Dushku started acting when she was 10. She was chosen for the lead role of Alice, opposite Juliette Lewis in the movie "That Night". In 1993, Dushku got the role as Pearl in "This Boy's Life", alongside Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. The following year, she played the teenage daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis in "True Lies". She also had parts as Paul Reiser's daughter in "Bye Bye, Love", as Cindy Johnson with Halle Berry and Jim Belushi in "Race the Sun", as well as roles in a television movie and a short movie.