Fairuza Balk

This article is written from a real world point of view and so is not considered part of The Worst Witch universe.

Fairuza Balk
Fairuza Balk, January 2006
Birth Name	Fairuza Alejandra Feldthouse
Date of Birth	May 21, 1974
Place of Birth	Point Reyes, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years Active	1983–present
Role	Mildred Hubble

Fairuza Alejandra Balk born May 21, 1974) is an American film actress. She made her theatrical film debut as Dorothy Gale in Disney's Return to Oz. She has also appeared in The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Craft, American History X and Personal Velocity: Three Portraits. Fairuza played Mildred Hubble in the 1986 Worst Witch Telemovie.

Early life

Balk was born as Fairuza Alejandra Feldthouse in Point Reyes, California. Her mother, Cathryn Balk, is of Irish and French descent and has studied, performed, and taught the ethnic and traditional dance forms of many countries such as Egypt, Turkey, Morocco and Spain. Her father, Solomon Feldthouse, is of Cherokee Native and Roma gypsy descent. He was one of the founding members of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Kaleidoscope and also a traveling folk musician. He was born in Pingree, Idaho and moved to Turkey at age 10, where he lived for six years and learned Greek, Turkish and Persian music. Fairuza's name is the Turkish equivalent of the Arabic version "Piroozeh" of the Persian name "Firoozeh", meaning "Turquoise, Victory, or Precious One".

Fairuza lived in Cloverdale, California with her mother, until age two. They then moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she began acting at age six. They moved from London to Paris for another role. They remained there for six months returning to Vancouver. Fairuza then moved to Los Angeles upon signing to do The Craft.

Career

It was during the time Fairuza was spending in London that she was selected by Walt Disney Productions to star as Dorothy Gale in Return to Oz, the loose sequel to MGM's 1939 musical The Wizard of Oz. It was not her debut role; that role had been in a television movie titled The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, produced in 1983. However, it was the one that brought her attention as an actress. The role led to other minor roles, including that of Mildred Hubble in the comedy The Worst Witch, and in 1988 she moved to Paris to work on Valmont with Miloš Forman. By 1989 she was back in Vancouver, where she attended high school. However, she soon decided to take correspondence courses instead and went back to Hollywood, where she gained increasing notice as an actress. In 1992 she was awarded an Independent Spirit Award as best actress for her performance in the Allison Anders film Gas Food Lodging.

In 1996, she appeared in a lead role in The Craft, in which her character formed a teenage coven] with characters portrayed by Neve Campbell, Rachel True and Robin Tunney.

Balk has continued to find roles. She co-starred in The Island of Dr Moreau in 1996, gave a performance as a neo-Nazi opposite Edward Norton in American History X in 1998, and was featured in The Waterboy, alongside Adam Sandler, in 1998. Since 2000, she has appeared in over half a dozen movies. She has also done voice work for animated films and video games, including Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Personal life

Balk lives in Hollywood, California, and has an apartment in New York City. Outside her career, her interests include writing poetry and fiction, playing guitar and violin, singing, and dancing. Over the years, she has been romantically involved with a number of well-known men, including British actor David Thewlis, who appeared with her in The Island of Dr. Moreau in 1996 and in American Perfekt in 1997, as well as C. M. Talkington, the director and writer of the cult classic Love and a .45.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Return to Oz	Dorothy Gale
1986	The Worst Witch	Mildred Hubble
1986	Discovery	Molly
1988	The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick	Celia Brzjinski
1989	Valmont	Cecile
1992	Gas Food Lodging	Shade
1994	Imaginary Crimes	Sonya Weiler
1994	Tollbooth	Doris
1995	Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead	Lucinda
1996	The Craft	Nancy Downs
1996	The Island of Dr. Moreau	Aissa
1997	American Perfekt	Alice Thomas
1997	The Maker	Bella Sotto
1998	Life in the Fast Lane	Mona
1998	American History X	Stacey
1998	The Waterboy	Vicki Vallencourt
2000	Red Letters	Gretchen Van Buren
2000	Almost Famous	Sapphire
2002	Personal Velocity: Three Portraits	Paula
2002	Deuces Wild	Annie
2005	What is it?	Screaming Snail / Insect / Monkey Girl (voice)
2005	Don't Come Knocking	Amber
2005	A Year and a Day	Lola
2006	Wild Tigers I Have Known	Logan's Mom
2008	Humboldt County	Bogart
2008	Grindstone Road	Hannah
2009	The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans	Heidi
2010	Shit Year	Message Voice
2012	Dose of Reality	Rose	Completed
2012	Thicker	Lonely	Pre-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	The Best Christmas Pageant Ever	Beth Bradley	TV movie
1985	Deceptions	Penny Roberts	TV movie
1986	The Worst Witch}}	Mildred Hubble	TV movie
1987	Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story	Barbara Hutton- Age 12	TV movie
1991	Deadly Intentions... Again?	Stacey	TV movie
1992	Shame	Lizzie Curtis	TV movie
1992	The Danger of Love: The Carolyn Warmus Story	Lisa	TV movie
1993	Murder in the Heartland	Caril Ann Fugate	TV movie
1994	ZZ Top: Breakaway	Vampire Girl	TV movie
1995	Shawdow of a Doubt	Angel Harwell	TV movie
2000	Family Guy	Connie D'Amico (voice)	Episode: "Let's Go to the Hop"
2002	Grand Theft Auto: Vice City	Mercedes Cortez (voice)	Video game
2003	Justice League	Penny Dee (voice)	Episode: "Only a Dream"
2003	Lords of EverQuest	Lady T'Lak (voice)	Video game
2006	Orpheus	Karen	TV movie
2006	Masters of Horror	Stacia	Episode: "Pick Me Up"

References

1. ^ California Birth Index 1905 - 1995.
2. ^ Fairuza Balk. Film Reference.com.
3. ^ Actress of the Week: Fairuza Balk. askmen.com.
4. ^ The Rise and Fall of the Neoprene Lizards - the Kaleidoscope Story. Pulsating Dream.com.
5. ^ [1]

External links

• Fairuza Balk at the Internet Movie Database
• Fairuza Balk at Allmovie