A talented, soulful child actress who segued into teen and adult roles beginning in the late 1990s, dark-haired, brown-eyed siren in the making Eliza Dushku displayed a refreshing edginess as a young performer that transcended the typical girl-next-door sweetness and moved on to her sultry and downright scary portrayal of the villainous Faith on The WB’s “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer” (from 1998 to 2000). Raised in Massachusetts, Dushku appeared at the Watertown Children’s Theater beginning in the first grade, performing in productions and also serving as a sign-language interpreter for hearing-impaired audience members. In 1991, Dushku was discovered in a casting search for the small coming-of-age romance “That Night” and tapped to co-star as the young, awestruck neighbor of a troubled sixteen-year-old (Juliette Lewis), who helps the older girl navigate her forbidden romance with bad boy Rick (C Thomas Howell). Dushku made an impressive screen debut, evincing all of the dreamy idealism of her character’s youth without resorting to unrealistic sentimentality. The film was released in 1993, the same year that she was featured in her follow-up role as the daughter of Robert De Niro’s sadistic character in the critically acclaimed biopic “This Boy’s Life”. 1994 saw her call Jamie Lee Curtis and Arnold Schwarzenegger Mom and Dad in James Cameron’s humorous actioner “True Lies”.
