Balk was born as Fairuza Alejandra Feldthouse in Point Reyes, California. Until age two, Balk lived in Cloverdale, California 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. They remained there for six months before returning to Vancouver. Balk moved to Los Angeles as a young woman upon signing to act in The Craft.[citation needed]\n', '

Fairuza\'s mother, Cathryn Balk, has studied, performed, and taught the ethnic and traditional dance forms of many countries including Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, and Spain. Her father, Solomon Feldthouse, was one of the founding members of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Kaleidoscope, and is also a traveling folk musician. He was born in Pingree, Idaho and, between the ages of 6 and 10, lived in Turkey where he learned Greek, Turkish, Iraqi, and Iranian music. Balk has stated that her father is of Romani and Cherokee ancestry, and that her mother is of Irish and French descent. She has a twin sister.\n', '

Balk\'s debut role was in a television film titled The Best Christmas Pageant Ever; it was produced in 1983. While in London, Balk was cast by Walt Disney Productions to star as Dorothy Gale in Return to Oz, the unofficial sequel to MGM\'s 1939 musical The Wizard of Oz. This role led to other, minor roles, including that of Mildred Hubble in The Worst Witch, and in 1988, at age 14, she moved to Paris to work on Valmont with Miloš Forman. By 1989 she was back in Vancouver, where she attended high school.[citation needed] However, she soon decided to take correspondence courses instead and went back to Hollywood, where she gained increasing notice as an actress. In 1992 she was awarded an Independent Spirit Award as best actress for her performance in the Allison Anders film Gas Food Lodging.[citation needed]\n', '

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