Fairuza Alejandra Balk (born May 21, 1974) is an American film actress, probably most famous for her participation in the 1996 movie The Craft. She is a native of Point Reyes, California.

Legend has it that she was named Fairuza because her father, an expert in Persian culture, exclaimed that word the moment she was born, Fairuza meaning Turquoise in Persian, and Balk's eyes being of that color. Soon after her parents split, Fairuza became a world traveller. Raised for the first part of her life in San Francisco, she and her mother moved to Vancouver when Fairuza counted nine years of age. At the age of 11 she moved to London, where she attended various prestigious ballet and acting schools. At that age also, she was picked by the Walt Disney Company to star in the movie Return to Oz. In 1988 she moved to Paris to do more work as an actress, and by 1989 she was back in Vancouver, where she began to attend high school. Soon, however, she decided to take correspondence courses instead.

Then she went back to Hollywood, where she began to be more and more noticed as an actress. In 1992 she was awarded an Independent Spirit Award as Best Actress for her performance in Gas Food Lodging .

Balk was soon cast in The Craft, in which she forms a teenage coven along with Neve Campbell, Rachel True and Robin Tunney. This was particularly appropriate casting, as Fairuza studies Wicca in real life, and owns a store dedicated to that religion, named Panpipes Magickal.

Balk also had a memorable performance as a neo-nazi opposite Edward Norton in American History X.

Balk has been romantically linked to British actor David Thewlis. She also dated Marilyn Manson, but they have since split.

Filmography

• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (1983, TV)
• Return to Oz (1985)
• The Walt Disney Comedy and Magic Review (1985, video)
• Deceptions (1986, TV)
• The Worst Witch (1986, TV)
• Discovery (1986)
• (1987, TV), as Barbara Hutton at 12
• The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick (1988)
• Valmont (1989)
• Deadly Intentions....Again (1991, TV)
• Gas Food Lodging (1992)
• Shame (1992, TV)
• The Danger of Love (1992, TV)
• Murder in the Heartland (1993, TV)
• Imaginary Crimes (1994)
• Tollbooth (1994)
• Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), alongside Andy Garcia
• Shadow of a Doubt (1995, TV)
• The Craft (1996)
• The Island of Doctor Moreau (1996)
• The Maker (1997)
• American Perfekt (1997)
• There's no Fish Food in Heaven (1998)
• American History X (1998)
• The Waterboy (1998)
• The Sopranos (TV, appearing in three episodes in 1999 and 2001)
• Family Guy (TV animated series, three episodes from 1999-2001)
• Red Letters (2000)
• Almost Famous (2000)
• Personal Velocity (2002)
• Deuces Wild (2002)
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002 video game), as "Mercedes Cortez"
• What Is It? (2003)

External link

• IMDb filmography