Dushku was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, the daughter of Philip R. Dushku, an administrator and teacher in the Boston Public Schools, and Judith “Judy” (née Rasmussen), a political science professor. Dushku’s father is Albanian and her mother is of Danish and English descent. She was chosen in a five month search for the lead role of Alice in the film That Night. in 1993, Dushku landed a role as Pearl alongside Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in This Boy’s Life, a role that she said opened a lot of doors. in an interview with Maxim in May 2001, Dushku says of her roles, “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.” Dushku starred in an Off-Broadway production entitled Dog Sees God from December 2005, playing “Van’s sister”, a character paralleled with Lucy Van Pelt from the Peanuts comic strip on which the play production is based. Both movies were released in 2008. On August 26, 2007, Dushku signed a development deal with Fox Broadcasting and 20th Century Fox. They approached her with existing pitches and scripts.