At R.I. Comic Con: Eliza Dushku goes from ‘Buffy’ to a bachelor’s degree

No doubt there will be some college students at the Rhode Island Comic Con in Providence this weekend.

Not many of them will be there as celebrity attractions.

But actress Eliza Dushku, 33, will be. Best known for her roles in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Angel” “Tru Calling” and “Dollhouse,” she is now studying sociology at an undisclosed college in the Boston area.

“It was always something I dreamed of doing,” Dushku said in a phone interview. “I fell into the acting world by accident … I moved to L.A., and things just kept domino-ing. I waited and waited to go back to school, and finally I thought, ‘Now is a good time.’ So far, I’m loving the decision.”

Dushku, a native of Watertown, Mass., has not given up her acting career by any means, and has several projects in the works. She also goes to Comic Cons, like the one in Providence, on the weekends.

“It’s a lot of fun,” she said. “I get to go out, connect with fans. It’s a way to keep the shows alive.”

Dushku became well-known as Faith, a troubled vampire slayer on “Buffy” and later on its spin-off series “Angel.” Initially on the side of good, Faith slides way over to the dark side before finally seeking redemption.

When she started going to Comic Cons, she said, she discovered that “Buffy/Angel” fans could be extremely devoted.

“I knew that this culture of super-fans existed, but it was strange to see them dressing up as me,” she said. “People were asking questions about things I never even thought about — ‘In episode 67 the bag of chips in the vending machine was upside down, which is an elaborate code that symbolizes blah-blah-blah.’ ”

Dushku said “Buffy” creator Joss Whedon would often play right along.

In 2003, Dushku starred in another supernatural TV show, “Tru Calling.” She played a medical student who works in a morgue. Not only do the dead speak to her, but she has the power to relive their final day on Earth, and possibly prevent their deaths.

In 2009, Dushku teamed up with Whedon again for an inventive TV series called “Dollhouse,” about a corporation that can implant individuals with different personalities and skills. These people, known as “actives” or “dolls” are then hired out for various missions, ranging from romance to crime.

At the end of each mission, their memories are wiped clean. Dushku played Echo, an active who started to retain parts of her memory.

“Dollhouse” only lasted 27 episodes on Fox, but Dushku is proud of it.

“It was a tremendous experience,” she said. “I asked Joss to come up with a show we could do together, and he came up with this crazy idea. I’m very proud of the story we were able to tell. We had a Friday night time slot, and the numbers were not enough [to keep the show on the air]. That’s the network’s prerogative.”

Dushku’s most recent projects are the film “Jane Wants a Boyfriend,” about a woman with Asperger’s trying to find a you-know-what, and “Eloise,” in which four friends break into an abandoned insane asylum to look for a death certificate that could mean a large inheritance. (If scary movies have taught us anything, it’s to stay away from abandoned insane asylums.)

She and her brother are also working on a biography of controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.

At Comic Cons like the upcoming event in Rhode Island, Dushku said the focus usually starts with “Buffy,” but it can expand to encompass past, present, even future projects. “It can be an all-things-Eliza event,” she said.