Splits Personality: Eliza Dushku

by Dennis Hensley

Eliza Dushku, best known for her stint as Faith, the evil slayer on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," made her film debut opposite Juliette Lewis back in 1992's That Night and hasn't played a good girl since. "There's a lot of actresses out there who are the girl next door," muses the 19-year-old Bostonian. "I relate more to characters who have an edge." Dushku's danger-girl vibe got another workout in last summer's Bring It On.

Q: Were you ever a cheerleader in school?
A: No. I was kind of on the sidelines, smoking cigarettes. We had four weeks of cheerleading boot camp before we started shooting and it gave me a new respect for cheerleading.

Q: Did you have to do a cheer at the audition?
A: No. They were like, "Can you do gymnastics?" I said, "I do yoga." [Laughs] Then they said, "Well, can you do a split?" And I said, "Why don't we see?" and performed one on the spot.

Q: You played Robert De Niro's daughter in This Boy's Life. What do you remember about him?
A: He was always pinching my cheeks and calling me some version of my name that wasn't it. And he'd invite us into his trailer to watch "Cheers."

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A: Did you have a crush on your other co-star, Leonardo DiCaprio?
A: No. I was in my boys-are-yucky stage. But I was having a terrible time in school getting teased and Leo gave me a pep talk and told me a couple things to say to the losers who teased me. I started using his one-liners, and it turned my public school history around.

Q: Then you played Arnold Schwarzenegger's daughter in True Lies. Got a favorite memory of him?
A: I introduced my best friend, Alison, to Arnold and he said, "Why don't we all go to Planet Hollywood?" He had two hours where they didn't need him on set, so he was in costume--ripped shirt and all bloody--and we hopped in his Hummer and took off to Planet Hollywood. We went in and got this great table, he bought us this great meal, and at the end, he was like, "So Alison, how do you like Washington, D.C.?" and he grabbed this piece of German chocolate cake and stuffed it in her face. Then we got into this big food fight. It was the coolest thing in the world.

Q: "Buffy" fans are pretty devoted. Did any of them resent your coming on and raising hell?
A: Some have come up to me and said, "Who do you think you are, having sex with Buffy's boyfriend? Do you think you're tough?" And I'm like, "Dude, chill out. It's a fantasy show."

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