Eliza Dushku

Eliza Dushku
Eliza Dushku in 2018.
Name	Eliza Patricia Dushku
Birthdate	December 30, 1980
Birthplace	Watertown, Massachusetts, USA
Job(s)	Actress
Buffyverse roles
Debut	"Faith, Hope & Trick"
Last seen	"Chosen"
Characters	Faith Lehane Buffy Summers

Eliza Dushku is the actress who portrayed Faith Lehane on both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series, Angel. 

Early life

Dushku was born in Watertown, Massachusetts. Her father, Phillip R. Dushku, was an administrator and teacher in the Boston Public Schools and her mother, Judith "Judy", was a political science professor. Her father is Albanian and her mother is of Danish and English descent. Dushku attended Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill and graduated from Watertown High School.

Career

Dushku came to the attention of casting agents at the age of 10. She was chosen after a five month search for the lead role as Alice in the film, That Night. In 1993, she landed the role of Pearl alongside Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in This Boy's Life, a role she has later 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 and as Cindy Johnson in Race The Sun.

Dusku took time away from acting to complete her junior and senior years of high school. She was accepted into the George Washington University in Washington D.C as well as a place in Suffolk University in Boston, where her mother works as a professor. 

After completing high school, Dushku took the role of Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though initially planned as a five-episode role, the character became so popular that she stayed for an entire third season and returned for two episodes in season four; a part that played out the remainder of her character arc in the spin-off series, Angel.

In 2000, Dushku starred in cheerleader comedy Bring It On and followed it up with Soul Survivors. In 2001, she appeared in The New Guy with DJ Qualls and City by the Sea with Robert De Niro and James Franco. The same year, Dushku was invited to be a part of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

In 2003, Dushku starred in horror film, Wrong Turn as well as indie comedy-drama, The Kiss. She was also cast as the lead in new Fox series, Tru Calling where she played medical student, Tru Davies.

Dushku appeared in an Off-Broadway production entitled Dog Sees God in December 2005 where she played Van's Sister. She appeared in the Simple Plan music video for "I'm Just a Kid" and in the video for "Rockstar" by Nickelback.  

Duskhu has also appeared in a total of five video games. She voiced the role of Yumi Sawamura in the English version of Yakuza for Playstation 2, released in 2006. She also starred as Shaundi, one of the lead characters in Saints Row 2 released on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2008. Dushku leant her voice to the lead character, Rubi Malone in WET. 2013 also saw Dushku announce her reprisal of the role of Shaundi in Saints Row IV. 

In October 2005, Dushku announced filming had begun for Nobel Son alongside Danny DeVito and Bill Pullman. On Broadway was another independent movie shot in her hometown of Boston. She co-starred with Macaulay Culkin in Sex & Breakfast released in 2007. She also starred in the films Open Graves, The Thacker Case and The Alphabet Killer. 

In 2009, Dushku produced and starred the Dollhouse series, created by Joss Whedon. 

From 2013 to 2015, Dushku voiced the role of She-Hulk in the Disney XD animated series Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.. In 2016, she was cast in a recurring role in the fourth season of the Cinemax TV series Banshee. In 2017, she had a recurring guest role in the last three episodes of the first season of the CBS drama series Bull with the option of becoming a series regular in season two.

Personal life

Dushku serves on the board of directors of the THRIVE-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, which her mother and stepfather co-founded.

Dushku visited her father's family and their home city in Albania in 2006 after receiving an invitation from Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha. While on her second visit to Albania in 2011, she applied for Albanian citizenship and obtained the Albanian passport and ID Card. Dushku became an honorary citizen of Tirana,and was given the honorary title of Tirana Ambassador of Culture and Tourism in the World by Tirana mayor Lulzim Basha. Additionally, she was given honorary citizen status in her father's home town of Korçë. She and her brother Nate produced a film about a joint visit to Albania, Dear Albania.

In June 2017, she became engaged to businessman Peter Palandjian, and they wed on August 18, 2018. In 2019, Dushku gave birth to the couple's first child together, a son.

Buffyverse credits

• "Faith, Hope & Trick"
• "Beauty and the Beasts"
• "Homecoming"
• "Revelations"
• "Amends"
• "The Zeppo"
• "Bad Girls"
• "Consequences"
• "Doppelgängland"
• "Enemies"
• "Choices"
• "Graduation Day, Part One"
• "Graduation Day, Part Two"
• "This Year's Girl"
• "Who Are You?"
• "Five by Five"
• "Sanctuary"
• "Judgment"
• "Salvage"
• "Release"
• "Orpheus"
• "Dirty Girls"
• "Empty Places"
• "Touched"
• "End of Days"
• "Chosen"

External links

• Official webite
• Eliza Dushku on IMDb