American actress Eliza Patricia Dushku was born on December 30, 1980. The supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1998–2003) and its spin-off series Angel (2000–2003) are where she gained the majority of her fame as Faith. She also played the lead in the Fox science fiction series Dollhouse (2009–2010) and the Fox supernatural drama series Tru Calling (2003–2005), both of which she produced.
True Lies (1994), Bye Bye Love (1995), Bring It On (2000), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), The New Guy (2002), Wrong Turn (2003), On Broadway (2007), The Scribbler (2014), Jane Wants a Boyfriend (2015), and Eloise (2016) are just a few of the films in which Dushku played the lead role. She has also provided voices for a number of animated films and video games.
Early Years
Dushku was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the only child and youngest of the four children of political science professor Judy Dushku and school administrator Philip Richard George Dushku. Dushku's mother is from Idaho and has Danish, English, Irish, and German ancestry. Her parents separated before she was born. Dushku's father was born in Boston and is of Albanian ethnicity; his parents are from the city of Korç.
Dushku and her three siblings were reared as Mormons because their mother was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She completed her high school education at Watertown High School after attending Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
Career
Acting
Beginnings And Breakthroughs From 1992 To 1997
When Dushku was ten years old, casting directors became interested in her. A five-month hunt for the lead character of Alice in the 1992 romantic drama movie That Night resulted in her selection. Alongside Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, Dushku was cast as Pearl in the drama movie This Boy's Life in 1993. In the action spy movie True Lies the year after, she portrayed the teenage daughter of Jamie Lee Curtis and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Her acting credits include Piper Reeves in the 1994 short film Fishing with George, Cat in the 1995 television movie Journey, Paul Reiser's daughter in the 1995 romantic comedy Bye Bye Love, and Cindy Johnson in the 1996 comedy-drama Race the Sun.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and recognition from 1998 to 2002
Dushku had intended to enrol at Suffolk University in Boston, where her mother was an instructor, but her agent persuaded her to submit a VHS audition for a television programme starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, another one of his clients. Dushku hurried to a nearby Claire's after reading the script to buy the black makeup and other necessary accessories for her role as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Dushku had to obtain emancipation to work the lengthy hours required by the production because she was still a minor when she started working on the series. Later, she laughed as she recalled how the judge who presided over her emancipation case, a die-hard fan of the programme, had jokingly stated that she would sign the decree only if she could obtain a signed photograph of Dushku. The character was originally intended for a three-episode run, but due to her popularity, she was kept around for the entire third season, returned for a two-part cameo in season four, and appeared in the final five episodes of the show. She also made an appearance in the Angel spinoff.
Dushku received a tonne of fan letters from prisoners as a result of playing Faith, which was an undesirable side effect. She uttered:
Death row and maximum security prisons have both sent me fan mail. What are the authorities planning by putting on a performance for Death Row inmates with young teenage girls? They record everything, including revolting details that you don't even want to know. And they send me pictures, saying things like, "Oh, here's a picture of me before I was incarcerated!" In the pictures, a guy is sitting on the couch with a beer bottle, a moustache, and a big gut. It's very eerie. Much creepier than Buffy.
Dushku played a cheerleader in the popular comedy Bring It On in 2000. She then appeared in Soul Survivors, reuniting with Casey Affleck, her co-star from Race the Sun. She starred alongside DJ Qualls in The New Guy and James Franco and Robert De Niro in City by the Sea in 2001. The later movie received positive reviews and interest from a larger adult audience. The same year, Dushku received an invitation from Kevin Smith to take part in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Tru Calling and succeeding roles, from 2003 until 2008.
Dushku appeared in the independent comedy-drama The Kiss and the horror movie Wrong Turn in 2003. She portrayed the lead role of medical student Tru Davies in the brand-new supernatural drama Tru Calling that debuted that same year on Fox. Tru is forced to work at a local mortuary after having a grant withdrawn, where she learns she has the ability to "re-live" the previous day if one of the departed requests for her assistance in changing what has occurred. Dushku declined a part in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off on Faith.
She frequently played a "bad girl" in films. Dushku stated about her parts in a May 2001 Maxim interview, "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."
