Fairuza Balk is an American actress, musician, and visual artist born on May 21, 1974, in Point Reyes, California. She is known for her portrayals of distinctive characters often with a dark edge and a goth-girl persona. She began her acting career at a young age, making her feature film debut as Dorothy Gale in Return to Oz in 1985.

This role earned her a nomination for a Young Artist Award for Best Starring Performance. Her career progressed with parts in films such as Valmont in 1989 and Gas Food Lodging in 1992, the latter earning her an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. She gained a cult following for her portrayal of Nancy Downs in The Craft in 1996, which earned her an MTV Movie Award.

Other notable films include The Island of Dr. Moreau in 1996, American History X in 1998, The Waterboy in 1998, Almost Famous in 2000, Personal Velocity: Three Portraits in 2002, Deuces Wild in 2002, Don't Come Knocking in 2005, Wild Tigers I Have Known in 2006, Humboldt County in 2008, and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans in 2009.

Outside of film, she portrayed Mildred Hubble in the 1986 television adaptation of The Worst Witch and played the recurring role of Ginger on Showtime's Ray Donovan in 2015. She starred as Lizzie Thomas in the Amazon Prime series Paradise City in 2021. She has been releasing music since 2010 under the name of her unsigned act, Armed Love Militia.

Fairuza Balk was born to Solomon Feldthouse, a musician, and Catherine Balk, a belly dancer. The name Fairuza is of Persian origin meaning turquoise, given to her by her father for the color of her eyes.

Her father was one of the founding members of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Kaleidoscope and was also a traveling folk musician. Until the age of two, she lived in Jackson, Michigan, with her mother.

They then moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she began acting at age six. They moved to London and then to Paris for another role, remaining there for six months before returning to Vancouver. She bought an occult shop in Los Angeles while filming the 1996 film The Craft.

Fairuza Balk has never been married and is currently single. She has been linked to a couple of her co-stars, including Crispin Glover from Back to the Future and David Thewlis from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

She enjoys writing poetry and stories, playing the guitar, singing, and dancing. She lives in Venice, California, and has an apartment in New York City.

She won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for Gas Food Lodging and the MTV Movie Award for Best Fight for The Craft. She was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Craft and a Young Artist Award for Best Starring Performance by a Young Actress for Return to Oz.

She shared the Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble with her co-stars for Almost Famous and was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture for the same film.