Fairuza Balk
Encyclopedia
Fairuza Alejandra Balk is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 actress. She made her theatrical film debut as Dorothy Gale in Disney's Return to Oz
Return to Oz
Return to Oz is a 1985 film which is an unofficial sequel to Victor Fleming's The Wizard of Oz. The film is based on the second and third Oz books, The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz...

. Balk also made notable appearances in Valmont
Valmont (film)
Valmont is a 1989 drama film directed by Miloš Forman, based on the French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos. It was adapted for the screen with a screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière...

, The Waterboy
The Waterboy
The Waterboy is a 1998 American comedy film directed by Frank Coraci. It stars Adam Sandler alongside Henry Winkler, Kathy Bates, Jerry Reed, and Fairuza Balk. Lynn Swann, Lawrence Taylor, Jimmy Johnson, Bill Cowher, Paul Wight, and Rob Schneider have cameos...

, The Craft
The Craft (film)
The Craft is a 1996 American supernatural teen horror film directed by Andrew Fleming and starring Robin Tunney, Rachel True, Fairuza Balk and Neve Campbell. The film's plot centers on a group of four teenage girls who pursue witchcraft and use it for their own gain...

, American History X
American History X
American History X is a 1998 American drama film directed by Tony Kaye and starring Edward Norton and Edward Furlong. It was distributed by New Line Cinema....

and Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits is a 2002 American independent film written and directed by Rebecca Miller.- Plot :Personal Velocity is a tale of three women who have reached a turning point in their lives. Delia is a spirited, working-class woman from a small town in New York state who leaves...

.

Early life

Balk was born as Fairuza Alejandra Feldthouse in Point Reyes, California. Her mother, Cathryn Balk, 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, was one of the founding members of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope (US band)
Kaleidoscope was an American psychedelic folk and ethnic band who recorded 4 albums and several singles for Epic Records between 1966 and 1970.-Formation:...

, and also a traveling folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

ian; he was born in Pingree, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

 and moved to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 at age 10, where he lived for six years and learned Greek, Turkish and Persian music. Balk has Romani, Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

 and Blackfoot
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....

 ancestry. Her first name is Arabic, meaning "Turquoise, Victory, or Precious One".

Balk lived in Cloverdale
Cloverdale, California
Cloverdale is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States. The San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad reached Cloverdale in 1872. The Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California is headquartered here...

, California with her mother, until age two. They then moved to Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, where she began acting at age six. They moved from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 for another role. They remained there for six months, before returning to Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

. Balk then moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 upon signing to do The Craft
The Craft (film)
The Craft is a 1996 American supernatural teen horror film directed by Andrew Fleming and starring Robin Tunney, Rachel True, Fairuza Balk and Neve Campbell. The film's plot centers on a group of four teenage girls who pursue witchcraft and use it for their own gain...

.

Career

While in London, Balk was selected by Walt Disney Productions to star as Dorothy Gale in Return to Oz
Return to Oz
Return to Oz is a 1985 film which is an unofficial sequel to Victor Fleming's The Wizard of Oz. The film is based on the second and third Oz books, The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz...

,
the loose sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...

 to MGM's 1939 musical The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...

.
It was not her debut role; that role had been in a television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...

 titled The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a book written by Barbara Robinson in 1972. It tells the story of six delinquent children surnamed Herdman. They go to church for the first time after being told that the church offers snacks...

,
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 Worst Witch
The Worst Witch (TV movie)
The Worst Witch premiered in 1986 on Central Independent Television and HBO. It is based on the children's book by Jill Murphy.-Plot:The film follows the plot of the 1974 book from the series, portraying the incidents of when Mildred turns herself invisible and transforms Ethel into a pig, Miss...

,
and in 1988 she moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 to work on Valmont
Valmont (film)
Valmont is a 1989 drama film directed by Miloš Forman, based on the French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos. It was adapted for the screen with a screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière...

with Miloš Forman
Miloš Forman
Jan Tomáš Forman , better known as Miloš Forman , is a Czech-American director, screenwriter, professor, and an emigrant from Czechoslovakia. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both gaining him the Academy Award for...

