Julie Benz

Julie Benz
at PaleyFest2010's "Dexter" night at the Saban Theatre on March 4, 2010
Born	Julie M. Benz
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1990–present
Spouse	John Kassir (1998–2007) (filed for divorce)

Julie M. Benz (May 1, 1972) is a former figure skater who is currently an American actress starring in the series, No Ordinary Family. Among her previous well-known roles was Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and Rita Morgan on Dexter, for which she won the 2006 Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.

Early life

Benz was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her father is a surgeon in Pittsburgh. The family settled in nearby Murrysville when Benz was two, and she started ice skating when she was three. She competed in the 1988 U.S. Championships in junior ice dancing with her partner David Schilling, coming in 13th. Her older brother and sister, Jeffrey and Jennifer, were the 1987 U.S. Junior Champions in ice dancing and competed internationally. When Benz was 14, she suffered a stress fracture and had to take time off. She grew up in Murrysville, graduating from Franklin Regional High School. She later graduated from New York University.

Career

By 1989, with her figure skating career over, Benz got involved in local theater, where she was cast in the play Street Law. Her first movie role was a small speaking part in "The Black Cat" segment of the Dario Argento/George A. Romero horror movie Two Evil Eyes (1990). A year later, she was cast in the TV show Hi Honey, I'm Home (1991). The show was canceled after two seasons.

After graduating from high school, Benz entered New York University to study acting. After graduation from NYU, she moved to Los Angeles and landed small roles in movies and TV shows, including a guest appearance on an episode of Married... with Children in 1994 in the (unaired) Aaron Spelling television pilot Cross Town Traffic. She starred in another unaired TV pilot called Empire in 1995. Her other TV shows included Hang Time, High Tide, Step by Step and Boy Meets World, plus a small role in the TV movie The Barefoot Executive. She had an uncredited role in Black Sheep and appearances in Diagnosis: Murder, Sliders and The Single Guy. She played Christy in the TV movie Hearts Adrift and a lead role as Julie Falcon in Darkdrive.

In 1996, Benz auditioned for the role of Buffy Summers in the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), but lost out to Sarah Michelle Gellar. However, she was offered the small role of the vampire Darla in the pilot episode. Her performance was so well-received that her part was expanded to a few more episodes. The role helped launch her career.

She appeared in more TV shows such as The Big Easy and Fame L.A. along with a small role as a receptionist in the movie As Good as It Gets (1997). She starred in the short spoof film Eating Las Vegas and the unaired TV pilot Veronica's Video, had a small uncredited role in the TV movie A Walton Easter and a small role in Inventing the Abbotts.

In 1998, she had a recurring role as Joplin Russell in the TV show Ask Harriet (though the show was canceled and only two of her appearances aired), then guest-starred on Conrad Bloom and The King of Queens. She made two movies, the dark comedy Jawbreaker and Dirt Merchant, before landing a lead role in another TV show called Payne. She played undercover FBI Special Unit agent Kathleen Topolsky on Roswell during its first season, starred in the TV movie Satan's School for Girls, the unaired TV pilot Good Guys/Bad Guys and had a lead role in the horror movie parody Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth.

Benz in 2005

She reprised her role as Darla in 2000 for the Buffy spin-off series Angel appearing in every season for at least one episode. She was the only white person featured in the principal cast of the romantic comedy The Brothers. She was a guest host for the TV show Rendez-View. She was cast as Ellie Sparks in Glory Days and appeared in the unaired pilot; however, she left the show. She guest starred on She Spies and was in the featured cast for the mini-series Taken. She did various voices for the video game Hot Shots Golf Fore!, appeared in the short film The Midget Stays in the Picture and took over the role of Ursula for George of the Jungle 2.

Benz appeared in Peacemakers, Coupling, NCIS and Oliver Beene. She landed the lead role of Annie Garrett in the Hallmark TV movie The Long Shot. Benz also provided the voice of Miranda Keyes for the video game Halo 2, though she did not return to the role in the sequel Halo 3 as Bungie wanted to try a new direction with the Miranda Keyes voice by giving the character an accent, replaced by Justis Bolding. She played the lead role of Danielle in Bad Girls From Valley High (a film shot in 2000 under the title A Fate Totally Worse Than Death) which was released on DVD in 2005. She had a small role in the critically acclaimed TV movie Lackawanna Blues. In the Sci-Fi Channel original film Locusts: The 8th Plague, she played the lead female role Vicky. She also appeared in the straight-to-DVD movie 8mm 2 as Lynn. The film was originally called The Velvet Side of Hell and was not supposed to be a sequel to 8MM.

Benz appeared in episodes of Supernatural, CSI: Miami, Law & Order and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She had a supporting role in a Swedish independent movie called Kill Your Darlings, a lead role in the Lifetime movie Circle of Friends and joined the cast of TV show Dexter as Rita Bennett. Benz played a lead role in the fifth film of the popular horror franchise, Saw V, as Brit, a real-estate developer who is one of Jigsaw's five victims. She had a supporting role in Punisher: War Zone as Angela.

Benz co-starred with Sylvester Stallone in 2008's Rambo, the fourth film of that series.

She plays the title role in the short film Kidnapping Caitlynn, written by her close friend Jenny Mollen, premiered at the Vail Film Festival 2009 and was released online April 6, 2009. She starred in the Lifetime movie Held Hostage as Michelle Estey. in July. She also starred in the Hallmark Channel movie Uncorked as Johnny Prentiss which premiered in the UK in July 2009. She is the lead female character Special Agent Eunice Bloom in The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day which had a limited release on October 30, 2009, and was released on DVD March 9, 2010. She has been cast in another indie film called Bedrooms as Anna. She has recently been cast as Frankie in the upcoming movie Answers to Nothing which is scheduled for a 2010 release.

