Julie Benz (born May 1, 1972) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (1997–2004), and as Rita Morgan on Dexter (2006–2010), for which she won the 2006 Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress and the 2009 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Benz had starring roles on Training Day (2017), Defiance (2013–2015), No Ordinary Family (2010–2011) and also had recurring roles in the television series Roswell (1999–2000), Desperate Housewives (2010), A Gifted Man (2011–2012), Hawaii Five-0 (2015–2017), and Love, Victor (2021).
Her film credits include Jawbreaker (1999), The Brothers (2001), Rambo (2008), Saw V (2008), Punisher: War Zone (2008), and The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009).
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Early life and education
Benz was born in Pittsburgh on May 1, 1972. Her mother, Joanne Marie (née Seemiller), was a figure skater, and her father, George Benz Jr., is a surgeon in Pittsburgh. Benz is of German and Welsh descent.
The family settled in nearby Murrysville, Pennsylvania, when Benz was two, and she started ice skating when she was three. Her older siblings, Jeffrey and Jennifer, were 1987 U.S. junior ice dancing champions who competed at the 1986 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Sarajevo.
When Benz was 14, she suffered a stress fracture in her right leg and had to take time off from skating. The following year, at age 15, Benz says she was told by an acting coach that she would never succeed as an actress. "I remember the teacher telling me I should not even try acting. I still have the report card where she was like, 'You will never be an actor. Your voice is horrible.' That was the best thing that ever happened to me because I was like, 'I'll show you'," she later said.
By 1989, with her figure skating career over, Benz became involved in local theater and was cast in the play Street Law. Her first film role was a small speaking part in "The Black Cat" segment of the Dario Argento/George A. Romero horror film Two Evil Eyes (1990). A year later, she was cast in the TV show Hi Honey, I'm Home! (1991), which was cancelled after two seasons.
Benz attended and graduated from Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville in 1990, after which she studied acting at New York University Tisch School of the Arts.
Career
After graduating from New York University in 1993, she moved to Los Angeles. Two weeks after her move, she obtained a bit part in a 1994 episode of Married... with Children, playing a girl who wanted to lose her virginity to Bud Bundy. Her subsequent roles included an unaired Aaron Spelling television pilot Crosstown 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 television film The Barefoot Executive.
During the 1990s, her acting career was varied and steady. She had an uncredited role in Black Sheep and her appearance in Diagnosis: Murder as top figure skater "Julie" allowed her to demonstrate her skating talent. Later TV appearances included characters on Sliders and The Single Guy. She played Christy in the television film Hearts Adrift and a lead role as Julie Falcon in Darkdrive.
In 1996, Benz auditioned for the role of Buffy Summers for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but lost the role 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.
This role helped launch her career and Julie appeared in guest appearances in more TV shows such as The Big Easy and Fame L.A., along with a small role as a receptionist in the film 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 television film 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, then guest starred on both Conrad Bloom and The King of Queens. She made two films, the dark comedy Jawbreaker and Dirt Merchant, before landing a lead role in the TV series Payne, an American remake of the British sitcom Fawlty Towers. It was cancelled after eight episodes had aired.
Benz reprised her role as Darla in 2000 for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off series Angel, appearing in every season for at least one episode. Julie was a guest host for the TV show Rendez-View, cast as Ellie Sparks in Glory Days and appeared in the unaired pilot; however, she left the show. Later, she guest-starred on She Spies, was in the featured cast for the miniseries Taken, 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.
Personal life
Benz married actor John Kassir on May 30, 1998. She filed for divorce in December 2007.
In 2011, she became engaged to Rich Orosco. They married on May 5, 2012.