In December 2005, Dushku appeared in the Off-Broadway production of Dog Sees God. Lucy Van Pelt is represented by a character in the play that Dushku played, which was based on the Peanuts comic strip. She left the cast in February 2006 along with other actors due to allegations of producer abuse that were ultimately disproved.
On Fox's hospital comedy-drama Nurses, she portrayed the main character. She appeared in a second Fox pilot that was never broadcast.
She played the band's love interest in the Simple Plan music video for "I'm Just a Kid" as well as Nickelback's "Rockstar" music video.
She announced the start of filming for Nobel Son, in which she would co-star with Alan Rickman, Danny DeVito, and Bill Pullman, on October 1, 2005 at Wizard World Boston. 2007 Tribeca Film Festival saw the film's premiere. On Broadway, an independent film shot in Boston, was another effort that was released in 2007. Positive reviews for the film were given, and a number of them praised Dushku for her work.
Five video games featured Dushku in various roles. She provided the Yumi Sawamura voiceover for the PlayStation 2 game Yakuza, which was published and created by Sega and released in September 2006. Shaundi, one of the main characters in Saints Row 2, a video game created by Volition, Inc. and released by THQ, is another character that Dushku plays. On October 14, 2008, it was made available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America. She provided the voice for Rubi Malone, the protagonist of the video game WET. In December 2008, she made an appearance at the Spike TV 2008 Video Game Awards. Shaundi's character was taken over by Danielle Nicolet in Saints Row: The Third. In the 2011 video game Fight Night Champion's Champion Mode, she also provided Megan McQueen's voice.
On August 2, 2006, Variety revealed that Dushku and Macaulay Culkin would co-star in Miles Brandman's dark comedy Sex and Breakfast. Dushku was praised for being "charming" and giving the character "an edge" by a reviewer. On November 30, 2007, the film was released in Los Angeles, and on January 22, 2008, it was released on DVD. She co-starred with Mike Vogel in the 2008 horror-thriller film Open Graves, which was about a satanic game. She portrayed the lead role in the true-crime thrillers The Thacker Case and The Alphabet Killer, one of which was directed by Rob Schmidt, who she had previously collaborated with in Wrong Turn. Both films were made available in 2008. Dushku's first topless scene may be found in The Alphabet Killer. She starred in Bottle Shock, a drama about Napa valley wine, which received negative reviews, but critics commended Dushku's performance, saying, "Eliza Dushku commands the screen but cannot reconcile the script's conflicted and increasingly idiotic agendas." Randall Miller, who also directed Nobel Son, was the film's director.
Dollhouse And Other Work, 2009–Present
Dushku inked a development agreement with Fox Broadcasting Company and 20th Century Fox on August 26, 2007. The agreement said that the network and the studio would create projects specifically for the actress and also approach her with pitches and screenplays for existing shows.
On October 31, it was revealed that Dushku has persuaded Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to return to television to produce the Dollhouse television series. Dushku acted as "Echo," the show's lead character and also produced it. Fox broadcast it throughout the 2008–2009 television season. Dushku explained how Dollhouse and her reunion with Whedon came about in an interview:
After I completed the business deal with Fox, I invited Joss Whedon to lunch. I really wanted to try something else and get back into a television show since we had a great former relationship. I knew I had him in mind, but I hadn't phoned him. Nevertheless, I sort of took a risk and arranged up a meeting with Fox before dialling Joss. We had a four-hour lunch during which I mostly just employed my feminine cunning. The truth is that when I first went to Los Angeles, he has been my watcher and handler, and we have grown to be such close friends that we are somewhat like brother and sister. I was a little bit of a wild child when I was 17 years old. Over the years, he has watched me, given me advice, and taught me. I expressed to him how much I needed and wanted him back, and he agreed, so here we are.
Dollhouse was given a second season, and Dushku called Whedon "my favourite genius, favourite friend, big brother, and the only person out here I've ever wholeheartedly trusted, because he's never let me down." The show's producers said they decided to maintain it because of the show's strong DVR ratings and their belief in the size of Whedon's fan following. Dollhouse was cancelled by Fox on November 11th, 2009. On December 16, 2009, the second and last season of the programme officially finished filming.
In the action video game Wet, Dushku portrayed contract murderer "Rubi Malone" as a voice actor.
