Fairuza Alejandra Balk (born May 21, 1974) is an American film actress. She is probably most famous for her participation in the 1996 movie The Craft and, over 10 years prior, in Disney's 1985 sequel to The Wizard of Oz, Return to Oz. Fairuza was born in Point Reyes, California. Her Dutch-American mom Cathryn Balk was a belly dancer. Her father, Solomon Feldthouse, was a travelling musician. Balk is said to have been named Fairuza because her father, of Gypsy (Roma) heritage, exclaimed that word the moment she was born because of her turquoise eyes. Fairuza is a variation of the Persian word Firouzeh which means "turquoise" in Persian. Soon after her parents split, Fairuza became a world traveler. Raised for the first part of her life in San Francisco on a commune-type ranch. She and her mother moved to Vancouver when Fairuza was 9. At 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. She then 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. Balk was soon cast in The Craft, in which her character forms a teenage coven along with the characters portrayed by Neve Campbell, Rachel True and Robin Tunney. This was particularly appropriate casting as Balk studies Wicca in real life and was part owner of a store dedicated to that religion named Panpipes Magickal. (She has since sold her interest in the store and is no longer affiliated with it in any way.) Balk also had a memorable performance as a neo-nazi opposite Edward Norton in American History X. 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.
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