All About Eliza Dushku

Biography of Eliza Dushku

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Date of Birth
30 December 1980, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Birth Name
Eliza Patricia Dushku

Nickname
Duck Shoot (bestowed on her by Kevin Smith)

Height
5' 5" (1.65 m)

Eliza Dushku was discovered at the end of a five-month search throughout the United States for the perfect girl to play the lead role of Alice opposite Juliette Lewis in the film That Night (1992). Since then, she has been in several films and has worked with actors such as Robert De Niro, Ellen Barkin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Paul Reiser, and James Belushi. Born in Boston on December 30, 1980, she has studied the piano, drums, and several types of dance (jazz, tap, and ballet). Her previous acting experience includes numerous amateur presentations at the Watertown Children's Theater where she was part of the company since she was in the first grade. In addition to acting, she is sometimes seen on stage at the Children's Theater signing for the deaf.

SPECIAL APPEARANCES of ELIZA DUSHKU

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The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1 episode, "9 May 2002", 2002) .... Herself

HypaSpace (1 episode, #1.113, 2002) .... Herself

Extra (1 episode, "21 October 2003", 2003) .... Herself

Late Show with David Letterman (2 episodes, "#9.205" and "7 April 2003", 2002-2003) .... Herself / Herself as Guest

The Late Late Show (3 episodes, "9 November 2002", "20 January 2004" and "12 April 2004", 2002-2004) .... Herself

HypaSpace (1 episode, "#1.113", 2002) .... Herself

E! News (2 episodes, "20 May 2003" and "19 October 2005", 2003-2005) .... Herself

Late Night with Conan O'Brien (3 episodes, "23 May 2003", "20 November 2003" and "17 January 2006", 2003-2006) .... Herself

Last Call with Carson Daly (1 episode, "25 November 2003", 2003) .... Herself

Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2 episodes, "23 February 2004" and "6 August 2008", 2004-2008) .... Herself

On Air with Ryan Seacrest (1 episode, "23 February 2004", 2004) .... Herself

The Sharon Osbourne Show (1 episode, "26 February 2004", 2004) .... Herself

Richard & Judy (1 episode, "19 April 2004", 2004) .... Herself

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards '04 (2004) (TV) .... Herself

Teen Choice Awards 2004 (2004) (TV) .... Herself

The Tony Danza Show (1 episode, "#2.73", 2005) .... Herself

Live with Regis and Kelly (1 episode, "2 December 2005", 2005) .... Herself

Euro Video Grand Prix (2006) (TV) .... Herself and Presenter

TELEVISION show of ELIZA DUSHKU

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Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1998-2003	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Faith	20 episodes
2000-2003	Angel	Faith	6 episodes
2002	King of the Hill	Jordan	(1 episode, "Get Your Freak Off")
2003	Punk'd	Herself	(uncredited)
2003	Tru Calling (2003-2005)	Tru Davies	Main Role (27 episodes)
2005	That '70s Show	Sarah	(1 episode, "It's All Over Now")
2005	Reading Rainbow	Herself	(1 episode, "Unique Monique")
2007	Ugly Betty	Cameron Ashlock	(1 episode, "Giving up the Ghost")
2009	Dollhouse	Echo	producer and executive producer - filming

FILMOGRAPHY of ELIZA DUSHKU

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Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1992	That Night	Alice Bloom	First Role
1993	This Boy's Life	Pearl
1994	Fishing with George	N/A
1994	True Lies	Dana Tasker
1995	Bye Bye Love	Emma
1995	Journey	Cat	(TV)
1996	Race the Sun	Cindy Johnson
2000	Bring It On	Missy Pantone
2001	Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back	Sissy
2001	Soul Survivors	Annabel
2002	The New Guy	Danielle
2002	'City by the Sea	Gina
2003	Wrong Turn	Jessie Burlingame
2003	The Kiss	Megan
2006	The Last Supper	Waitress
2007	Nurses	Eve Morrow
	On Broadway	Lena Wilson
	Nobel Son	City Hall
	Sex and Breakfast	Renee
2008	Bottle Shock	Joe
	The Alphabet Killer	Megan Paige	associate producer
	The Thacker Case	Monica Wright
	Noah's Ark: The New Beginning	Zalbeth (voice)	(post-production)
2009	Open Graves	Erica	(completed)

NOMINATIONS

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She was nominated in 2004: for a Teen Choice Award at the Teen Choice Awards for Choice Breakout Star - Female for Tru Calling (2003)

She was also nominated in 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 (2003).