Dushku voiced Noah's Ark: The New Beginning in 2010 and starred in the movie Locked In. Additionally, on November 4, 2010, she appeared as a guest star in an episode of the comedy The Big Bang Theory on CBS. Dushku and Jayson Floyd appeared in "One Shot" in 2011, a brief action video on YouTube that was produced by Freddie Wong and debuted on May 13.
Dushku played the main character in Torchwood: Web of Lies, an online animated "motion comic" series based on the BBC serial Torchwood: Miracle Day. Dushku appeared in the film The Scribbler, which was produced by Gabriel Cowan and directed by John Suits, together with Katie Cassidy, Gina Gershon, and Michelle Trachtenberg.
She was cast in a 2013 pilot for a planned TV revival series of The Saint as Patricia Holm, but the show was not picked up. The pilot was made available on digital HD/VOD in July 2017.
Dushku portrayed She-Hulk in the Disney XD animated series Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. from 2013 to 2015. She was hired for a recurring part in the fourth season of the Cinemax TV show Banshee in 2016. She appeared in the final three episodes of the first season of the CBS drama series Bull in 2017 and had the potential to return for season two as a series regular.
Work In Production
Dushku travelled to Albania in August 2011 with a film crew from the Travel Channel and Lonely Planet to shoot the documentary Dear Albania, which promotes travel to the nation of origin of her father's family.
With her brother Nate as a partner, Dushku has served as CEO of her own production firm, Boston Diva Productions. She obtained sole ownership of the rights to produce an authorised movie about the life of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The movie spent more than a decade in development and had the working title The Perfect Moment. Eventually, she asked OndiTimoner for assistance, and in 2018, the film Mapplethorpe, which stars Matt Smith as the titular figure, was released.
According to rumours from 2017, her production company was working with IM Global Television to adapt Glen Cook's The Black Company books into a television show, with Dushku possibly playing The Lady.
Private Life
Dushku was brought up a Mormon and still sports a tattoo with Mormon symbols. She expresses gratitude for having grown up in the LDS Church even though she claims to have left it and followed a different path.
Dushku spent the last 15 years of her life in Los Angeles, though she did spend a lot of time in her hometowns of Watertown and Boston just before her stepfather passed away. She resided in the Laurel Canyon region for a number of years.
She performed a nude photo shoot for the May 2009 issue of Allure.
She had originally planned to attend college in Boston, but her big break on Buffy caused those plans to change. She announced her decision to attend college later that year in March 2014 at the Emerald City Comicon. The Boston Globe reported on June 22, 2014, that Dushku had relocated back to Watertown, close to Boston, from Los Angeles and was preparing to enrol in college. She was a sociology student at Suffolk University as of 2016. According to a Boston Magazine article from 2019, she was a Lesley University student majoring in holistic psychology. 2020 marked her graduation.
She is politically engaged and supported Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential election in the United States.
Relationships
In October 2009, Dushku started seeing Rick Fox, a former basketball player for the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. In August 2010, the couple announced that they were cohabitating. On June 24, 2014, the couple's separation was declared.
She proposed to businessman Peter Palandjian in June 2017, and the two were married on August 18, 2018. Philip Bourne was born to the couple in August 2019 thanks to Dushku. Dushku revealed on Instagram in February 2021 that she was expecting her second child. Dushku gave birth to the couple's second son, Bodan, in August 2021.
Activism
Dushku is a member of the board of directors for the THRIVE-Guluorganisation, which was formed by her mother and stepfather and is devoted to aiding war survivors in Northern Uganda, including ex-child soldiers. Along with volunteering at the centre, she raised US$30,000 for the purchase of the land on which the center's building would be built. She has also engaged in other fundraising efforts.
Dushku was chosen as a Global Generation Award winner with American students by the Millennium Campus Network (MCN) as a role model for her advocacy among campus leaders. John Kerry, the secretary of state, attended MCN events in 2011.
Over a number of years, Dushku raised money for Camp Hale, where her father and brothers had gone. This included some targeted campaigning to support the camp's new idea for a girls' session, which was introduced in 2012 and which she personally attended.