. 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
Allison Anders
Allison Anders is an American film and television director. Anders has directed many independent films, on which she frequently collaborates with fellow UCLA film school graduate Kurt Voss.-Biography:...

 film Gas Food Lodging
Gas Food Lodging
Gas Food Lodging is a 1992 movie directed by Allison Anders about a waitress trying to find romance while raising two daughters in a trailer-park. It stars Brooke Adams, Ione Skye, and Fairuza Balk. The film was adapted from the novel Don't Look and It Won't Hurt by Richard Peck...

.


In 1996, she appeared in a lead role in The Craft
The Craft (film)
The Craft is a 1996 American supernatural teen horror film directed by Andrew Fleming and starring Robin Tunney, Rachel True, Fairuza Balk and Neve Campbell. The film's plot centers on a group of four teenage girls who pursue witchcraft and use it for their own gain...

,
in which her character formed a teenage coven
Coven
A coven or covan is a name used to describe a gathering of witches or in some cases vampires. Due to the word's association with witches, a gathering of Wiccans, followers of the witchcraft-based neopagan religion of Wicca, is also described as a coven....

 with characters portrayed by Neve Campbell
Neve Campbell
Neve Adrianne Campbell is a Canadian actress. After beginning her career on stage, and on numerous commercials, she starred on the Canadian television series Catwalk. She then rose to international fame on the Golden Globe-winning 1990s television series Party of Five, playing the role of teenager...

, Rachel True
Rachel True
Rachel India True is an American film and television actress.-Career:In 1991, True had some appearances , beginning a string of TV jobs, including turns on Beverly Hills, 90210, The Drew Carey Show, Once and Again, and HBO's Dream On. By 1993, she had moved to Los Angeles and appeared opposite...

 and Robin Tunney
Robin Tunney
Robin Jessica Tunney is an American actress. She is best known for her lead roles in the movie The Craft and the television series Prison Break and The Mentalist.-Early life:...

.

Since The Craft, Balk has continued to find roles, primarily dark ones. She co-starred in The Island of Dr Moreau
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 film)
The Island of Dr. Moreau is a 1996 science fiction horror film, the third major movie version of the H. G. Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau about a scientist who attempts to convert animals into people...

in 1996. While on the set of The Island of Dr. Moreau she had been contacted by director Joel Schumacher requesting her to play the part of Poison Ivy in Batman and Robin. Frankenheimer didn't want her to leave production on and off to film Batman and Robin fearing there would be problems with filming schedules for her part of Aissa in his film. So he demanded to the studios executives and supervisors that Balk stay under contract for his production, till filming was complete. Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman
Uma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...

 got the part of Poison Ivy instead. After completion of The Island of Dr Moreau She also gave a chillingly intense performance as a neo-Nazi goth-punk opposite Edward Norton
Edward Norton
Edward Harrison Norton is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and producer. In 1996, his supporting role in the courtroom drama Primal Fear garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor...

 in his Academy Award-nominated performance in American History X
American History X
American History X is a 1998 American drama film directed by Tony Kaye and starring Edward Norton and Edward Furlong. It was distributed by New Line Cinema....

in 1998, and was featured in The Waterboy
The Waterboy
The Waterboy is a 1998 American comedy film directed by Frank Coraci. It stars Adam Sandler alongside Henry Winkler, Kathy Bates, Jerry Reed, and Fairuza Balk. Lynn Swann, Lawrence Taylor, Jimmy Johnson, Bill Cowher, Paul Wight, and Rob Schneider have cameos...

,
alongside Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician, and film producer.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office...

, 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 Justice League
Justice League (TV series)
Justice League is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 2001 to 2004 on Cartoon Network. The show was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It is based on the Justice League of America and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics...

and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action computer and video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall...

.
The 2007 documentary Return To Oz: The Joy That Got Away was dedicated to her.

In 2010, Balk released the single Stormwinds under the artist title Armed Love Militia.

Personal life

Balk lives in Hollywood, California, and has an apartment in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Outside her career, her interests include writing poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 and fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

, playing guitar and violin, singing, and dancing. Over the years, she has been romantically involved with a number of well-known men, including British
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 actor David Thewlis
David Thewlis
David Thewlis is an English actor of stage and screen. His most commercially successful role to date has been that of Remus Lupin, in the Harry Potter film series...

