Balk was born as Fairuza Alejandra Feldthouse in Point Reyes, California. Her mother, Cathryn Balk, is of Dutch descent and worked as a belly dancer and teacher of Middle Eastern and Flamenco dancing. Her father, Solomon Feldthouse, is a traveling folk musician who was born in Pingree, Idaho and moved to Turkey at the age of ten, where he lived for six years and learned Greek, Turkish and Persian music. It has been reported that when she was born, her father saw her turquoise eyes and exclaimed, "Fairuza!", meaning "turquoise."[citation needed] Fairuza is the Persian word "فيروزه" firouzeh.[citation needed] Soon after her parents divorced, Balk and her mother became world travelers. She was raised for the first part of her life in San Francisco on a commune-type ranch. They then moved to Vancouver when she was nine. When she was eleven, they moved to London, where she attended various prestigious ballet and acting schools.