Why is she not a 'bigger star'?

You haven't seen much of her films, have you?

"I have always valued my lifelessness."

http://www.nickiswift.com/48950/real-reason-dont-hear-fairuza-balk-anymore/

She was typecast as a gloomy girl

What people might not know about Balk is that she was actually something of a child actress, earning a breakout role in the moody 1985 sequel to The Wizard of Oz, titled Return to Oz, at just 11 years old. She went on to star in the TV movie The Worst Witch as a witch academy weirdo, and that personality aesthetic would follow her career all the way through — mostly because she was so good at it, especially once she became lead wiccan outcast Nancy Downs in The Craft.

That off-kilter persona has since been hard to shake, even with her "she's the devil"-style appeal in The Waterboy. Goth chic was an total trend in the late '90s, of course, but that wild style has hardly held up in the modern realm of entertainment. Plus, she's kinda sick of it herself, telling Shockya, "People have tended to see me as an actress who has played edgier, darker roles. That's something that as much as I've enjoyed exploring, isn't necessarily the one thing I want to do."

She starred in a series of little-seen movies

Even when dark garbs and scary sensuality were still in vogue, Balk simply couldn't capitalize on her 15 minutes of film fame. Although her appearances in The Craft, American History X, and the popular musical drama Almost Famous earned her almost-household name status, her follow-up films would totally tank with critics and audiences alike. Chances are, you've never even heard of films like Deuces Wild, What Is It?, Dose of Reality, and Don't Come Knocking. Those Balk-starring pics were widely panned and box office blunders to boot.

Her oddball antics haven't helped change the narrative much, either

It might sound silly that some fans of The Craft have cooked up conspiracy theories about Balk joining the occult in real-life after doing so on-screen in the teen thriller, but they're not so unfounded as to be dismissed altogether. The Bio Channel did a feature on the actress in 2013 in support of their The Haunting of Fairuza Balk segment, cleansing her home of the ghosts she believed were haunting her home. The behind-the-scenes details were strikingly bizarre, even for a behind-the-scenes piece on ghost-hunting. The writer working with her for the project admitted to getting a sense of witchcraft before she even knew Balk starred in movies about the same supernatural sphere. Part of those vibes stemmed from the fact that she actually owned a pagan market, but the cloud of Manon, as promised, did not seem to leave her. For what it's worth, she came off as a "Good Witch," but still a witch nonetheless.

And co-star Robin Tunney added fuel to that speculation fire by telling The Guardian that she remembered Balk being into the real-life craft, just like her character. "My memory is that Fairuza Balk, who plays Nancy, was actually into witchcraft. She seemed to know a lot about it, and there's an authenticity to her performance," she explained.

She's turned to other artforms including music

Although she has been acting since grade school, Balk has also been quietly working on other forms of art, including music, performance, and drawn art pieces. Not only is she a talented jazz and rock singer, but she's also been releasing her drawings for sale on her website, and the works are symbol-ridden collectives of her meditation-related poems and prose.

She also designs and paints clothing parcels related to her "Fear No Art" and "Armed Love Militia" brands, the latter of which is the title of her music collaboration project. She revealed in 2016 that she intends to record and release an album "where each song is — I work with different artists … and each song is in its own style." Her first single, "Stormwinds," was recorded with her long-time beau Steven Gilmour.

She wants nothing to do with a Craft remake

When it comes to comebacks, remakes and overdue sequels are a mixed batch of successes, but even though Balk often revives her famed screen counterpart Nancy for inspiration for some of her designs, she doesn't want anything to do with a remake of The Craft, whether it's able to live up to the original or not.

After Sony decided to reboot the (oc)cult classic, Balk took to Twitter to express her disinterest in being part of it. "It doesn't surprise me much. Sony made a lot of money off the craft & obviously see it as a way to make more," she wrote, adding, "Personally I don't care for the idea of remakes. There are great scripts & ideas out there that have yet to be made!"

So, don't hold out hope that we'll get to find out whether Nancy "I'm Flying" Downs ever made it out of the looney bin to play another round of "Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board."

Even after doing some well-respected Indies, she's mostly disappeared from the screen

After the turn of the millennium, Balk's phone might not have been ringing off the hook with fresh opportunities, but she didn't start having any major gaps in he

https://www.looper.com/236012/whatever-happened-to-fairuza-balk/

Whenever we ask what happened to a major star, we expect to hear about some legendarily terrible film, or a particularly heinous PR move that tanked their career. That isn't the case with Fairuza Balk. The way she explains it, she never quite fit into the "Hollywood star" mold, and decided to stop trying and instead embrace her own unique talents. Today, she only tackles projects she finds interesting.

In a 2013 interview with Dread Central, Balk talked about her early 20s in Hollywood, and why she doesn't work as much as she did during that time period. She recounted, "I struggled a lot with being pushed too hard in my 20s, with people telling me that I had to keep taking more and more movies because that's really only when I'd be relevant." She went on to say that Hollywood only rewards the "flavor of the moment," and that she'd prefer to remain "mysterious." Fame for its own sake, she realized, was not satisfying to her — so she decided not to try and pretend otherwise. "I'd rather only take on projects that I want to, not take everything that's offered to me so I can be more relevant," she remarked. That's the sort of confidence that keeps  you sane in Hollywood — and builds a career unlike anyone else's.

She has that cold aloof type of personality/look. If you want to be a major star you need to appeal to the masses.

As others pointed out, her style of look and personality just went out of fashion. Her career basically vanished with alternative grunge culture.

She seems like she's batshit crazy. She's very good at those roles.