Biography for Fairuza Balk
Fairuza Balk as Nancy Downs
Sarah is forced to move to LA. There she starts a new school with no friends. There she meets Rochelle, Nancy and Bonnie- three girls with a very unhealthy interest in the occult. Sarah joins them, and all four girls experiment with witchcraft. It starts off as harmless fun, bet ends with a terrifying fight for survival for one of the girls. Robin Tunney is the quiet and troubled sarah. Rachel True is the funny and sometimes bitchy Rochelle, Neve Campbell is the sexy and extremely snobby Bonnie, and Fairuza Baulk is brilliant as the very scary and very on edge Nancy. The Craft is an interesting thriller which relies on visuals to shock. The soundtrack is very catchy and some of the lines in the the film are very funny i.e Bus Driver: You girls watch out for those weirdos! Nancy: Mister, we ARE the Weirdos!
Biography for Fairuza Balk
Birth name
Fairuza Alejandra Balk
Date of birth
21 May 1974,
Point Reyes, California, USA
Nickname
Ru
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"Fairuza!" her father exclaimed as he saw her blue eyes (that's "turquoise" in Persian); Fairuza Alejandra Balk had just been born, May 21, 1974. Her father Solomon Feldthouse was a traveling musician, and her mother Cathryn Balk was a belly dancer. Her parents split up soon after. Fairuza grew up just north of San Francisco on a commune-type ranch. Her mother later found some work in Vancouver, it was there that Fairuza got her first acting job in a TV-movie, at age 9. Two years later, it was off to England; Fairuza attended the Royal Academy of Ballet, the Ramona Beauchamp Agency and the Bush Davies Performing Arts School. Fairuza would work for Disney for a while; at age 11 she was chosen from out of 1,200 girls to play the part of Dorothy, starring in "Return to Oz" (1985). A year later she would star as, prophetically enough, "The Worst Witch" (a harbinger of her breakout role in "The Craft" 10 years later). Fairuza and her mother remained in London until 1988, then headed to Paris where the 15-year-old Fairuza starred in "Valmont." The next year they returned to Vancouver where Fairuza enrolled in high school. But, despite being a movie star, Fairuza was shy in class; she ended up doing correspondence courses. Back in Hollywood, Fairuza starred in a string of movies, including "Gas Food Lodging" (1992) for which she received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress. Following further TV and film work, the beautiful Fairuza, now 5'3" and 100 lbs, achieved cult status with her starring role as a teenage witch in her signature movie "The Craft" (1996). This movie gave Fairuza her greatest fame; (in real life, she owns a Wiccan shop, "Panpipes Magickal" in Hollywood). The same year she appeared in "The Island of Dr. Moreau, " in which she did some belly dancing, and attracted the attention of Lancashire, England-born costar David Thewlis; it was rumored that they were dating. They did 2 more movies together: "American Perfekt" (1997) and "Great Sex" (2000). Fairuza was the love interest in the wildly popular flick "The Waterboy" (1998) and had a major role in "American History X" (which is in IMDb's Top 250 movie list). With a half dozen movies for 2000, Fairuza is much in demand. Her interests are: writing poetry and stories; playing the guitar; singing (her main enjoyment); and dancing. Fairuza lives in Venice, CA, and has an apartment in New York City. As befits a Wiccan, she has 5 cats (familiars?), named: MoMo, Scout, Oscar, Sweetpea Poteet Tennessee, and Mouse.
Fairuza Balk began her career as a child on the ABC special "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," and the Disney movie "Return to Oz." She attended the Bush Davies Performing Arts School in the UK for two and a half years, where she landed a series of jobs. She won a CableAce award as Best Actress for her role in the TV movie "Shame," and won the Independent Spirit Award for Best actress for "Gas-Food-Lodging." She can currently be seen in "The Waterboy" and "American History X."
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Trivia
Once appeared as a vampire in a ZZ Top video
Born at 3:00am-PDT
Appeared in techno-superstar Moby's music video for "Natural Blues, " which began airing in early 2000, along with Christina Ricci.
Has nine tattoos and a nose ring.
Has a triangle tattoo on her shoulder because the Nazi soldiers branded the symbol on the gypsies in concentration camps. This is her way of paying respect to her culture and remembering the suffering her ancestors endured.
Is of Persian and Gypsy heritage.
She once fully owned her own Occult Craft shop in California called Panpipes. In 2001, she sold 50% of the business was a co-owner. Later she sold her share of the store to the current owners.
Enjoys listening to punk rock and plays guitar and piano.
Loves to read, and her favorite authors are William Burroughs, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Jung, Isabel Allende, Michael Bulgakov, Ernest Hemingway, and Balzac.
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Links:
What Is It? (2005) (voice) .... Snail
Don't Come Knockin' (2004) .... Amber
A Year and a Day (2004) .... Lola
Lords of Everquest (2003) (VG) (voice) .... Lady T'Lak
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) (VG) (voice) .... Mercedes Cortez
... aka Vice City (USA: short title)
Deuces Wild (2002) .... Annie
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits (2002) .... Paula
... aka Personal Velocity (2002) (USA: short title)
Sol Goode (2001)
"Family Guy" (1999) TV Series (voice) .... Connie D'Amico (2001)
What Is It? (2000) (voice) .... Snail
Almost Famous (2000) .... Saphire, Band Aid
... aka Untitled: Almost Famous the Bootleg Cut (2001) (USA: director's cut) (DVD title)
Red Letters (2000) .... Gretchen Van Buren
Fairuza Goes to Oz (1999) (V) .... Herself
Fairuza Returns to Oz (1999) (V) .... Herself (interview)
Waterboy, The (1998) .... Vicki Vallencourt
American History X (1998) .... Stacey
There's No Fish Food In Heaven (1998) .... Mona
... aka Life in the Fast Lane (2000) (USA: DVD title)
American Perfekt (1997) .... Alice
Maker, The (1997) .... Bella Sotto
Witching Hour, The (1996) (TV) .... Herself/Nancy Downs
Island of Dr. Moreau, The (1996) .... Aissa
Craft, The (1996) .... Nancy Downs
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995) .... Lucinda
Shadow of a Doubt (1995) (TV) .... Angel Harwell
Tollbooth (1994) .... Doris
Imaginary Crimes (1994) .... Sonya
Murder in the Heartland (1993) (TV) .... Caril Ann Fugate
Danger of Love: The Carolyn Warmus Story, The (1992) (TV) .... Lisa
... aka Danger of Love, The (1992) (TV) (USA: short title)
Shame (1992) (TV) .... Lizzie Curtis
Gas Food Lodging (1992) .... Shade
Deadly Intentions... Again? (1991) (TV) .... Stacey
Valmont (1989) .... Cecile
Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick, The (1988) .... Delia Brzjinski
... aka Bright Spark (1988) (Australia: video title)
Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story (1987) (TV) .... Barbara (age 12)
Discovery (1986) .... Molly
Worst Witch, The (1986) (TV) .... Mildred Hubble
Deceptions (1985) (TV)
Walt Disney Comedy and Magic Revue, The (1985) (V) .... Dorothy (archive footage)
Return to Oz (1985) .... Dorothy Gale
Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The (1983) (TV) .... Beth Bradley
