Fairuza Balk

Fairuza Alejandra Balk, born May 21, 1974 in Point Reyes, California, is an actress and musician. She made her theatrical film debut as Dorothy Gale in Disney's 1985 film Return to Oz. She best known for her roles in films such as The Craft as Nancy Downs, Valmont, The Island of Dr. Moreau, American History X, The Waterboy, Almost Famous, and Personal Velocity: Three Portraits.

Early life
Born as Fairuza Alejandra Feldthouse in Point Reyes, California. The name Fairuza is of Turkish origin meaning "turquoise" in Persian. Her father gave her the name for the color of her eyes. Until age two, Balk lived in Cloverdale, California and They then moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she began acting at age six. They moved to London and then to Paris for another role. They remained there for six months before returning to Vancouver. Balk owned an occult shop in Los Angeles as a young woman upon signing to act in The Craft as Nancy Downs.

Career
Balk's debut role was in a 1983 television film titled The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. While in London, Balk was cast by Walt Disney Productions to star as Dorothy Gale in Return to Oz, the unofficial sequel to MGM's 1939 musical The Wizard of Oz. This role led to other, minor roles, including that of Mildred Hubble in The Worst Witch. In 1988, at age 14, she moved to Paris to work on Valmont with Miloš Forman. By 1989, she was back in Vancouver, where she attended high school. However, she soon decided to take correspondence courses instead and went back to Hollywood, where she gained increasing notice as an actress. In 1992, she was awarded an Independent Spirit Award as best actress for her performance in the Allison Anders film Gas Food Lodging.

In 1996, she appeared in a lead role in The Craft, in which her character formed a teenage coven with characters portrayed by Neve Campbell, Rachel True and Robin Tunney. Since then, Balk has continued to find roles, primarily dark ones. In 1996, she co-starred in The Island of Dr Moreau. In 1998, she played a neo-Nazi goth-punk opposite Edward Norton in American History X, and was featured in The Waterboy, alongside Adam Sandler. Since 2000, she has appeared in over a dozen films and was briefly in a band called G-13. She has also done voice work for animated films, TV shows and video games, including Justice League, Family Guy, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Lords of EverQuest. The 2007 documentary Return to Oz: The Joy That Got Away was dedicated to her.

In 2010, Armed Love Militia, Balk's musical outlet, released the single "Stormwinds". The track was written and sung by Balk. Armed Love Militia continued, with Balk collaborating on an EP with singer and songwriter Mel Sanson.

In 2011, Balk began to exhibit art in Los Angeles and New York. On August 4, 2012, she participated in the group show 'MiXTAPE', with other notable artists Mark Ryden, Camille Rose Garcia, Jessicka Addams, and Marion Peck. Artists were asked to pick a song and create art inspired by that song. Fairuza chose the song "Nuages" by Django Reinhardt and created a 16"x20"x12" mixed-media sculpture. The eclectic mix of songs chosen were featured for digital download on iTunes.

In 2017, the emo puppet band Fragile Rock performed a song entitled "Fairuza Balk" on their NPR Tiny Desk Concert. Balk tweeted that the song was "wonderful and hilarious" and made her year.

In 2020, Balk returned to her role as Nancy Downs, the biological mother of the main character Lily Schechner (portrayed by Cailee Spaeny) in The Craft: Legacy.

Personal life
During the time of filming The Craft, she was a practicing pagan. Her current spirituality is unknown.