some time off from acting to finish her junior and senior years of high school. She was accepted to the George Washington University in Washington, DC and Suffolk University in Boston, where her mother serves as professor of government and previously served as dean of the campus in Dakar, Senegal.
Later roles
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 entirety of the 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 a number of further 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 that:
- 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.[12]
In 2000, Dushku starred in Soul Survivors,[4] reuniting her with Race The Sun co-star Casey Affleck. One reviewer described the film as "84 minutes of everyone's wasted time."[13] She followed that up with the cheerleader comedy Bring It On with Kirsten Dunst.[4] 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, where she co-starred with Shannon Elizabeth, Ali Larter, and Ben Affleck.[4]
In 2003, Dushku appeared in Wrong Turn,[4] a horror film in which she had the starring role, and The Kiss, an independent comedy-drama. Starting that same year, she also 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 and uses it to bring murderers to justice. 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."[8]
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 original Peanuts comic strip on which the play production is based. She quit in February 2006 along with several other members of the cast among rumours of alleged 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 has been cast, but will not be broadcast.[14] 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 landed starring roles in two video game productions. 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.[15] It was released (in North America) on October 14, 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. She appeared at Spike TV's 2008 Video Game Awards in December 2008.[3]
Current projects
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.[16] Another project is On Broadway, an independent movie filmed in her native Boston. The movie is receiving great reviews[17] and a few of them highlight Dushku's performance. It is currently being shown in many independent film festivals and has already 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."[18] The movie was released in Los Angeles in November 30, 2007 and on DVD in January 22, 2008. She starred in Open Graves, a 2008 horror-thriller about a satanic game co-starring Mike Vogel. She will play the main character in The Thacker Case and The Alphabet Killer, both based on real-life events and upcoming thrillers, one of them directed by Rob Schmidt with whom she had previously worked on Wrong Turn. Both movies will be released in 2008.[19] The Alphabet Killer contains Dushku's first topless scene.[20] 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."[21] She also appeared, along with Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman, Chris Pine and Rachel Taylor, in Bottle Shock, a drama about Napa valley wine.[2] The film was directed by Randall Miller, who helmed Nobel Son.[2][22]
On August 26, 2007, Dushku signed a development deal with Fox Broadcasting and 20th Century Fox. Under the pact, the network and the studio develop projects tailor-made for the actress. They also approach her with existing pitches and scripts.[23]
Consequently, it was announced on October 31 that Dushku had lured Joss Whedon, famous for creating the Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Firefly series, back to TV, as they agreed to create a new show called Dollhouse. Dushku played the main character, 'Echo', and served as a producer on the show, which aired on Fox during the 2008–09 TV Season. One TV reviewer said Dushku "does wonderful things to a tank top, but her grasp of this vague, personality-changing character is a bit of a muddle."[24] 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 and decided that Fox, we'd had a cool relationship in the past and I 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.[25]
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."[26] Dollhouse has been 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.
Dushku has been announced as the voice of contract killer "Rubi Malone" in the upcoming action video game Wet, alongside fellow actors Malcolm McDowell and Alan Cumming.[27] Dushku secured exclusive rights to make "The Perfect Moment" and enlisted the help of Ondi Timoner.[2]
Dushku provides her voice for Noah's Ark: The New Beginning and will also appear in the film Valediction set for release in 2010.
Personal life
Dushku resides in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California.[28]
Dushku is the CEO of her production company Boston Diva[29] and serves as a producer on her recently released Fox sci-fi series, Dollhouse. She is an avid fan of the Boston Red Sox.[30]
Throughout her career, Dushku had refused to appear in nude scenes, saying that people have "a better chance of seeing God than seeing me naked."[31] She did however appear topless in The Alphabet Killer. In Nobel Son her character removed all but a black lace thong. She also posed naked for promotional pictures for Dollhouse[32] and for a photoshoot in the May 2009 issue of Allure magazine.[33][34]
She had dated former L.A. Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny, but in February 2009 she announced on the Howard Stern radio show that they had broken up.[35] Dushku is currently dating former Los Angeles Lakers star Rick Fox. [36]
Awards and nominations
She was twice nominated in 2004: for a Teen Choice Award at the Teen Choice Awards for Choice Breakout Star - Female for Tru Calling and for a Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films at the 30th Saturn Awards for Best Actress in a Television Series for Tru Calling.
Maxim magazine ranked Dushku 6th on the "Hot 100 Women of 2009" list.[37]
Dushku was nominated in 2009 for a Scream Award at the Scream Awards for Best Science Fiction Actress for her role of Echo.[38]
Filmography
Television
Video games
Special appearances
- The Late Late Show (3 episodes, "9 November 2002", "20 January 2004" and "12 April 2004", 2002-2004)
- HypaSpace (1 episode, "#1.113", 2002)
- E! News (2 episodes, "20 May 2003" and "19 October 2005", 2003-2005)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien (4 episodes, "23 May 2003", "20 November 2003" and "17 January 2006", "12 February 2009" 2003-2009)
- Last Call with Carson Daly (1 episode, "25 November 2003", 2003)
- Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2 episodes, "23 February 2004" and "6 August 2008", 2004-2008)
- On Air with Ryan Seacrest (1 episode, "23 February 2004", 2004)
- The Sharon Osbourne Show (1 episode, "26 February 2004", 2004)
- Richard & Judy (1 episode, "19 April 2004", 2004)
- Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards '04 (2004) (TV)
- Teen Choice Awards 2004 (2004) (TV)
- The Tony Danza Show (1 episode, "#2.73", 2005)
- Live with Regis and Kelly (2 episodes, "2 December 2005", 2005, "12 February 2009")
- Euro Video Grand Prix (2006) (TV) .... Presenter
- The Howard Stern Show (1 episode, "February 12, 2009", 2009)
- The Bonnie Hunt Show (1 episode, "April 21, 2009", 2009)
References
- ^ Hulu commercial during "The Target" (an episode of Dollhouse), in which Dushku introduces herself and says her own name. Aired February 20, 2009.
- ^ a b c d Tatiana Siegel (February 25, 2009,). "Eliza Dushku focuses on photog film". Variety Magazine. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118000588.html?categoryid=1236&cs=1. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
- ^ a b "Photo Gallery -- 'Dollhouse' star Eliza Dushku arrives at Spike TV's 2008 Video Game Awards in Culver City, CA -- December 14, 2008". Variety Magazine. 2008-12-15. http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=photoGalleryAlbum&galleryid=2414&order=2. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "Eliza Dushku -- CreditsByRole". Variety Magazine. 2009-09-07. http://www.variety.com/profiles/people/CreditsByRole/Actor/31454/Eliza%20Dushku.html?dataSet=1. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
- ^ "Eliza Dushku, the Next Wonder Woman?". PARADE Magazine. January 29, 2009. http://www.parade.com/celebrity/celebrity-parade/archive/eliza-dushku-wonder-woman.html.
- ^ Eliza Patricia Dushku's Ancestry
- ^ Ancestry of Bill Richardson
- ^ a b Paul Young (May 2001). "Faith No More". Maxim Online. http://www.maximonline.com/articles/index.aspx?a_id=4046&src=fc.
- ^ "Eliza Dushku Interview-The New Guy". about.com. http://movies.about.com/library/weekly/aa050202b.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-03.
- ^ Beggy, Carol; Mark Shanahan (June 8, 2006). "Dushku Wears Her Heritage Proudly". Boston Globe. p. E9. http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2006/06/08/dushku_wears_her_heritage_proudly/. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
- ^ "Dushku finds Tru Calling in Albania homeland". The Boston Herald. June 8, 2006. p. 019.
- ^ "E.D.t.v.:: the eliza dushku news channel". eliza-dushku.com. Archived from the original on 2003-09-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20030902195143/http://www.news.eliza-dushku.com/archives0102/na050101.html. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
- ^ a b ROBERT KOEHLER (September 14, 2001). "Soul Survivors (Review)". Variety Magazine. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117798885.html?categoryid=31&cs=1. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
- ^ "Dushku joins Fox's 'Nurses'". Variety. 2007-03-11. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960922.html?categoryid=14&cs=1. Retrieved 2007-03-20.
- ^ Pavlacka, Adam (September 12, 2008). "Saints Row 2 Singleplayer/Co-Op Preview". WorthPlaying. http://worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=55664.