Albanian Nationality
In 2006, Dushku accepted Sali Berisha's offer and travelled to Albania to see her father's relatives and the city where they were born. On the back of her neck, she got an Albanian Eagle tattoo after visiting Kosovo. She sought for citizenship and acquired the Albanian passport and ID card while on her second trip to Albania in 2011. Mayor of Tirana Lulzim Basha bestowed to Dushku the honorary citizenship of Tirana and the title of Tirana Ambassador of Culture and Tourism in the World. She also received honorary citizenship in Korç, the hometown of her father. Dear Albania is a movie she and her brother Nate made about a trip they took together to Albania.
Claims Of Sexual Assault And Harassment
In January 2018, Dushku revealed that while she was 12 and working on True Lies, stunt coordinator Joel Kramer had abused her. She claimed that shortly after, an adult friend of Dushku challenged Kramer on the set and that, although Kramer was in charge of ensuring Dushku's safety, the actress was hurt during a stunt and had many fractured ribs. The allegation of sexual misbehaviour against Kramer has been refuted.
After Dushku reported series lead Michael Weatherly's inappropriate behaviour on the set and was fired from a recurring role on Bull in January 2019, CBS reached a $9.5 million settlement with her. Inappropriate comments by Weatherly about punishing Dushku over his knee, soliciting a threesome, sexual assault in his "rape van," and other things were captured on tape, according to documentation from the formal mediation. Days later, showrunner Glenn Caron cancelled Dushku's anticipated role on the show, despite opposition from studio executives. After Dushku spoke with producers, Weatherly texted CBS Television Studios' president David Stapf saying he wanted to talk about Dushku's sense of humour, but Stapf pushed back saying "Ms. Dushku made the show better." The settlement sum was determined to make up for Dushku's lost income from her anticipated promotion to series regular, with "well-developed plans" to add her to the cast permanently after her three-episode guest stint. When the settlement was announced in December 2018, Weatherly immediately issued an official apology. In response, Dushku claimed that Weatherly violated the terms of their agreement by apologising to the media, calling it "more deflection, denial, and spin." In November 2021, Dushku testified before the House Judiciary Committee regarding her allegations of sexual harassment while she was a Bull employee.
Regarding allegations of abuse against Joss Whedon, the creator of the Buffy television series, Dushku posted a message in support of Charisma Carpenter in February 2021.
Health
The attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is something Dushku has claimed to have. After watching the documentary Forks Over Knives, she said in December 2011 that she had changed her diet to a vegan one. She said that she was no longer a vegetarian in December 2014. Dushku attended the Youth Summit on Opioid Awareness on March 7, 2017, where she disclosed that she was a recovering drinker and drug user who started using alcohol and drugs at the age of 14. She claimed that she had been so severely addicted at one point that her brother had forbidden her from being alone with Sofia, his daughter, even though she had been clean for eight and a half years.
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
1992 | That Night | Alice Bloom | |
1993 | This Boy's Life | Pearl | |
1994 | Fishing with George | Piper Reeves | Short film |
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 | |
Soul Survivors | Annabel | ||
2002 | The New Guy | Danielle | |
City by the Sea | Gina | ||
2003 | Stan Winston: Monster Mogul | Herself | Short film |
Wrong Turn | Jessie Burlingame | ||
The Kiss | Megan | Direct-to-video | |
2006 | The Last Supper | Waitress | Short film |
2007 | On Broadway | Lena Wilson | |
Nobel Son | City Hall | ||
Sex and Breakfast | Renee | ||
2008 | Bottle Shock | Joe | |
The Alphabet Killer | Megan Paige | ||
The Coverup | Monica Wright | ||
2009 | Open Graves | Erica | |
2010 | Locked In | Renee | |
2011 | Batman: Year One | Selina Kyle / Catwoman (voice) | |
