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Thanks to much of her work on television, actress Eliza Dushku has always found a way to resonate with the nerd culture. She starred in multiple shows that were cult classics, and made guest appearances on several more. Dushku has also enjoyed a nice film career, and has been in the voice acting game as well. Now in her late 30s, Dushku is also focused on raising a child for the first time, so she has plenty on her plate.

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Dushku was born on December 30, 1980 in Boston and was raised in the metro area. “I think I really thought I was a boy until I was 10 years old because my parents divorced when I was born,” Dushku said of her upbringing. “And so my three brothers were almost like my fathers growing up. So they taught me how to ride a bike and all that stuff. I really was just kind of a guy’s girl and just kind of an outspoken - some could say obnoxious - in your face kid.”

Dushku took an interest to acting at just a few years old and when the 1990s kicked off she felt ready to begin a career. Dushku, while still enrolled in school (she finished in public high school) Dushku started to audition for on-screen roles. It wouldn’t take long before she started landing parts, either.

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Dushku’s first acting appearance came in 1992 with “That Night” as a supporting character. Then, Dushku added multiple roles during the mid 1990s with “True Lies”, “Bye Bye Love” and “Race the Sun”. She also made her television debut in a movie called “Journey” and then had her true breakout in 1998. This is when Dushku was cast in a recurring role in the series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” as Faith, and continued the role into the 2000s with “Angel”.

“I literally remember when I made my audition tape for ‘Buffy’. I went to the Arsenal Mall,” Dushku said. “I got my outfit at Contempo Casuals in the Arsenal Mall and put some safety pins in my jeans. I remember telling whoever the clerk was that I was making a tape for ‘Buffy’, and they were so excited.” Thankfully, the outfit choice seemed to work.

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Because of her work on the show, Dushku’s film career started to take off. Within the first few years, Dushku starred in several notable comedies that included “Bring It On”, “The New Guy” and “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”. Dushku landed her first main role on television in “Tru Calling” that aired for just under 30 episodes in three different years.

For the rest of the 2000s, Dushku had multiple guest appearances on television and added more films with “Wrong Turn”, “On Broadway” and “The Alphabet Killer”. Then, at the end of the decade, Dushku received another main role on television with “Dollhouse” that had a run similar to “Tru Calling”, wrapping up with under 30 episodes.

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In the 2010s, Dushku has continued her work as a guest star on television. She’s had appearances on a wide range of shows including “The Big Bang Theory”, “The League” and “Leap Year”. Dushku also used the decade to get into more voice work, appearing in several video games and cartoons such as “Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.”

Most recently, Dushku has been in the movies “Jane Wants a Boyfriend” and “Eloise”, and had a recurring role on the CBS series “Bull”. The latter turned out to make headlines as she sued CBS for misconduct on the part of the show’s star Michael Weatherly. Dushku and CBS settled out of court, reportedly making her nearly $10 million. While her court battle was happening, Dushku became married to the first time in 2018 to Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation CEO Peter Palandjian, and they welcomed their first child the following year.

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Talking about what her alternate plans were if acting didn’t work out, Dushku said that “If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be in school studying political science or socioeconomic something. I love visiting different cultures and finding out how they make up a society...I wanted to be a political science professor and go to school in Boston. I never wanted to be a big, famous movie and TV star. It kind of found me.”

The celebrity status has been able to help Dushku reach out to more people, though, which has been a blessing. “I receive really powerful personal letters,” she said. “I think that takes the cake (in terms of celebrity status). It blows me away...some of the comments. Someone will come and I sense their whole tone and energy when they’re handing me this letter.”

Acting has always been a way of helping to find herself, Dushku says. “I wake up and play a different person every day. Playing all these different characters and trying to figure out who your true authentic self is at the core of that as you’re playing all these different roles, and man, that self-awareness starts to come into effect. And you start to see who you really are.” Hopefully for Dushku, there are many roles to come down the road.

“I have been doing this since I was 10 years old,” Dushku added. “It wasn’t like I was an overnight hit. I think when that happens to some actors - they just don’t know what to do with themselves. You don’t know how to cope with friends and all of a sudden not being able to go out. It’s such a shock to your system.”