Wissenswertes

When she was born, her father took one look at her eyes and exclaimed "Firuze!" which is Farsi for "turquoise".

Has a triangle-shaped tattoo on her shoulder because the soldiers of the Nazi regime branded the symbol on the Romany in concentration camps. This is her way of paying respect to her culture and remembering the suffering her ancestors endured.

She once fully owned her own Occult Craft shop in California called Panpipes. In 2001, she sold 50% of the business to a co-owner. Later, she sold her remaining share of the store to the current owners.

Often takes roles that are difficult or controversial, as opposed to ones that would bring her more money or a higher status.

Contrary to popular belief - stemming from her role in Der Hexenclub (1996) and onetime ownership of an occult bookstore - Balk has never been a practicing witch. She made this clear in a 2017 interview for "Entertainment Weekly", in which she acknowledged that "People are going to believe what they want to believe".

She has appeared in two music videos in her career.

Enjoys listening to punk rock, plays guitar and plays piano.

Loves to read, and her favorite authors are William S. Burroughs, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Carl Jung, Isabel Allende, Mikhail A. Bulgakov, Ernest Hemingway and Honoré de Balzac.

While her first name is Persian, Fairuza herself is not of Persian descent. Fairuza's paternal grandparents were David Stanley Scaff and Mary Lorraine Cole. Fairuza's maternal grandfather, Frederick Franklin Balk, was of German descent, while Fairuza's maternal grandmother, Lavergne Leone White, had English ancestry.

Has nine tattoos and a nose ring.

In a March 2001 interview with "Shout" magazine, she stated that out of all her films, Verlorene Herzen (1992) was her favorite. She indicated that "this film is very close to my heart. As a girl, I was very much like my character Shade. I was shy. I was a loner.".

A 2002 Internet poll confirmed that fans' favorite movie she did was Der Hexenclub (1996).

Ranked #88 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002).

Owns several cats. Fairuza once had 5 cats named: MoMo, Scout, Oscar, Sweetpea Poteet Tennessee, Mouse.

Her natural hair color is light brown, and during the early years of her career she wore it long. She first dyed her hair in the early 90's and had it red in the films Tödliche Absichten (1991) and Verlorene Herzen (1992). When she made the film Vergewaltigt: Eine Stadt unter Anklage (1992) her hair was dyed jet black. A year later she cut it short for the film Murder in the Heartland (1993). With the exception of a few movies, her hair has stayed black with varying short hairstyles (ranging from a classic pixie to shoulder length) since.

She was a contender for the role of Brendan Teena in Boys Don't Cry (1999) before Hilary Swank was cast.

She portrayed Deborah Ciccerone in one season finale episode of The Sopranos (season 3, "Army Of One") before being replaced by Lola Glaudini. The scenes were filmed before producers made the change.

Parents are Solomon Ben Feldthouse and Cathryn Balk.

Born at 3:00am-PDT