PERSONAL LIFE of ELIZA DUSHKU

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Dushku currently resides in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California.

She has stated that she dated Major League Baseball player Brad Penny.

In late 2008, Dushku broke up with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane; she is currently dating Los Angeles party promoter and DJ Brent Bolthouse.

Dushku is the CEO of her production company Boston Diva and serves as a producer on her yet-to-be-released Fox sci-fi series, Dollhouse. She is an avid fan of the Boston Red Sox.

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."

CURRENT PROJECTS of ELIZA DUSHKU

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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 and received exceptional reviews.Another project is On Broadway, an independent movie filmed in her native Boston. The movie is receiving great reviews 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. 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. The Alphabet Killer contains Dushku's first topless scene.

She will co-star along with Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman, Chris Pine and Rachel Taylor in Bottle Shock, a drama about Napa valley wine. The movie is directed by Randall Miller, who helmed Nobel Son. On August 26, 2007, Dushku signed a development deal with Fox Broadcasting and 20th Century Fox. Under the pact, the network and the studio will develop projects tailor-made for the actress. They also will approach her with existing pitches and scripts.

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 will play the main character 'Echo' and serve as a producer on the show, which will air on Fox during the 2008-09 TV Season. In an interview, Dushku talked about how Dollhouse, and her reconnection with Whedon came about:

REFERENCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliza_Dushku

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..

Roles Played in Showbiz

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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.

In 2000, Dushku starred in Soul Survivors, reuniting her with Race The Sun co-star Casey Affleck. She followed that up with the cheerleader comedy Bring It On with Kirsten Dunst, which was a surprising success at the box office that spawned straight-to-DVD sequels. In 2001, she appeared in The New Guy with DJ Qualls and City by the Sea with Robert De Niro and James Franco. 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.

In 2003, Dushku appeared in Wrong Turn, 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 (that 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."

Dushku starred in an off-Broadway production entitled Dog Sees God from December 2005, playing "Van's sister", a character paralleled with Lucy 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. 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. It was released (in North America) on October 14, 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

REFERENCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliza_Dushku

Early Showbiz Career of Eliza Dushku

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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.

Early Life of Eliza Dushku

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Eliza Dushku was born in Massachusetts, the daughter of Philip R. Dushku, an administrator and teacher in the Boston Public Schools, and ex-wife Judith "Judy" (nee Rasmussen), a political science professor. through both of her grandfathers and English- AmericanDushku's father is Albanian - American and her mother is Danish - American through both of her grandmothers. Dushku attended school at Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, Mass. She graduated from Watertown High School also in Massachusetts. She was raised a Mormon, the faith of her mother (though she is not actively practicing). Eliza Dushku has three older brothers: Aaron, Benjamin (Ben) (born February 5, 1976), and Nathaniel (Nate) (born June 8, 1977, in Boston, Massachusetts), the last of whom is a model and actor. Her parents divorced when she was still an infant. 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.

Personal Quotes

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"Go big or go home. Because it's true. What do you have to lose?"

[when asked how being in prison has changed her angry and aggressive "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" character, Faith:] "How would prison change anyone? There was something about the fact that she's a Slayer, so she wouldn't really be there unless she wanted to be because she's got superhuman strength. She could have busted out of that joint if she really wanted to, but she and Angel developed this relationship. He was leading her down the road to redemption, kind of facing the things she's done and recovering from that and hopefully being a better her. She's been in there, doing the time, thinking. She's still a tough girl, but she really has to suppress her demons a little more. In these past few ["Angel"] shows, that's what we're seeing -- her teetering on the line between the old her and the new her." [Buffalo News, March 17, 2003]

"I love leather and it's great to be a bad girl at times. But there is a time and place for everything. When I'm with Grandma it's flowers, and when I'm out on the town scoping guys, you know..."

