Balk was born as Fairuza Alejandra Feldthouse in Point Reyes, California. Her mother, Cathryn Balk, is of Dutch descent and worked as a belly dancer and teacher of Middle Eastern and Flamenco dancing. Her father, Solomon Feldthouse, is a traveling folk musician who was born in Pingree, Idaho and moved to Turkey at the age of ten, where he lived for six years and learned Greek, Turkish and Persian Read more...

It was in London that she was selected by Walt Disney Productions to star in Return to Oz, the loose sequel to 1939's The Wizard of Oz. It was not her first role (that was a television movie called The Best Christmas Pageant Ever made in 1983), but it was the one that brought her attention as an actress. The role led to other minor roles, and in 1988 she moved to Paris to do more work as an actress. Read more...

Balk lives in Venice, California, and has an apartment in New York City. Outside her career, her interests include writing poetry and fiction, playing guitar, singing, and dancing. Over the years she has been romantically involved with a number of well known men including British actor David Thewlis who appeared with her in The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) and in American Perfekt (1997), and C. M. Read more...