- ^ Nobel Son review
- ^ Femia, Michael (April 30, 2007). "On Broadway At the Independent Film Festival of Boston". Bostonist. http://bostonist.com/2007/04/30/on_broadway_at_the_independent_film_festival_of_boston.php. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
- ^ a b John Anderson (November 29, 2007). "Sex and Breakfast (Review)". Variety Magazine. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117935547.html?categoryid=31&cs=1. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
- ^ Jacks, Brian (May 15, 2007). "Eliza Dushku Joins The Force For ‘Alphabet Killer’". MTV Movies Blog. http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2007/05/15/eliza-dushku-joins-the-force-for-alphabet-killer/. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
- ^ "Eliza Dushku topless in The Alphabet Killer". Egotastic. December 22, 2008. http://www.egotastic.com/entertainment/celebrities/eliza-dushku/eliza-dushku-topless-video-from-the-alphabet-killer-topless-004259. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
- ^ a b Ronnie Scheib (Dec. 17, 2008). "The Alphabet Killer". Variety Magazine. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939227.html?categoryid=31&cs=1. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
- ^ Campbell, Christopher (July 20, 2007). "Eliza Dushku and Bill Pullman Join 'Bottle Shock'". Cinematical. http://www.cinematical.com/2007/07/20/elisha-dushku-and-bill-pullman-join-bottle-shock. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
- ^ "Dushku busy with Fox TV". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20070930231821/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i3183b40c3b46a938e4669aa95744ca66. August 26, 2007
- ^ Brian Lowry (February 8, 2009). "Dollhouse". Variety Magazine. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939592.html?categoryid=32&cs=1&nid=2578. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
- ^ "Eliza Dushku: Dollhouse". SuicideGirls.com. February 5, 2009. http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Eliza+Dushku%3A+Dollhouse/. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
- ^ Michael Schneider (October 31, 2007). "Joss Whedon preps Fox series". Variety Magazine. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975136.html?categoryid=14&cs=1. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
- ^ http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/wet/news.html?sid=6213530&tag=topslot;thumb;1
- ^ Eliza Dushku shows us L.A. - Boston.com
- ^ www.bostondivaproductions.com
- ^ Shanahan, Mark (December 17, 2006). "Star turn". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/travel/articles/2006/12/17/star_turn/. Retrieved July 13, 2008.
- ^ Eliza Dushku Bares (Almost) All in Wild Film, Previews Fox's "Extraordinary" Dollhouse" TV Guide. December 4, 2008. Retrieved on December 5, 2008.
- ^ "La superbe Eliza Dushku se dévoile... totalement!" (in French). Purepeople.com. January 20, 2009. http://www.purepeople.com/article/la-superbe-eliza-dushku-se-devoile-totalement-en-cours_a23412/1. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
- ^ "The Naked Truth". Allure. http://www.allure.com/magazine/2009/05/nudes?slide=5. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
- ^ "Dollhouse: Eliza Dushku zieht für Allure blank" (in German). Serienjunkies.de. April 14, 2009. http://www.serienjunkies.de/news/dollhouse-eliza-21523.html. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
- ^ "Eliza Dushku is hot". HowardStern.com. February 12, 2009. http://www.howardstern.com/rundown.hs?month=February&day=12&year=2009&x=52&y=11. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
- ^ http://www.americansuperstarmag.com/news/eliza-dushku-confirms-shes-dating-rick-fox
- ^ http://www.maxim.com/girls/hot-100/79081/2009-hot-100-100-91.html#95
- ^ «Eliza Dushku is nominated at the Scream Awards 2009» on Spike.com, 01
- ^ http://www.horror-movies.ca/horror_15505.html
External links
|
Eliza Dushku |
|
|
Buffy the Vampire Slayer |
|
| Canon • Episodes • Index • Joss Whedon |
|
| Series |
|
|
| Main Characters |
|
|
| Minor Characters |
|
|
| Big Bads |
|
|
| Spin-offs |
|
|
| Expanded Universe |
|
|
| Universe |
|
|
|
|
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Dushku, Eliza |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
Dushku, Eliza Patricia |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
Actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
December 30, 1980 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
Watertown, Massachusetts |
| DATE OF DEATH |
|
| PLACE OF DEATH |
|
