Julie Benz's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Dexter Rita Bennett Desperate Housewives Robin Galla… Defiance Amanda Rose… No Ordinary Family Stephanie P… Taken Kate Keys Hi Honey, I'm Home! Babs Nielson Ask Harriet Joplin Russ… Glory Days Ellie Sparks Payne Breeze O'Ro…

Main Movie Roles 2009 - The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day 2008 - Saw V 2008 - Rambo 2008 - Punisher: War Zone 2006 - Kill Your Darlings 2005 - Bad Girls From Valley High 1999 - Jawbreaker 1997 - Inventing the Abbotts 1997 - As Good As It Gets 1996 - Black Sheep

BIOGRAPHY:

Born in Pennsylvania, Julie Benz's father is a Pittsburgh surgeon and her mother is a figure ice skater. The family settled in nearby Murrysville, when Julie was two, and she started ice skating at age 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 in the 1987 U.S. Junior Champions in ice dancing and competed internationally. When Julie was 14, she had a bad stress fracture and had to take time off.

By 1989, with her figure skating career over, Julie turned to acting and got involved in the local theater where she got a role in the play "Street Law". Her first movie role was a small, credited, speaking part in in the Black Cat episode in the Dario Argento/George A. Romero (I) co-direction horror flick, Due occhi diabolici (1990) playing in one scene alongside Harvey Keitel. A year later, she got a role on a TV show called "Hi Honey, I'm Home" (1991).

After graduating from high school, Julie entered New York University to study acting there. After graduation, Julie moved to Los Angeles to further pursue her career and landed some small roles in movies and TV shows including a guest appearance on "Married with Children" (1987) and in the Aaron Spelling TV pilot Crosstown Traffic (1995) (TV).

In 1996, Julie auditioned for the role of "Buffy" in the series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997), but lost out to Sarah Michelle Gellar. However, she was offered a small role as a vampire girl in which she did such a good job that her part was expanded to a few more episodes in playing the vampire "Darla". With that, Julie Benz's career had finally taken off. She reprised her role as "Darla" in the Buffy spin-off series "Angel" (1999) for two years and has had several small roles in various film productions. She also had a small, but memorable, role playing a receptionist in the movie As Good as It Gets (1997).

Even after her role on "Angel" (1999) wrapped up, Julie continued to find work on television in playing many guest staring roles in numerous popular TV shows from "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2000), to "Supernatural" (2005), to playing the lead and supporting roles in various made-for-TV movies. Most recently, she landed another notable role on the TV-cable series "Dexter" (2006) playing "Rita", a troubled divorcée and lover of the title character played by Michael C. Hall (I).


TRIVIA:

• Auditioned for a role in _Eyes Wide Shut (1999)_ (qv). 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.
• Has a dog called Bamboo.
• Was originally picked to play the part of "Matty Jensen" in the film _West of Brooklyn (2008)_ (qv) but was replaced by 'Natalia Livingston' (qv).
• Attended Franklin Regional Sr. High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania
• Is good friends with Buffy and Angel co-star _Eliza Dushku_, although the two never appeared together in an episode of either show.
• Appeared in both: _"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2000)_ (qv) and _"CSI: Miami" (2002)_ (qv).
• She was originally cast to play the character "Ellie Sparks" in the un-aired pilot of the TV show _"Glory Days" (2002)_ (qv).
• She collects antique things from every country she visits. Her favorite is a emerald ring she found in Knoxville, Tennessee.