Fairuza Balk Movies and Career Information

Fairuza Alejandra Balk (born May 21, 1974) is an American film actress. She made her theatrical film debut as Dorothy Gale in Disney's Return to Oz. Balk has also appeared in The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Craft, American History X and Personal Velocity: Three Portraits. Balk was born as Fairuza Alejandra Feldthouse in Point Reyes, California. Her mother, Cathryn Balk, has studied, performed, and taught the ethnic and traditional dance forms of many countries such as Egypt, Turkey, Morocco and Spain. Her father, Solomon Feldthouse, was one of the founding members of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Kaleidoscope, and also a traveling folk musician; he was born in Pingree, Idaho and moved to Turkey at age 10, where he lived for six years and learned Greek, Turkish and Persian music. Balk has Romani, Cherokee and Blackfoot ancestry. Her first name is the Turkish equivalent of the Arabic version "Fairouz" of the Persian name "Firoozeh", meaning "Turquoise, Victory, or Precious One". Balk lived in Cloverdale, California with her mother, until age two. They then moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she began acting at age six. They moved from London to Paris for another role. They