Hollywood 1997 Collector's Edition

Riza Cruz

Fairuza Balk has played, as she puts it, "brutal" roles - from a trailer-park kid in Gas Food Lodging to a junkie prostitute in Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead. Yet her childlike innocence softens the razor edges of her characters. "When I was a kid, I swore I would never grow up, never see things as an adult," says the 22-year-old actress, who lives in Venice, California. Balk's own childhood was put on fast-forward at age nine with her lead debut in Return to Oz. She went on to work with Milos Forman, who directed her in Valmont, and Marlon Brando, her co-star in The Island of Dr. Moreau. This year she'll star opposite Amanda Plummer in American Perfekt and in The Maker with Matthew Modine. "I look for a film that will inspire and encourage others," says Balk. "as well as myself."