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Everlasting Eliza
Eliza in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Eliza at age 6 was a handful. She faked tears at whim, contradicted parental orders with irreverent wit and impersonated her favorite comedians with uncommon ease. From her first day of kindergarten in suburban Massachusetts to her first feature film in Hollywood, she amazed family and friends—including me—with her irrepressible spirit of drama.

Hindsight of course says that Eliza was destined to be an actress. She was always a tough, cultured kid motivated by high expectations. It helped that she had stunning brown eyes, a powerful singing voice and very little reserve.

Back in her school days, however, Eliza seemed to be capable of just about anything. At age 11 she was studying piano and drums, racing dirt bikes with the boys and taking dance lessons. Having all kinds of fun, she wasn't too serious about any one thing. Her lucky break seemed at once ridiculous and absolutely appropriate to all that knew her.

Eliza was out riding bikes when her mom suddenly remembered the big audition that afternoon. Judy picked her daughter off the street and drove her to the studio in a rush. The primped and preened young girls in the waiting room stared disapprovingly at this unruly spectacle arriving at the last minute. But who did the casting directors want? A finger pointed at Eliza: "You."

The moment was surreal for the family and friends. Fortunately for us, the moment lasted. Selected to be the lead child actor in the film That Night in 1992, Eliza began her journey to fame, and hasn't stopped since.

Now age 20, Eliza has already appeared in nine movies including Robert DiNero's This Boy's Life, James Cameron's True Lies and—more recently—Peyton Reed's box office hit Bring it On. Look out for her spunk this fall in Soul Survivors, Jay and Silent Bob and The New Guy. A superhero by any normal standards, Eliza is reason enough for Hollywood to think seriously about doing a Wonder Woman remake.

Vocabulary notes:
handful: difficult to control; big responsibility
faked: pretended; made artificially
wit: cleverness
hindsight: ability to look back at the past
tough: strong
stunning: beautiful
lucky break: when she was discovered
primped and preened: cleaned and made to look pretty
unruly: undisciplined
spunk: liveliness; spirit

From Englishtown - October 21st, 2001