Eliza Dushku, who is best known for playing Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has scored roles that have solidified her position in popular cultural history. She has raised awareness of the problem of abuse in Hollywood and helped other survivors on their path.
Check out some of Dushku’s most iconic roles, her advocacy, and her current projects!
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Background
Dushku was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 30, 1980. She was Judy Dushku’s only child and the youngest of Philip Richard George and Judy. Before she was born, her parents got divorced.
Dushku is a mixed-race person. Her mother is of English, Irish, German, and Danish ancestry, while her father is of Albanian descent. Later, in 2011, she applied for and was granted citizenship of Albania.
Dushku and her elder brothers, who were all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were all reared as Mormons by their mother. Although she later left the LDS church as an adult, she still has a tattoo in the Mormon faith as a tribute to her upbringing.
She went to Beaver Country Day School, a private college prep institution in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. She then attended and eventually graduated from Watertown High School, a public school in Watertown, Massachusetts.
Acting Career
When Dushku was just ten years old, she started performing. After a five-month search, she was cast as Alice in the 1992 movie That Night, which served as her breakthrough role. Juliette Lewis played the subject of Alice’s adoration, Sheryl O’Conner, in the coming-of-age love story.
She was cast in the movie This Boy’s Life the next year, co-starring Hollywood heavyweights Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. Pearl Hansen, the character’s daughter, was portrayed by Dushku.
Dushku was chosen to play an adolescent in the 1994 action movie True Lies. Dushku played Helen Tasker, the daughter of Harry Tasker, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, and Helen Tasker, who was played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In the cheering comedy Bring It On, Dushku played the rough-and-tumble Missy Pantone, one of her most well-known performances. Bring It On has gained cult classic status among fans after being mimicked in movies and television since its premiere.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Dushku’s most illustrious and well-known role, Faith, in the supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was given to her in 1998.
Dushku was recommended to submit a videotape audition for the part of Faith by her agency in order to co-star in the series with another of his clients, Sarah Michelle Geller, who played the lead role as Buffy.
Assuming the character of Faith necessitated skipping Suffolk University as scheduled. She also needed to be given emancipated because she was a minor at the time in order to put in the lengthy hours needed for production.
Faith was a vampire slayer who was tasked with taking on bad monsters, just like Buffy. Buffy, who served as the series’ protagonist, had Faith as a counterbalance. She initially assists the main protagonists, but as she attempts to reconcile her mental state with the horrific acts she conducts, she gradually becomes a more villainous position.
Between 1998 and 2002, Dushku appeared in twenty-one episodes of the sitcom as Faith. She then played the part again on the television series Angel for six episodes, where her character sought atonement for her prior deeds.
Tru Calling
Dushku was chosen to play the title character in the eerie drama Tru Calling in 2003. Tru Davies, a medical student who begins working at a mortuary and learns she has the ability to “redo” the previous day if the deceased want to reverse something that occurred, is played by Dushku in the episode.
Due to lower than expected ratings and numerous unresolved cliffhangers, the show was cancelled in 2005.
Dollhouse
Dushku persuaded Joss Whedon, with whom she had previously collaborated on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to work with her on the Dollhouse project, which she was planning to produce and star in.
Dollhouse’s story centers on a business that employs individuals in secret facilities known as Dollhouses and programs them as “Dolls.” The Dolls are programmed with fictitious personalities and abilities in order to carry out evil deeds like robberies and assassinations.
Dushku portrays Echo, a Doll who is getting to understand herself more and more.
Despite the first season’s mixed reviews, the show was renewed for a second season. The show was cancelled in 2010 after the airing of the second season finale episode.
Post Dollhouse
Dushku continued to act in movies after Dollhouse was canceled. She appeared in the films Jane Wants a Boyfriend, Eloise, The Scribbler, Locked In, and The Scribbler.
Dushku proceeded to appear in TV shows including White Collar, The League, Leap Year, and Banshee as a lead actress.
In 2017, she received her last acting recognition for her recurring guest appearance as J.P. Nunnelly in the CBS television series Bull.
Why did she stop acting?
While the reasons behind Dushku’s decision to stop acting are unclear, her experience on her final television performance in the series Bull would seem to be one of them.
Dushku accused Glenn Gordon Caron and actor Michael Weatherly of sexual harassment on the set.
She allegedly complained about the harassment and was sacked from the show. After the accusations were found to be valid, a $9.5 million settlement was struck between Dushku and CBS.
I don’t want people to assume coming forward means your career is over, Dusku remarked to Time when asked why she hasn’t acted since working on Bull. I might be acting… I really must be present at this time.
What is Eliza Dushku doing now?
Dushku disclosed that she had been abused on the set of True Lies in a Facebook post in 2018.
One of Hollywood’s top stunt coordinators, Joel Kramer, sexually assaulted me when I was twelve years old when we were filming True Lies.
Dushku continues by detailing the horrific torture she experienced and her adult decision to come out.
In many respects, Hollywood has been quite kind to me. However, as a young actress, Hollywood likewise fell short of defending me. I prefer to picture myself as a tough Boston girl, not unlike Faith, Missy, or Echo, I suppose. Over the years, courageous readers have frequently told me how some of my characters gave them the courage to confront their abusers. You are now the one who gives me courage and conviction. By speaking up, I hope to safeguard others from being victims of abuse in the future.
Later, when Charisma Carpenter accused Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator and writer Joss Whedon of creating a toxic workplace and abusing his authority, Dushku came out in favor of Carpenter, with whom she co-starred on both Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Several actresses, including Dushku and Carpenter, have accused Joss Whedon of inappropriate behavior while developing Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
When Dushku went to the White House in 2022, she saw President Biden sign legislation that prohibited forced arbitration in situations of workplace sexual assault and harassment.
Additionally, it enables victims to bring legal claims against the people who hurt them.
Moving On
Dushku reached fourteen years of sobriety in November 2022. She shared a picture of her 14-year chip on Instagram.
Dushku was also able to realize a desire by enrolling in and finishing college, albeit a little later than she had originally planned.
“The journey has been a little longer than the typical college experience perhaps,” she wrote on Instagram, “but I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to attend university, something I do not take for granted for 1 second, and b.) to have the insane support & encouragement from my school/s surrounding being a 35-40 year old back-to-school ‘kid’.”
She received her college diploma via Zoom in 2020 and plans to continue her education to earn a master’s degree in holistic counseling, psychology, theory, and practice.
Personal Life
Dushku first met Peter Palandjian when she relocated to Boston to attend college.
Palandjian, a former professional tennis player, is the CEO of Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation. They were married in 2018 after becoming engaged in 2017.
Dushku gave birth to a baby named Philip Bourne in 2019, which was her first kid. Dushku gave birth to Bodan, her second son, in 2021.
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