, who appeared with her in The Island of Dr. Moreau
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 film)
The Island of Dr. Moreau is a 1996 science fiction horror film, the third major movie version of the H. G. Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau about a scientist who attempts to convert animals into people...

in 1996 and in American Perfekt
American Perfekt
American Perfekt is a 1997 road movie/thriller/drama film written and directed by Paul Chart, produced by Irvin Kershner. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...

in 1997, as well as C. M. Talkington, the director and writer of the cult classic Love and a .45
Love and a .45
Love and a .45 is a 1994 Bonnie and Clyde-esque road movie starring Gil Bellows and Renée Zellweger. The film was originally released by Lions Gate Entertainment.-Plot:...

.


From 1995 to 2001, Balk owned Panpipes Magickal Marketplace, an occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...

 store, in Hollywood, California, but is no longer associated with the store in any way.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1983 Beth Bradley TV
1985 Return to Oz
Return to Oz
Return to Oz is a 1985 film which is an unofficial sequel to Victor Fleming's The Wizard of Oz. The film is based on the second and third Oz books, The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz...

Dorothy Gale
Dorothy Gale
Dorothy Gale is the protagonist of many of the Oz novels by American author L. Frank Baum, and the best friend of Oz's ruler Princess Ozma. Dorothy first appears in Baum's classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappears in most of its sequels...

1986 Deceptions
Deceptions
Deceptions is a 1990 drama film starring Nicollette Sheridan, Harry Hamlin and Robert Davi. It was directed by Ruben Preuss and written by Ken Denbow and Richard Taylor....

Penny Roberts TV
Mildred Hubble TV
Discovery Molly
1987 Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story
Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story
Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story is a 1987 television biographical drama starring Farrah Fawcett. The film chronicles the life of Barbara Hutton, who was one of the richest American socialite women, but was never happy. Released in two versions, as a TV miniseries and TV movie, the...

Barbara Hutton
Barbara Hutton
Barbara Woolworth Hutton was an American socialite dubbed by the media as the "Poor Little Rich Girl" because of her troubled life...

 at the age of 12 years
TV
1988 Celia Brzjinski
1989 Valmont
Valmont (film)
Valmont is a 1989 drama film directed by Miloš Forman, based on the French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos. It was adapted for the screen with a screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière...

Cecile
1991 Deadly Intentions... Again?
Deadly Intentions... Again?
Deadly Intentions... Again? is a 1991 television film, and a sequel to the 1985 film Deadly Intentions.-Plot:After serving time for the attempted murder of his first wife, the main character, a doctor, begins plotting to kill his second....

Stacey TV
1992 Gas Food Lodging
Gas Food Lodging
Gas Food Lodging is a 1992 movie directed by Allison Anders about a waitress trying to find romance while raising two daughters in a trailer-park. It stars Brooke Adams, Ione Skye, and Fairuza Balk. The film was adapted from the novel Don't Look and It Won't Hurt by Richard Peck...

Shade Winner, Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress
Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress
The Film Independent's Spirit Award for Best Female Lead is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards.-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...

Shame
Shame
Shame is, variously, an affect, emotion, cognition, state, or condition. The roots of the word shame are thought to derive from an older word meaning to cover; as such, covering oneself, literally or figuratively, is a natural expression of shame....

Lizzie Curtis TV
Lisa TV (concerning the story of Carolyn Warmus
Carolyn Warmus
Carolyn Warmus is serving a 25-year sentence for the murder of her lover's wife. The murder case attracted national attention and led to comparisons with the movie Fatal Attraction.-Early life:...

)
1993 Murder in the Heartland
Murder in the Heartland
Murder in the Heartland is a television miniseries aired on ABC in 1993. It was based on the 1957 murder spree carried out by 19 year-old Charles Starkweather throughout Nebraska and Wyoming. The first half of the miniseries covers the murders. The second half covers the trials of Starkweather and...

Caril Ann Fugate
Caril Ann Fugate
Caril Ann Fugate was the adolescent girlfriend and accomplice of spree killer Charles Starkweather. She is the youngest female in United States history to have been tried for first-degree murder....

