Nathaniel Mark Dushku (; born June 8, 1977) is an American director, producer, and actor. He is the son of

Judy Dushku Judith Ann Rasmussen Dushku (born 30 March 1942) is an American academic political scientist, journalist, writer and humanitarian. An active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and well known as a Mormon feminism, Mormon ...

and the youngest of the three elder brothers of actress

Eliza Dushku Eliza Patricia Dushku (; born December 30, 1980) is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Faith in the supernatural drama series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1998–2003) and its spin-off series ''Angel'' (2000–2003). She als ...

Early life

Dushku was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the third son of Philip R. Dushku, an administrator and teacher in the

Boston Public Schools Boston Public Schools (BPS) is a school district serving the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest public school district in the state of Massachusetts. Leadership The district is led by a Superintendent, hired by the ...

, and Judith "Judy" Dushku (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Rasmussen), a

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

professor at

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. With 7,560 students (includes all campuses, 7,379 at the Boston location alone), it is the eighth-largest university in metropolitan Boston. It was founded as a l ...

in Boston. Dushku's father was Boston-born, of

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

heritage, with his parents coming from the city of

Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the eighth most populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population is 75,994 (2011 census), in a total area of . It stands on a plateau some ...

, and his mother, from

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

, is of

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

and German descent. His parents were divorced in 1980. Dushku's mother is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church), and the children – Nathaniel, two older brothers, Aaron and Benjamin, and one younger sister,

Eliza ELIZA is an early natural language processing computer program created from 1964 to 1966 at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory by Joseph Weizenbaum. Created to demonstrate the superficiality of communication between humans and machines, E ...

, who started professional acting at age 10 – were raised as Mormons, although Nate, Aaron and their sister, at least, later parted from the LDS Church. Dushku is openly gay and married to restaurateur turned scriptwriter and film producer Amnon (Ami) Meyer Lourie, from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Career

Acting

Dushku began his acting career with the teen / student drama ''Undressed'' and the J. J. Abrams college drama ''Felicity''.

Production and direction

Dushku and his sister produced a film, Dear Albania, about a visit to their father's ancestral home in Albania. Nate and Eliza Dushku also worked on the feature film ''Mapplethorpe'' for over 12 years, eventually producing it with writer/director

Ondi Timoner Ondi Doane Timoner is an American filmmaker and the founder and chief executive officer of Interloper Films, a full-service production company located in Pasadena, California. Timoner is a two-time recipient of the Sundance Film Festival's ...

. Starring

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the Eleventh Doctor, eleventh incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the BBC series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targarye ...

, it premiered and won an Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dushku, Nate 1977 births Male actors from Boston American male film actors American male television actors American gay actors American people of Albanian descent American people of Danish descent American people of English descent American people of German descent American people of Irish descent Living people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors LGBT people from Massachusetts LGBT Latter Day Saints Former Latter Day Saints