Benz appeared on The Soup with Joel McHale. Benz next took a recurring role on Desperate Housewives as Robin Gallagher, a stripper with a heart of gold and a Masters degree in education who gets offered the chance to transition into a more legitimate career. The character of Robin is further developed when the audience discovers she is a lesbian and begins an affair with housewife Katherine Mayfair (Dana Delany).

In early 2010, ABC announced that Benz had landed a lead role as Stephanie Powell, in the network's drama pilot No Ordinary Family. The following May, ABC green-lit the series, which premiered on September 28, 2010, as part of the 2010–11 season.

After the Season 4 finale of Dexter, it was announced in May 2010 that she will return for the Season 5 premiere.

Personal life

Benz was married to actor and voice actor John Kassir. They were wed on May 30, 1998. She filed for divorce in December 2007.

Filmography

List of credits in film, television and videogames

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Two Evil Eyes	Betty	Segment: "The Black Cat"
1991– 1992	Hi Honey, I'm Home!	Babs Nielson	14 episodes
1994	Married... with Children	Sascha	Episode: "Field of Screams"
1995	Cross Town Traffic		unaired TV series pilot
1995	Empire	Christine Lambert	unaired TV series pilot
1995	Hang Time	Linda Cantrell	episode "Earl Makes the Grade"
1995	The Barefoot Executive	Sexy Woman	TV
1995	High Tide	Joanna Craig	Episode: "Sea No Evil"
1995	Step by Step	Tawny	Episode: "The Wall"
1996	Boy Meets World	Bianca	episode "City Slackers"
1996	Black Sheep		uncredited
1996	Hearts Adrift	Christy	TV
1996	Diagnosis: Murder	Julie Miller	Episode" "Murder on Thin Ice"
1996	Sliders	Jenny Michener	Episode: "The Electric Twister Acid Test"
1996	The Single Guy	Cranberries Girl	Episode" "Love Train"
1996	Darkdrive	Julie Falcon
1997	Veronica's Video	Heidi	unaired TV series pilot
1997	Eating Las Vegas	Sheila	Short film
1997	A Walton Easter	Jeannie	uncredited
1997	Inventing the Abbotts	Co-ed
1997	The Big Easy	Roxanne	Episode" "BeGirled"
1997	Fame L.A.	Vanessa	Episode: "The Beat Goes On"
1997	As Good as It Gets	Receptionist
1997– 2000	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Darla	recurring; 6 episodes
1998	Ask Harriet	Joplin Russell	recurring 1998; 7 episodes
1998	Conrad Bloom	Julie	Episode: "The Rebound Guy"
1999	Jawbreaker	Marcie Fox
1999	Dirt Merchant	Angie
1999	Payne	Breeze O'Rourke	9 episodes
1999	The King of Queens	Julie Patterson	Episode: "Train Wreck"
2000– 2004	Angel	Darla	recurring; 20 episodes
2000	Satan's School for Girls	Alison Kingsley
1999– 2000	Roswell	Kathleen Topolsky	recurring; 7 episodes
2000	Good Guys/Bad Guys		unaired NBC TV series pilot
2000	Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth	Barbara
2000	Bad Girls From Valley High (aka A Fate Totally Worse Than Death)	Danielle
2001	The Brothers	Jesse Caldwell
2002	Glory Days	Ellie Sparks	Unaired Pilot
2002	Taken	Kate Keyes	2 episodes
2002	She Spies	Elaine	Episode: "Spies vs. Spy"
2003	Everybody's Golf 4 (aka Hot Shots Golf Fore!)	Various voices	Videogame
2003	The Midget Stays in the Picture	A-List Actress	short film
2002	Peacemakers	Miranda Blanchard	Episode: "The Witness"
2002	Coupling	Amanda	Episode: "Decatur Guy"
2002	George of the Jungle 2	Ursula, Queen of the Jungle
2004	The Long Shot: Believe in Courage	Annie Garrett
2004	NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service	Denise Johnson	Episode: "A Weak Link"
2004	Oliver Beene	Cigarette Girl	Episode: "Idol Chatter"
2004	Halo 2	Miranda Keyes (voice)	Videogame
2005	Lackawanna Blues	Laura
2005	8mm 2	Lynn
2005	Locusts: The 8th Plague	Vicky
2006	Supernatural	Layla Rourke	Episode: "Faith"
2006	CSI: Miami	Hayley Gordon	Episode: "Deviant"
2006	Kill Your Darlings	Katherine
2006	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Heidi Wolff	Episode: "Time of Your Death"
2006	Circle of Friends	Maggie
2006– 2010	Dexter	Rita Bennett	48 episodes 2006 Satellite Awards: Supporting Actress in a Series 2008 Eyegore Awards 2008 Scream Awards: Best Actress in a Horror Movie or TV Show 2009 Saturn Award: Supporting Actress on Television
2007	Law & Order	Dawn Sterling	Episode: "Church"
2008	Rambo	Sarah
2008	Saw V	Brit
2008	Punisher: War Zone	Angela
2009	Kidnapping Caitlynn	Caitlynn
2009	Held Hostage	Michelle Estey
2009	Uncorked	Johnny Prentiss
2009	The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day	Eunice
2010	Desperate Housewives	Robin Gallagher	recurring 2010; 5 episodes
2010	Bedrooms	Anna
2010	Answers to Nothing	Frankie
2010	No Ordinary Family	Stephanie Powell	Is a research scientist, and possesses superhuman speed after she was mutated by a strange lake in the Amazon Rain Forest.

External links

• Julie Benz at AllMovie
• Template:Tv.com person
• Julie Benz Interview at Seat42f