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Eliza Patricia Dushku (pronounced /ˈduːʃkuː/; born December 30, 1980) is an American actress who appeared in several Hollywood movies such as True Lies, The New Guy, Bring It On, Wrong Turn and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. She is also well known for her acting on television, such as her recurring appearances on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel as Faith, as well as the main character, Tru Davies, in the series Tru Calling. She also produces and stars as Echo in the series Dollhouse, created by Joss Whedon (with whom Dushku worked on Buffy and Angel), which premiered February 2009 on Fox.
Dushku was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, the daughter of Philip R. Dushku, an administrator and teacher in the Boston Public Schools, and ex-wife Judith "Judy" (née Rasmussen), a political science professor at Suffolk University in Boston. Dushku's father is Albanian American and her mother is Danish American through both of her grandfathers and English American through both of her grandmothers. Dushku attended Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, and graduated from Watertown High School. She was raised a Mormon, the faith of her mother (though she is not actively practicing). She has three older brothers: Aaron, Benjamin (Ben, born February 5, 1976), and Nathaniel (Nate, born June 8, 1977, in Boston, Massachusetts), the latter of whom is a model and actor. Her parents divorced when she was still an infant. In 2005 she visited her father's family in Albania after being personally invited by the president. While there she also visited the Albanian Community in Kosovo and got an Albanian Eagle tattooed on the back of her neck.
Dushku came to the attention of casting agents when she was 10. She was chosen at the end of a five month search throughout the United States for the lead role of Alice, playing with Juliette Lewis in the film That Night. In 1993, Dushku landed a role as Pearl alongside Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in This Boy's Life, a role that she said opened a lot of doors. The following year, she played the teenage daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies. She also had parts as Paul Reiser's daughter in Bye Bye, Love, as Cindy Johnson with Halle Berry and Jim Belushi in Race the Sun, as well as roles in a television movie and a short film.