Fairuza Alejandra Balk was born on May 21st, 1974 in Point Reyes, California. Fairuza's interesting name came from her father, Solomon Feldthouse, who allegedly shouted "Fairuza!" at the sight of his daughter's eyes when she was born. Fairuza being Persian for turquoise. Solomon was a travelling musician and her mother, Cathryn Balk, made a living as a belly dancing instructor. She began her life spending most of her early years in San Francisco, California, later moving to Vancouver and London. In London she chased her performing aspirations by attending ballet and acting classes.
   
Her first acting role was in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" (1983) and later starring in a London sequel to "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) titled "Return to Oz" (1985). Pursuing acting, Balk moved to Paris then later Hollywood, taking correspondence courses to further her education and complete high school. After arriving in Hollywood her career took off and continued to grow, now faster than ever. She co-stared in the 1998 comedy "The Waterboy" along side American funny man Adam Sandler. She also had roles in "American History X" (1998), "Red Letters" (2000), "Almost Famous" (2000), and "Personal Velocity:Three Portraits" (2002).

Fairuza has also applied her talents to many animated films, video games, and TV shows. She has lent her voice to the ever popular cartoon comedy "Family Guy", "Justice League", and the video game "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City". Her multiple television appearances include three episodes of "The Sopranos" from 1999 to 2001. Fairuza's acting career continues to strive and she has been in very recent projects such as "Wild Tigers I Have Known" (2006) and "Humboldt County" (2007).
   
Fairuza has graced the covers of a number of magazines, including "Bikini" in September of 2006, "Starlog" in July of 1985, and "Shivers" (UK) in November of 1996. She has had articles written about her as well as interviews with her released in publications such as
"Playboy", "Bikini", "U.S. Weekly", and "Movieline".
   
In her spare time she enjoys to play musical instruments, including both the guitar and piano. An Irish band has actually named themselves after the actress. She also loves to write fictional stories and poetry. Fairuza, like her mother, is a belly dancer. She is a known pagan and helped with the witchcraft sets for the movie "The Craft" (1996), in which she starred. Balk currently resides in Venice, California, owning an apartment in New York City as well.