Eliza Dushku

Eliza Patricia Dushku is an actress and producer from the United States. She is most famous for her role as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series Angel. She also produced the Fox science fiction series Dollhouse and had prominent parts in the Fox supernatural drama series Tru Calling.

Background and Age

On December 30, 1980, Eliza Dushku was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, as the youngest of four children of a schoolteacher and administrator Philip Richard George Dushku and political science professor Judy Dushku. Dushku's father is of Albanian ancestry, with parents from the city of Korç, while her mother is of Danish, English, Irish, and German ancestry, hailing from Idaho. Her parents were divorced before she was born.

Dushku and her three brothers were reared as Mormons by their mother, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She graduated from Watertown High School after attending Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

Career

Eliza's big break in acting came when she appeared as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis' Little girl in True Lies' film. She enjoyed acting in the movie because she got to run around with the crew as they filmed the elaborate action shots.

She made her way into the mainstream with the TV series ' Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is still one of her most incredible hits. After this, she appeared in films like 'Bring It On, 'Soul Survivors,' 'The New 'Wrong Turn,' ' Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and 'Tru Calling.'

She had a regular role in the last and fourth season of the Cinemax TV series 'Banshee' in 2016. Because of her work and background, she was welcomed and granted citizenship in Albania.

She is currently the CEO of Boston Diva Productions and 'THRIVEGulu,' and she has built up a strong reputation through her acting career and activism for female rights. She is one of the leading celebrity figures in the feminist movement.

Marriage, Husband and Kids

Eliza Dushku is right now in a relationship with businessman Peter Palandjian. Peter has four children from a past relationship.

She was involved with an NBA star basketball player named Rick Fox for a long time from 2009 to 2014. Their relationship finished because of some obscure reasons on June 24, 2014. Before her relationship with Rick Fox, Dushku dated Brent Bolthouse in 2008-2009 and Seth MacFarlane in 2008. she was also involved with Brad Penny and Matt Dillon before these relationships. She married businessman Peter Palandjian on August 18, 2018, after they got engaged in June 2017, and gave birth to the couple's kid in August 2019. Dushku revealed her pregnancy with the couple's second child on Instagram in February 2021.

Activism

Dushku is a member of the board of directors of the THRIVE-Gulu organization (The Trauma Healing and Reflection Center in Gulu), which her mother and stepfather co-founded to support war survivors (including former child soldiers) in Northern Uganda. She contributed $30,000 for the site on which the center's building would be built and other fundraising efforts and volunteer work at the center.

Dushku was invited as a national keynote speaker by the Millennium Campus Network (MCN) and honored as a Global Generation Award recipient with US Secretary of State John Kerry at MCN events in 2011 as a role model for campus leaders for her advocacy.

Dushku donated funds for Camp Hale, which her father and siblings had attended, over several years, including some special campaigning to keep a new concept of a girls' session at the camp, inaugurated in 2012 and which she attended in person.

Harassment and Assualt

Dushku revealed her sexual assault by stunt coordinator Joel Kramer while she was 12 and working on True Lies in January 2018. She said that Dushku's adult friend confronted Kramer onset shortly after and that Dushku was hurt during a stunt and many of her ribs were shattered the same day, while Kramer was in charge of her safety. Kramer has denied any sexual misconduct allegations.

Dushku was removed from a recurring role on Bull in January 2019, after telling producers of series lead Michael Weatherly's abusive behavior on set. CBS reached a $9.5 million settlement with her. According to documents from the formal mediation, Weatherly was recorded on film making comments about punishing Dushku over his knee, encouraging a threesome, alluding to sexual assault in his "rape van," and other inappropriate remarks.

Weatherly texted CBS Television Studios president David Stapf after Dushku spoke with producers, stating he wanted to discuss Dushku's sense of humor. Still, Stapf pushed back, saying, "Ms. Dushku made the show better." Despite studio officials' opposition, showrunner Glenn Caron canceled her scheduled participation on the show a few days later. The settlement was calculated to compensate Dushku for her lost earnings from her anticipated promotion to series regular, with "well-developed plans" to make her a regular cast member after her three-episode guest appearance. When the settlement was announced in December 2018, Weatherly officially apologized for his remarks. According to Dushku, Weatherly disregarded the terms of their payment by speaking to the press, who called his apologies "more deflection, denial, and spin."