TV
1994 Imaginary Crimes
Imaginary Crimes
Imaginary Crimes is a 1994 film starring Harvey Keitel and Fairuza Balk, telling the story of Ray Weiler , a widowed hustler trying to raise two daughters in 1962 Portland, Oregon....

Sonya Weiler
Tollbooth Doris
1995 Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead is a 1995 crime film directed by Gary Fleder from a screenplay written by Scott Rosenberg. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Andy García, Christopher Lloyd, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken, Fairuza Balk, and Gabrielle Anwar.The film's title...

Lucinda
Shadow of a Doubt Angel Harwell TV
1996 Nancy Downs
Aissa
1997 Bella Sotto
American Perfekt
American Perfekt
American Perfekt is a 1997 road movie/thriller/drama film written and directed by Paul Chart, produced by Irvin Kershner. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...

Alice Thomas
1998 There's no Fish Food in Heaven Mona
American History X
American History X
American History X is a 1998 American drama film directed by Tony Kaye and starring Edward Norton and Edward Furlong. It was distributed by New Line Cinema....

Stacey
Vicki Vallencourt
1999-2001 Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...

Connie D'Amico TV; voice
2000 Red Letters Gretchen Van Buren
Almost Famous
Almost Famous
Almost Famous is a 2000 musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe and telling the fictional story of a teenage journalist writing for Rolling Stone magazine while covering the fictitious rock band Stillwater , and his efforts to get his first cover story published...

Sapphire
2002 Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits is a 2002 American independent film written and directed by Rebecca Miller.- Plot :Personal Velocity is a tale of three women who have reached a turning point in their lives. Delia is a spirited, working-class woman from a small town in New York state who leaves...

Paula
Deuces Wild
Deuces Wild
Deuces Wild is a 2002 American action-crime film directed by Scott Kalvert and written by Paul Kimatian and Christopher Gambale, who also created the story. It stars Stephen Dorff, Brad Renfro, James Franco, Matt Dillon, and Fairuza Balk amongst others. The film is set in 1958 Brooklyn, New York City...

Annie
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action computer and video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall...

Mercedes Cortez video game; voice
2003 Justice League
Justice League (TV series)
Justice League is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 2001 to 2004 on Cartoon Network. The show was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It is based on the Justice League of America and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics...

Penny 1 episode
2005 What Is It?
What Is It?
What Is It? is the name of a 2005 dramatic film written, starring, funded and directed by Crispin Hellion Glover. It is described by IMDb as "The adventures of a young man whose principal interests are snails, salt, a pipe, and how to get home...

Snail voice
Don't Come Knocking
Don't Come Knocking
Don't Come Knocking is a 2005 film, a comedy-drama road movie directed by German director Wim Wenders and written by Wenders and actor/playwright Sam Shepard. The two had previously collaborated on the film Paris, Texas...

Amber
Lola
2006 Wild Tigers I Have Known
Wild Tigers I Have Known
Wild Tigers I Have Known is a 2006 film written and directed by Cam Archer. The film premeried at the Sundance Film Festival. The film tells the story of a thirteen-year boy, Logan, played by Malcolm Stumpf, who enters into a relationship with an older boy, Rodeo. Logan's friend, Joey, was played...

Logan's Mom
Masters of Horror
Masters of Horror
Masters of Horror is an informal social group of international film writers and directors specializing in horror movies and an American television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network.- Origin :...

Stacia TV episode "Pick Me Up"
2008 Grindstone Road
Grindstone Road
Grindstone Road is a 2008 horror-thriller written by Paul Germann and directed by Melanie Orr.-Cast:*Fairuza Balk as Hannah*Greg Bryk as Graham*Walter Learning as Ted*Joan Gregson as Linda*Dylan Authors as Daniel Jenkins*Matt Gordon as Martin...

Hannah Sloan
Humboldt County
Humboldt County (film)
Humboldt County is a 2008 comedy/drama film by Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs. It stars Jeremy Strong, Fairuza Balk, Frances Conroy, Madison Davenport, Brad Dourif, Chris Messina and Peter Bogdanovich. The film made its debut at SXSW on March 7, 2008...

Bogart
2009 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is a 2009 American crime drama film directed by Werner Herzog and starring Nicolas Cage.-Overview:...

Heidi

External links

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