DC Showcase: Catwoman | Short film | ||
2012 | Noah's Ark: The New Beginning | Zalbeth (voice) | |
2013 | Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie! | Lipstick Lesbian (voice) | |
2014 | The Scribbler | Jennifer Silk | |
The Gable 5 | Taylor Shaye | Short film | |
2015 | Dear Albania | Herself | Documentary; also director |
Jane Wants a Boyfriend | Bianca | ||
2016 | Eloise | Pia Carter |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
1995 | Journey | Cat | Television film |
1998–2003 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Faith | 20 episodes |
2000–2003 | Angel | 6 episodes | |
2002 | King of the Hill | Jordan Hilgren-Bronson (voice) | Episode: "Get Your Freak Off" |
2003 | Punk'd | Herself | Episode: "Eliza Dushku/Mandy Moore" |
2003–2005 | Tru Calling | Tru Davies | Main role; 26 episodes |
2005 | That '70s Show | Sarah | Episode: "It's All Over Now" |
2007 | Nurses | Eve Morrow | Television film |
Ugly Betty | Cameron Ashlock | Episode: "Giving Up the Ghost" | |
2009–2010 | Dollhouse | Echo / Caroline Farrell | Main role; 27 episodes |
2010 | The Big Bang Theory | FBI Special Agent Angela Page | Episode: "The Apology Insufficiency" |
RuPaul's Drag Race | Herself / Guest Judge | Episode: "Face, Face, Face of Cakes" | |
2011 | Herd Mentality | Casey | Television film |
Robotomy | Shockzana | Episode: "From Wretchnya with Love"; voice role | |
White Collar | Raquel Laroque | Episode: "On the Fence" | |
The Cleveland Show | Herself (voice) | Episode: "Hot Cocoa Bang Bang" | |
The Guild | Herself | Episode: "Social Traumas" | |
Torchwood: Web of Lies | Holly Mokri (voice) | Main role; 7 episodes | |
The League | Kristen | Episode: "The Light of Genesis" | |
2011–2012 | Leap Year | June Pepper | 5 episodes; also consulting producer |
2013–2015 | Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. | Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk (voice) | Main role; 51 episodes |
2015 | Ultimate Spider-Man | Episode: "Contest of the Champions: Part 4" | |
2016 | Banshee | Agent Veronica Dawson | 5 episodes |
Princess Rap Battle | Rapunzel | Episode: "Rapunzel & Flynn vs. Anna & Kristoff" | |
Con Man | Cindy | Episode: "Gum Drop" | |
2017 | Bull | J. P. Nunnelly | 3 episodes |
The Saint | Patricia Holm | Television film |
Video games
Year | Title | Voice role | Notes |
2003 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds | Faith | |
2005 | Yakuza | Yumi Sawamura / Mizuki Sawamura | English dub |
2008 | Saints Row 2 | Shaundi | |
2009 | Wet | Rubi Malone | |
2011 | Fight Night Champion | Megan McQueen |
Music videos
Year | Title | Artist | Role |
2002 | "I'm Just a Kid" | Simple Plan | Popular Girl |
2006 | "Rockstar" | Nickelback | Herself |
Awards and nominations
Year | Association | Category | Work |
2004 | Teen Choice Award | Choice Breakout Star – Female | Tru Calling |
Saturn Award | Best Actress in a Television Series | ||
2009 | Scream Award | Best Science Fiction Actress | Dollhouse |
Fangoria Chainsaw Award | Best Actress | The Alphabet Killer | |
2013 | Streamy Award | Best Guest Appearance | Leap Year |
Quick Bio
Nickname | Duck Shoot, Lize |
Gender | Female |
Age | 42 years old (in 2023) |
Date of Birth | December 30, 1980 |
Full Name | Eliza Patricia Dushku |
Profession | Actress, Model and Producer |
Nationality | American |
Birthplace | Watertown, Massachusetts, United States |
Religion | Not Known |
Zodiac Sign | Capricorn |
Qualification | Graduated |
School | Beaver Country Day School, Watertown High School. |
College | George Washington University. |
Net Worth | USD $10 million approx. |
Height, Weight & Physical Stats
Body Measurements | 34-24-34 inches |
Bodytype | Banana |
Height | 5 feet 5 inches (1.60 m) |
Weight | 59 kg (128 lbs) |
Waist | 24 inches |
Hair Color | Dark Brown |
Eye Color | Light Brown |
Shoe Size | 7.5 |
Dress Size | 2 |
Father | Philip Richard George Dushku |
Mother | Judith Ann Judy Rasmussen |
Brother | Nate Dushku, Aaron Dushku, Benjamin Dushku. |
Sister | None |
Marital Status | Married |
Husband | Palandjian (m. 2018) |
No. of Children | 1 (One) |
Past Relationships | Matt Dillon (2006) |
Facts
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