"There are a lot of actresses out there who are the girl next door. I relate more to characters who have an edge."

"You know, I really am probably one of the sweetest, most sensitive people you'll ever meet."

TRIVIA on ELIZA DUSHKU

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Her last name is pronounced DUSH-koo and rhymes with "push."

Sister of Nate Dushku.

Was legally emancipated from her parents because of the restrictive laws that limit the hours that a minor is allowed to work.

In addition to Nathaniel (Nate), she has two older brothers named Aaron and Benjamin (Ben) (born February 5th 1976).

Dushku was the only family with that surname in the United States of America in 1920 and were living in Massachusetts.

Has worked with both halves of the Buffy season-five bad guy Glory/Ben outside of the Buffy show: Clare Kramer in Bring It On (2000) and Charlie Weber in The Kiss (2003) (V).

Voted the 9th Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine September 2002.

Her mother, Judy (born Judith Rasmussen), is a university administrator-professor at Suffolk University; her Father, Philip R. Dushku, is an administrator-teacher in the Boston Public Schools.

While on location, she surrounds herself with pictures of family and friends.

She always takes the back of her director's chair (the chair personalized with her name) after a shoot as a souvenir.

She used to have a German shepherd-husky-beagle mix named Korbit. Now she has 2 dogs, a golden named Max Factor and a Bernese named Rigby Idaho.

Turned down a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997) spin-off (based on her character, Faith) for her role on "Tru Calling" (2003).

Good friend of Clare Kramer.

She started her career by getting hurt at one of her brother Nate's auditions and impressing the talent scouts with her emphasized drama.

Planned to attended Suffolk University and be an English major, but she backed out at the last minute after she landed the role of Faith in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997).

For a long period of time she refused to do nude scenes. She once stated "You have a better chance of seeing God than me naked". Still in 2008, she appeared topless in the film "The Alphabet Killer".

The tattoo she wore as Faith was fake.

She did a political, social, and economic study of women in post-apartheid South Africa with her mother.

Stated in an interview that she is terrified of flying and will only do so if she has religious artifacts with her.

She attended the John Kerry fund raiser on July, 2004.

Attended the San Diego Comic Convention on July 25th, 2004, for a Q&A session.

She ranked #13 (2002) in Maxim's 100 Sexiest Women.

She ranked #44 (2000), #13 (2001), #28 (2002) and #63 (2003) in Stuff's Sexiest Women.

Her favorite sport is Women's Ice Hockey.

She ranked #76 (2002) in FHM-USA's 100 Sexiest Women.

She ranked #93 (2001) and #58 (2002) in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women.

Shares a birthday with actress Kristin Kreuk, actor-model-singer Tyrese Gibson, and some famous athletes: Tiger Woods, NBA superstar LeBron James, and former Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson.

While filming Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), was called Duck Shoot by director Kevin Smith after he mispronounced her last name accidentally.

According to Chinese calendar and astrology, she was born in the year of the monkey.

Hosted the 2005 Winter Venatian Masquerade in New York.

Her favorite color is black.

Jamie Lee Curtis is her idol.

Named #46 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement (2005).

Was featured as #13 in Maxim Magazine's "Hot 100 of 2002" supplement. (2002)

She went to an audition for the part of Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man (2002). In one of the specials of the Spider-Man (2002) DVD you can see her reading opposite Tobey Maguire. The role later on went to Kirsten Dunst, after Kate Hudson declined the offer. Alicia Witt was actually set to play that part in the end, but when Sam Raimi saw Kirsten Dunst, she was a last minute audition, he chose her.

Her maternal grandfather Richard Costley Rasmussen died at March 30th 2006. He was survived by his wife, Barbara Porter Hegsted.

Has been working with acting coach, Peter Kelley, since she was a child.

Is of Albanian, Danish and Colonial English descent.

Ranked #11 on Wizard magazine's "Sexiest Women of TV" list (March 2008).

