Submitted by Unknown on 2002-05-09
Give this young actress a

It's pretty much impossible to typecast Eliza Dushku. When the 21-year-old isn't playing a cheerleader in a teen film, chances are she's acting opposite Robert De Niro in a heady drama.

Audiences can see a little bit of both in the next few months, starting Friday with the nationwide opening of "The New Guy."

It's pretty much impossible to typecast Eliza Dushku. When the 21-year-old isn't playing a cheerleader in a teen film, chances are she's acting opposite Robert De Niro in a heady drama.



Audiences can see a little bit of both in the next few months, starting Friday with the nationwide opening of "The New Guy."



That would be one of the teen films. Dushku plays Danielle, a cheerleader with a mind of her own, who falls for a geeky student with a tough-guy makeover (think "Karate Kid" with a lot more bathroom humor).



She also co-stars with De Niro in "City by the Sea," due for release later in the summer, playing a 19-year-old drug addict with an 18-month-old baby.



Dushku said the movies were shot at the same time last year, forcing the stunning brunette to shuttle back and forth, changing from "clean-cut, perfect- hair cheerleader girl" to "19-year-old heroin junkie" overnight.



"I'd show up in New York (for 'City by the Sea') and the director would go, 'Jeez, you have a perfect manicure, would you get some dirt under your nails and grow a pimple or something? I'm trying to make you look like a junkie here. "



Born in Boston and living in Los Angeles now, Dushku (rhymes with "push you") is probably most recognizable as the tough-girl cheerleader in the hit "Bring It On."



But she's been acting for more than a decade. She played Arnold Schwarzenegger's daughter in "True Lies" (1994) and De Niro's daughter in "This Boy's Life" (1993). She also co-starred as Faith in TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."



Dushku said De Niro has been a great influence. "He's so amazing. He's like the ultimate teacher in the acting profession," she said, during an interview before a public appearance at the Metreon in San Francisco. "Just to sit and be able to watch him is so profound an experience."



But she listed "True Lies" co-star Jamie Lee Curtis -- a horror/drama actor who is also hard to typecast -- as an equally good example.



"I remember my mother being on the set and saying, 'Watch this woman, kiddo, ' " Dushku said. "She has the professionalism, and the strength and the poise - - she covers the map in terms of what an actress should be."



Dushku said she still tries to get to know everyone in the crew at a new movie shoot, a practice she learned from Curtis. "All crew loved her -- she knew every single crew member's name," Dushku said. "I usually just try to make up little riddles in my head when I meet people -- just make rhymes up or something."



Dushku said she isn't sure what's next but isn't ruling out another cheerleader role, even if De Niro's people keep calling.



"I have nothing against it," Dushku said. "I hear a lot of people say, 'I can't do any more teen movies. I've had enough of teen movies.' But I feel like, 'What's the problem?'



"I'm not that far off from being a teenager," she added. "I just turned 21. I remember it like it was yesterday. What are you going to do, bring in Luke Perry again?"



Source : San Francisco Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/05/06/DD235199.DTL


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