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The FacultyA guide · fact-checked October 2026
Before Mia Toretto, before Yale, there was a small Ohio high school quietly being taken over by aliens. The Faculty was Jordana Brewster's first film, and almost thirty years on it has aged into a cult favorite.
Her first film
Released on December 25, 1998 through Dimension Films, The Faculty marked Jordana Brewster's feature debut. She was still a teenager, and had been working on daytime television; this was the role that put her on a movie screen for the first time.
Who she plays
Brewster plays Delilah Profitt, the sharp-elbowed editor of the school paper and head cheerleader at Herrington High. She is near the center of the story as the students begin to realize their teachers are not quite themselves.
The movie
Directed by Robert Rodriguez from a screenplay by Kevin Williamson, the film is a knowing teen spin on the body-snatcher premise: the students at an Ohio high school come to suspect that the faculty are being replaced, one by one, by something not human. It arrived at the height of the post-Scream teen-horror wave that Williamson helped create.
The cast around her
She shared the screen with a remarkable young ensemble, among them Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Clea DuVall and Shawn Hatosy, with Famke Janssen, Piper Laurie, Robert Patrick, Bebe Neuwirth, Usher and Jon Stewart among the adults. Brewster later recalled that the young cast expected the film to turn them all into major teen stars, and that it did not play out that way at the time.
A debut that became a cult film
The Faculty was a modest presence on release and has since built a steady cult following, the kind of late-90s genre picture that gets rediscovered. Brewster has said she is proud of that afterlife. Three years later she would become Mia Toretto, but this is where her screen career started.
Frequently asked questions
Was The Faculty Jordana Brewster's first movie?
Yes. The 1998 sci-fi horror The Faculty was her feature film debut.
Who did Jordana Brewster play in The Faculty?
Delilah Profitt, the editor of the school paper and head cheerleader at Herrington High.
Who directed The Faculty?
Robert Rodriguez, from a screenplay by Kevin Williamson.
Who else starred in The Faculty?
An ensemble that included Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Clea DuVall, Shawn Hatosy, Famke Janssen, Robert Patrick, Usher and Jon Stewart.