When she was told her naturally deep, husky voice was destroying her vocal chords, she went to a vocal coach to learn to speak in a higher register.

Ranked #38 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2008 list.

Says when she was young child her best friend lived in a funeral home and they would often hang out in the mortuary after school, thus desensitizing her to the image of dead bodies. She comments, "It was very 'Six Feet Under'.".

Of the three leads in Bring It On (2000), she was the only one who wasn't a cheerleader in high school.

Personal Quotes

"Go big or go home. Because it's true. What do you have to lose?"

[when asked how being in prison has changed her angry and aggressive "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" character, Faith:] "How would prison change anyone? There was something about the fact that she's a Slayer, so she wouldn't really be there unless she wanted to be because she's got superhuman strength. She could have busted out of that joint if she really wanted to, but she and Angel developed this relationship. He was leading her down the road to redemption, kind of facing the things she's done and recovering from that and hopefully being a better her. She's been in there, doing the time, thinking. She's still a tough girl, but she really has to suppress her demons a little more. In these past few ["Angel"] shows, that's what we're seeing -- her teetering on the line between the old her and the new her." [Buffalo News, March 17, 2003]

"I love leather and it's great to be a bad girl at times. But there is a time and place for everything. When I'm with Grandma it's flowers, and when I'm out on the town scoping guys, you know..."

"There are a lot of actresses out there who are the girl next door. I relate more to characters who have an edge."

"You know, I really am probably one of the sweetest, most sensitive people you'll ever meet."

REFERENCE: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0244630/bio

NEWS ARTICLES and BLOGS on ELIZA DUSHKU

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News articles on ELIZA DUSHKU (as of Feb 12, 2009)

Barney: Joss Whedon welcomes you to his 'Dollhouse'

San Jose Mercury News

, USA

- Feb 12, 2009

- 6 hours ago

By Chuck Barney In this image released by FOX, Eliza Dushku and Fran Kranz are shown in a scene from, "Dollhouse," premiering Feb. 13, 2009 on Fox. ...

clipped from Google - 2/2009

Thursday's Talk Shows

Los Angeles Times

, USA

- Feb 12, 2009

- 14 hours ago

(N) 12:37 am KCBS 7779961 Late Night With Conan O'Brien Alec Baldwin; Eliza Dushku; They Might Be Giants. (N) 12:37 am KNBC 7771329 Last Call With Carson ...

clipped from Google - 2/2009

Eliza Dushku Covers Maxim Magazine

Just Jared

, USA

- Feb 11, 2009

Tonight at 9PM, MTV will debut TI’s Road to Redemption: 45 Days to Go, which chronicles the rapper’s attempts to help others avoid the mistakes he’s made in ...

clipped from Google - 2/2009

What's On Tonight: New 'Survivor,' Wall Street Mess

Hartford Courant

- Feb 12, 2009

- 8 minutes ago

Regis and Kelly: Naomi Watts, Eliza Dushku. The View: Miss Piggy, Patti Stanger, Helen Fisher. Bonnie Hunt: David Foster, Peter Cincotti. ...

clipped from Google - 2/2009

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BLOG POSTS on ELIZA DUSHKU (as of Feb 2009)

Dollhouse: Dollhouse Is Stretching Eliza Dushku's Acting Ability

Eliza Dushku is having the time of her lives, playing Echo, the woman with a million programmable personalities. She talked to reporters about Dollhouse, and we asked her about Joss Whedon's five-year plan. Spoilers! ...

http://io9.com/tag/top

Eliza Dushku - "Dollhouse" Tv Series - Fearnet.com Interview

Is the anticipation killing you yet? The newest Joss Whedon series, Dollhouse, is just days away from premiering. The show follows Echo (played (...)

http://www.whedon.info/

New Film Dimension » Blog Archive » Eliza Dushku March 09 Maxim ...

Eliza Dushku March 09 Maxim Magazine photos. 10 February 2009 2 Comments. This is more of a preview considering these are low quality and not much bigger than what you see above, however, when HQ scans hit the net, I’ll make sure to ...

http://newfilmdimension.com/

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