‘The Craft’ Actress Fairuza Balk is Giving Déjà Vu: Remember Her as Young Dorothy in ‘Return to Oz’?

Fairuza Balk might have played Dorothy Gale from Kansas in the very controversial 1985 sequel Return to Oz , but the former child actress is far more than just the ruby slipper-wearing farm girl. In fact, her work in The Emerald City was only the start of what would become a very illustrious and long-lasting acting career. To learn more about that and the actress' personal life, keep scrolling.

Entertainment

'Return to Oz': 6 Behind-the-Scenes Facts About the Making of the 1985 Sequel

Return to Oz might have been the sequel no one was looking for, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t capture the attention of moviegoers all across the country. Released 46 years after the original film The Wizard of Oz, in this version, Dorothy returns to Oz only to discover it's in ruins. Now she must […]

The early life of Fairuza Balk

Balk was born on May 21, 1974, in Point Reyes, California, with bright blue eyes that would inspire her name, Fairuza, which means turquoise, in Farsi, the official language of Iran .

After that, the actress didn’t waste any time before jumping into the film world. At age nine, she worked on her first project, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever . Then, at age 11, she was in two episodes of Deceptions before getting cast as Dorothy Gale in Return to Oz.

Fairuza Balk in ‘Return to Oz’

Balk's third-ever project was the big one: Return to Oz. In it, a young Dorothy Gale travels back to Oz and teams up with some friends, both old and new, to try to stop the newest witch and the Nome king from destroying the magical land once and for all.

The film was marketed for children, but because of scenes like Dorothy undergoing shock therapy and the witch taking off and changing her head to prettier ones on camera, critics and viewers were quick to call it horrifying and not suitable for kids.

Writes Rotten Tomatoes, “ Return to Oz taps into the darker side of L. Frank Baum's book series with an intermittently dazzling adventure that never quite recaptures the magic of its classic predecessor.”

The film also does not feature any of the original cast, and every single one of the main characters looks different than they did in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz , though this likely has as much to do with legal reasons as creative ones.

Despite all of this, Balk still defends both the film and her work in it, saying, “ I’m very proud of Return to Oz . At the time the film came out, it was very controversial, and it’s really wonderful to see there’s such a huge fan base now, and it’s being appreciated because [writer and director] Walter Murch is a genius.”

Return to Oz is currently available to stream on Disney+.

Entertainment

10 ‘Wizard of Oz’ Actresses Who Slipped on Ruby Slippers and Played Dorothy

Over the last 85 years, there has been no shortage of actresses who have played the red ruby slipper-wearing Dorothy Gale as she travels through the merry old Land of Oz. It began with the late Judy Garland and has expanded to include actresses like Lea Michelle and Zooey Deschanel, but those aren’t the only […]

Fairuza Balk’s life after ‘Oz’

After she took off her ruby slippers, Balk continued to act in projects like American History X (1998), The Waterboy (1998) and Almost Famous (2000), as well as the 1986 TV adaptation of The Worst Witch — based on the book series —  in which she played Mildred Hubble.

However, her most well-known role after Return to Oz has to be the 1996 film The Craft , which Balk returned to in the 2020 sequel The Craft: Legacy , starring alongside Zoe Lister-Jones.

“​​The reason that I got involved was because her [Jones’s] motivation was really positive. There are so many movies that are reinforcing women fighting women and the b-tch–ess. We've had so much of that; we know that already,” Balk recalled in 2020. “The whole movement that's happening nowadays in regards to women and taking back their power and setting definite lines as to what's acceptable and what's not and insisting on those changes being implemented in the world is really long overdue, and it's happening finally !

“More and more women are stepping up and owning their power, and that is a positive thing, and that was why I wanted to work with her .”

Balk is not married, has no children and is 50 years old. She is still acting to this day.

For more 'Wizard of Oz' content, keep scrolling!

7 Books That Are as Grand and Green as ‘Wicked’

The ‘Wicked’ Movie Is Coming Soon! Everything You Need to Know About the Cast and Plot

‘The Wizard of Oz’ and Beyond: Life for the Cast After the Yellow Brick Road