Breaking the Mold: The Transformative Power of Acting Beyond Expectations
I’m beginning to get pigeonholed as the girl who plays the crazies and weirdoes – and that’s not the entirety of who I am. Hopefully, the whole point of being in this profession is that you change into anyone you want to be.”
On this date in 1974, a little girl was born, and when her father took one look at her eyes and exclaimed “Firuze!” which is Farsi for “turquoise.” Twenty two years later, that little girl, Fairuza Balk, grew up to appear in “The Craft” (1996).
The character of Rochelle (played by Rachel True) was rewritten to be black when True was cast, and a racism subplot was incorporated as the character’s major conflict, as well as (reportedly) behind-the-scenes on the set. As Balk had an edgy, rebellious reputation at the time, True was warned by her management not to associate with her. According to her, if she was caught behaving the same way, she could potentially be dropped from the film (Balk being more likely to get away with rebellious behavior because she was white).
Balk 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. Contrary to popular belief (stemming from her role in the aforementioned film and her onetime ownership of the store) 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.”
Balk 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. (IMDb/Wikipedia)
Happy Birthday, Fairuza Balk!
