I have nieces and nephews that I love hanging out with, and they think I'm the biggest goof on the planet.
— Eliza Dushku
I remember having a Mike Tyson T-shirt back in the day that I used to sleep in. And there some things that Tyson did along the way that I wasn't too psyched to associate myself with. But back in the day, just as a fighter, what a dream that was to watch and root for him.
My mom grew up in Idaho, went to Brigham Young University: they're very Molly Mormon. And my father is, like, first generation Albanian, and his parents lived in Southey and grew up in downtown Boston. My parents are complete opposites.
After I graduated high school and came out to do 'Buffy,' I was enrolled at my mom's university, and I was going to go get a real job. I never thought of acting and never really wanted to be an actor.
I really admire the way the fans have joined me in social justice endeavours and the charitable work that I've been involved in. We've raised over $100,000 on Twitter for our non-profit in Uganda.
I like to have one night on the weekend where I can just cuddle up at my house.
My mom is like this hard-core, liberal feminist. She's a professor in Boston, and she's been teaching women's studies for 30 years and international politics.
You know, I really am probably one of the sweetest, most sensitive people you'll ever meet.
For the longest time, I thought I was a boy. I really did. I wore boys' clothes, played tag football.
I remember hitting Sarah Michelle Gellar with a right hook during my first week on the job. It was awful. They usually pair actors with stunt doubles to avoid things like that.
I'm self-confident and not afraid to speak my mind.
It's easy to play a bad girl: You just do everything you've been told not to do, and you don't have to deal with the consequences, because it's only acting.
My parents divorced when I was born, and my mother is a political science professor, like a feminist Mormon, which is sort of an oxymoron.
TV can be a long commitment.
When you get to your mid-20s, you start to feel responsibilities for the things that you do and the people around you. It's a cool age.
I cannot watch my own dailies, ever. I'm my worst critic. It distracts me. I can watch it when it's done, but I'm not the girl that wants to run back and look at the performance.
I wake up and play a different person every day. Playing all these different characters and trying to figure out who your true authentic self is at the core of that as you're playing all these different roles, and man, that self-awareness starts to come into effect. And you start to see who you really are.
I think I really thought I was a boy until I was ten years old because my parents divorced when I was born, and so my three brothers were almost like my fathers growing up. So they taught me how to ride a bike and all that stuff. I really was just kind of a guy's girl and just kind of an outspoken - some could say obnoxious - in-your-face kid.
I receive really powerful personal letters. I think that always takes the cake. It blows me away... some of the comments. Someone will come and I sense their whole tone and energy when they're handing me this letter.
I love the physical roles. I have the utmost respect for stunt people and stunt doubles, but I like to do as much as I possibly can with what's become some pretty significant training.
I literally remember when I made my audition tape for 'Buffy'. I went to the Arsenal Mall. I got my outfit at Contempo Casuals in the Arsenal Mall and put some safety pins in my jeans. I remember telling whoever the clerk was that I was making a tape for 'Buffy', and they were so excited.
Well, when I moved to L.A. at 17, I had just come out of high school. I grew up and went to public school in Boston.
There are a lot of actresses out there who are the girl next door. I relate more to characters who have an edge.
I don't care who you are, everyone has been through it - that feeling where you'd like to be someone else.
I was raised in Boston by three older brothers and a very strong and empowering single mom.
If I wasn't doing this, I'd be in school studying political science or socioeconomic something. I love visiting different cultures and finding out how they make up a society.
My mom is this liberal, feminist, Mormon powerhouse. I just love her to death.
The letters from jail are always disconcerting.
We didn't have a TV in the living room and all my friends thought we were kind of weird. When they'd come over, my mom wanted to talk to them about current events.
Go big or go home. Because it's true. What do you have to lose?
Usually, when you do video games, you don't interact with the other actors. You each record your audio on different days, and you never really meet the other characters.
I have been doing this since I was 10 years old. It wasn't like I was an overnight hit. I think when that happens to some actors - they just don't know what to do with themselves. You don't know how to cope with friends and all of a sudden not being able to go out. It's such a shock to your system.
I purely attribute my 'hamming it up' quality to growing up with three older brothers and just being like a tomboy my whole life. Literally, my mother had to be like, 'Honey, there's a certain point where you have to start wearing a shirt.' You know, I would run around with the boys and play tag football and climb trees.
I think people hear and feel the genuine nature of my passion for the causes. Specifically, with the non-profit in Uganda, my mother is the president, and she was an African politics professor for almost 50 years, so I think people know that I align myself with people who know what they're talking about.
I joined the Twitterverse in the second season of 'Dollhouse.' Friends that I admire were already in that space, like Kevin Smith.
I wanted to be a political science professor and go to school in Boston. I never wanted to be a big, famous movie star and TV star. It kind of found me.
Growing up I was as big a tomboy as you can get.
Each year, I say I'm going to go to school next year. It's inevitable that I'll end up getting my education.
I don't let guys do hickeys. That's like a dog marking his territory or something.
I'm a more mature actress now.
In my first movie, That Night, with Juliette Lewis, I had a scene with two other girls where we applied a cream to our chests to make our breasts grow. I was 10.
My mother would take groups of students to different countries and always brought us along, so by the time I was 10, I had been to Russia, China, Nicaragua and several other countries.
There is definitely something sexy about a girl with an attitude and a pair of leather pants.
When I worked with Jamie Lee Curtis in 'True Lies', she told me, You need a plan B, because when you have six months to a year off, you can go nuts. You need to have another focus.
