Lusia Strus

Following her big screen debut in David Koepp's 1999 supernatural mystery, "Stir of Echoes," versatile actress Lusia Strus began a genre-hopping career alongside some of the biggest names in the business. In 2004, she played an androgynous assistant opposite Hollywood funnyman Adam Sandler in his boffo amnesiac comedy, "50 First Dates." The following year, she teamed with future Oscar-winner Sandra Bollock in director John Pasquin's undercover comedy sequel, "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous." 2005 also marked the start of Strus's stint on the live-action Nickelodeon sitcom "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide." Spinning the misadventures of a group of middle-of-the-road middle school students, the fan-favorite series featured Strus as Ned's maniacal Russian math teacher, Dr. Xavier. In 2011, she teamed with indie auteur Gus Van Sant for "Restless," an offbeat drama about a terminally ill teen, her death-obsessed boyfriend, and the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot. Strus took her talent online in 2010 as a recurring character on the e-sitcom "Jack in a Box," and landed a guest role as a policewoman on the Emmy-winning ABC mockumentary "Modern Family" in 2011. Strus has also lent her voice to video games; fans may recognize her as Kizuna Himuro from the pulse-pounding photography sim "Fatal Frame III: The Tormented."