Julie Benz

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May 1, 1972

Julie M. Benz

John Kassir (30 May 1998 - December 2007) (divorced)

Actress

2010 Answers to Nothing

2010 No Ordinary Family (TV series)

2006-2010 Dexter (TV series)

2010 Bedrooms

2010 Desperate Housewives (TV series)

2009 The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

2009 Uncorked (TV movie)

2009 Held Hostage (TV movie)

2009 Kidnapping Caitlynn (short)

2008 Punisher: War Zone

2008 Saw V

2008 Rambo

2007 Law & Order (TV series)

2006 Circle of Friends (TV movie)

2006 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (TV series)

2006 Kill Your Darlings

2006 CSI: Miami (TV series)

2006 Supernatural (TV series)

2005 8MM 2 (video)

2005 Wild Swarms (TV movie)

2005 Lackawanna Blues (TV movie)

2005 Bad Girls from Valley High

2004 Oliver Beene (TV series)

2004 Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service (TV series)

2000-2004 Angel (TV series)

2004 The Long Shot (TV movie)

2003 Coupling (TV series)

2003 Peacemakers (TV series)

2003 The Midget Stays in the Picture (short)

2003 George of the Jungle 2 (video)

1997-2003 Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series)

2002 Taken (TV series)

2002 She Spies (TV series)

2002 Glory Days (TV series)

2001 The Brothers

2000 Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth (video)

1999-2000 Roswell (TV series)

2000 Satan's School for Girls (TV movie)

2000 Good Guys/Bad Guys (TV movie)

1999 Dirt Merchant

1991-1999 Hi Honey, I'm Home (TV series)

1999 Payne (TV series)

1999 The King of Queens (TV series)

1999 Jawbreaker

1998 Conrad Bloom (TV series)

1998 Ask Harriet (TV series)

1997 As Good as It Gets

1997 Fame L.A. (TV series)

1997 The Big Easy (TV series)

1997 Inventing the Abbotts

1997 A Walton Easter (TV movie) (uncredited)

1997 Eating Las Vegas (short)

1997 Veronica's Video (TV movie)

1996 The Single Guy (TV series)

1996 Sliders (TV series)

1996 Diagnosis Murder (TV series)

1996 Hearts Adrift (TV movie)

1996 Black Sheep ( - uncredited)

1996 Boy Meets World (TV series)

1996 Darkdrive

1995 Step by Step (TV series)

1995 High Tide (TV series)

1995 The Barefoot Executive (TV movie)

1995 Hang Time (TV series)

1995 Empire (TV movie)

1995 Crosstown Traffic (TV movie)

1994 Married with Children (TV series)

1990 Due occhi diabolici(segment "The Black Cat")

Appearances

2010 Dancing with the Stars (TV series)

2010 Entertainment Tonight (TV series)

2010 Unprecedented Access: Behind the Scenes (video short)

2008-2010 Chelsea Lately (TV series)

2010 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (TV special)

2010 The 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards (TV movie)

2008-2009 The Soup (TV series)

2009 Hollywood 411 (TV series)

2009 Last Call with Carson Daly (TV series)

2009 That Morning Show (TV series)

2009 Up Close with Carrie Keagan (TV series)

2009 Tattoos: A Scarred History (documentary)

2009 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (TV movie)

2009 The Making of 'Punisher: War Zone' (video short)

2009 Meet Jigsaw: Behind the Scenes of 'Punisher: War Zone' (video short)

2009 The Fatal Five (video documentary short) (also archive footage)

2009 The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards (TV movie)

2008 TMZ on TV (TV series)

2008 The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (TV series)

2008 CW 11 Morning News (TV series)

2008 Scream Awards 2008 (TV movie)

2008 Infanity (TV series documentary)

2008 The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards (TV movie)

2008 KTLA Morning News (TV series)

2008 It's a Long Road: Resurrection of an Icon (video documentary short)

2008 A Hero's Welcome: Release & Reaction (video short)

2008 The Early Show (TV series)

2008 The View (TV series)

2008 Canada A.M. (TV series)

2008 The Sauce (TV series)

2007 E! News Daily (TV series)

2006 Nyhetsmorgon (TV series)

2006 The Making of 'Kill Your Darlings' (TV documentary)

2005 Halos & Horns: Recurring Villainy (video documentary short)

2004 The Sharon Osbourne Show (TV series)

2004 Darla: Deliver Us from Evil (video documentary short)

2004 'Angel': Season 3 Overview (video documentary)

2003 SoapTalk (TV series)

2003 Total Request Live

2003 'Angel': Season 2 Overview (video documentary)

2003 George of the Jungle 2: Behind the Trees (video short)

2003 The Saturday Show (TV series)

2003 6th Annual Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Awards (TV documentary)

2002 'Buffy': Season 2 Overview (video documentary short)

2002 Rank (TV series documentary)

2002 Inside Taken (video documentary short)

2001 The Big Breakfast (TV series)

2001 Rendez-View (TV series)

2001 Jawbreaker Movie Special (TV movie)

1999 Happy Hour (TV series)

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA

2010 Nominated Saturn Award Best Supporting Actress on Television for: "Dexter" (2006)

Eyegore Awards

2008 Won Eyegore Award

Satellite Awards

2006 Won Satellite Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for: "Dexter" (2006)

Screen Actors Guild Awards

2010 Nominated Actor Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for: "Dexter" (2006)

2009 Nominated Actor Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for: "Dexter" (2006)

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Julie M. Benz (born May 1, 1972) is an American actress, best known for her role as 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. She currently stars in the series, No Ordinary Family. Among her previous well-known roles was Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

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.

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. 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.

Biography courtesy of Wikipedia

She competed in the 1988 U.S. Championships in junior ice dancing with David Schilling, placing 13th

Auditioned for a role in Eyes Wide Shut (1999). She was called back to audition for the role again, but decided against it when she was going to have to do the scene topless.