Eliza Dushku

The Danish-Albanian Eliza Dushku.



Eliza Dushku has been acting in movies since the age of 10, but she gained worldwide popularity with her role of Faith Lehane in TV's Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Eliza became the most famous American-Albanian, since her father is from the country of Albania in Eastern Europe. When she first visited Albania, Dushku recalls, "The president even invited me to stay in the palace, but I had to take a rain check to promote the film."



Eliza says her father Philip R. Dushku is a first-generation Albanian-American, who was raised in Boston. Of her own early years Dushku says, "Growing up teachers used to ask me my background and I would say, I'm Albanian. And the teachers would always say, No, no, no sweetheart, you mean you're Armenian. I mean I had teachers who had never heard of Albania!"



Dushku calls her family heritage bizarre saying that her parents are complete opposites. Her mother Judith is of Danish heritage, who was born in Idaho and raised in the Mormon faith.

Eliza was also raised to be Mormon by her mother. "When I was fourteen," says Dushku, "my mother gave my brother and me each a thousand dollars and told us to go to China and not come back until we'd seen eight cities." It was her "feminist Mormon" mother's way of making her kids self-reliant. Eliza was legally emancipated from her parents because the laws did not permit her to work as a minor.

Eliza Dushku is not a practicing Mormon nor very religious, except when flying. Dushku says, "I get very religious whenever I fly. I can't fly without a cross." The Buffy episodes, where she played a dark character, says Dushku, "made my Mormon grandmother frantic." So when she played a goody cheerleader opposite Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union in Bring It On, Eliza said, "It's my apology to the Mormons."



Eliza was not a cheerleader in school, and it was not a happy time for her. Born in Massachusetts, Eliza graduated from Watertown High School. "In middle school I was just a nerd who couldn't do anything right, who wore all the wrong clothes. I got tortured, so in high school it was what can I do to make the teasing stop, so I got tough and started wearing the Army-Navy jacket and going in and giving everybody crazy eyes trying to defend myself. I started working this tough thing pretty well I guess because the people on Buffy saw that and asked me to come on."

Her role as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer was so popular that Eliza was offered a spin-off series based on that character. But she preferred to do a new series called Tru Calling. Dushku's other noted movies are Bottle Shock, Sex and Breakfast, Wrong Turn, and Nobel Son.

Eliza Dushku has her own company called "Boston Diva Productions" with her brother Nate. She is producer and star of the upcoming Fox TV series Dollhouse.



In movies like Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Bring it On Eliza wore skimpy outfits, while she had a bikini scene in and The New Guy. But otherwise she hasn't done too many revealing scenes, and will probably never appear nude. Dushku puts it down to her upbringing.

"I remember my mother saying that one time when I was very young, I was downstairs, alone with my brothers' friends, and she got nervous because she thought they'd try to play doctor with me or something. But even then I was very aware of my boundaries and private personal spots."

You have a better chance of seeing God than seeing me naked

Eliza Dushku says there's constant pressure on her to shed her clothes, either for a movie or a magazine. "You just have to learn to say no," she says because they'll try anything. "It's like, come on, Eliza, just try on the hot pants, OK? But I can't think about what's going to help me in the moment. I'm going to be doing this for a long time; I've got a career to think about."

Eliza Dushku personal

For an actress considered a sex symbol, Eliza Dushku grew up thinking she was a boy till she was 10! She played with action figures and used to rip off the heads of her barbie-dolls. Eliza says, "People would tell my mom, You have four handsome young boys and my mom would say, That one's a girl!"





Eliza discovered her feminine self in the movies, when she was made to put on make-up and wear pretty dresses. She also started getting attracted to cute guys. But Dushku has mostly kept her love life private.

She has stated that she dated all-star LA Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny. Eliza was also believed to have been dating Seth MacFarlane; he is now seeing Amanda Bynes. Dushku loves dogs and her current companion is a golden retriever named Max Factor:

Eliza Dushku with Mila Kunis and Laura Prepon

Eliza Dushku had a spat with PETA, and upset many fans, when she admitted killing a deer in Oklahoma last Christmas. She also hunted elk in Colorado using a bow-and-arrow when she landed her role in Dollhouse. In her defense Eliza said, "A lot of people eat meat... and I eat what I kill."

A lot of this was promotion for Dollhouse, where Dushku says, "I'm riding motorcycles, bow hunting, rock climbing, river rafting, Muay Thai fighting 6’5” dudes, like just everything."

Eliza Dushku fitness

Eliza grew up with three older brothers in Boston, was a tree climber, and touch football player. Apart from this she says, "I grew up in New England, so we camped a lot in the mountains there, and also I had done some camping in Utah and places like that."




Eliza describes her family as big eaters and says she eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and snacks everyday, all day but still, "I happen to be a bony, skinny kid."



Dushku also smokes and drinks. She picked up the smoking habit when she was 13 and finally quit in 2005. Eliza, Kelly Preston, and Neve Campbell are some of the celebrities behind the "Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids" organization. Eliza says that Yoga helped control her urge for cigarettes.



Eliza Dushku, who will turn 28 on Dec 30, says, "Going running makes me feel emotionally better and emotionally healthy. It's so important to me, and just doing Yoga." Recently Eliza took part in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon, coming third in the women's celebrity division, after completing the half-mile ocean swim, 18-mile bike route, and 4-mile run in 2 hours and 22 minutes: