Jump to content

Julie Benz: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
Filmography: Split up tables
Line 29: Line 29:


[[Image:JulieBenz BoosterBash03.jpg|thumb|left|Benz in 2005]]
[[Image:JulieBenz BoosterBash03.jpg|thumb|left|Benz in 2005]]
She reprised her role as [[Darla (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Darla]] in 2000 for the ''Buffy'' spin-off series ''[[Angel (TV 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 (2001 film)|The Brothers]]''. She was a guest host for the TV show ''Rendez-View''. She was cast as Ellie Sparks in ''[[Glory Days (TV series)|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 (TV miniseries)|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]]''.
She reprised her role as [[Darla (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Darla]] in 2000 for the ''Buffy'' spin-off series ''[[Angel (TV series)|Angel]]'' appearing in every season for at least one episode. She was featured in the principal cast of the romantic comedy ''[[The Brothers (2001 film)|The Brothers]]''. She was a guest host for the TV show ''Rendez-View''. She was cast as Ellie Sparks in ''[[Glory Days (TV series)|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 (TV miniseries)|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 (US TV series)|Coupling]]'', ''[[NCIS (TV series)|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 [[Halo characters#Commander Miranda Keyes|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 (film)|8MM]]''.
Benz appeared in ''[[Peacemakers]]'', ''[[Coupling (US TV series)|Coupling]]'', ''[[NCIS (TV series)|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 [[Halo characters#Commander Miranda Keyes|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 (film)|8MM]]''.

Revision as of 06:24, 6 December 2010

Julie Benz
at PaleyFest2010's Dexter night at the Saban Theatre on March 4, 2010
Born
Julie M. Benz
OccupationActress
Years active1990–present
SpouseJohn Kassir (1998–2007)

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.

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.[1] 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.[2] She later graduated from New York University.[3]

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 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.[4] 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.[5] She starred in the Lifetime movie Held Hostage as Michelle Estey.[6] in July.[7] She also starred in the Hallmark Channel movie Uncorked[8] as Johnny Prentiss[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12] The following May, ABC green-lit the series, which premiered on September 28, 2010,[13] as part of the 2010–11 season.[14]

After the Season 4 finale of Dexter, she returned for the Season 5 premiere.[15]

Personal life

Benz was married to actor and voice actor John Kassir.[16] They were wed on May 30, 1998. She filed for divorce in December 2007.[17]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1990 Two Evil Eyes Betty Segment: "The Black Cat"
1996 Black Sheep uncredited
1996 Darkdrive Julie Falcon
1997 Eating Las Vegas Sheila Short film
1997 Inventing the Abbotts Co-ed
1997 As Good as It Gets Receptionist
1999 Jawbreaker Marcie Fox
2000 Satan's School for Girls Alison Kingsley
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
2003 The Midget Stays in the Picture A-List Actress short film
2002 George of the Jungle 2 Ursula, Queen of the Jungle
2005 8mm 2 Lynn
2005 Locusts: The 8th Plague Vicky
2006 Kill Your Darlings Katherine
2008 Rambo Sarah
2008 Saw V Brit
2008 Punisher: War Zone Angela
2009 The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day Eunice Bloom
2010 Bedrooms Anna
2010 Answers to Nothing Frankie
Television
Year Title Role Notes
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
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 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"
1997 Veronica's Video Heidi unaired TV series pilot
1997 A Walton Easter Jeannie uncredited
1997 The Big Easy Roxanne Episode" "BeGirled"
1997 Fame L.A. Vanessa Episode: "The Beat Goes On"
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 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
1999–
2000
Roswell Kathleen Topolsky recurring; 7 episodes
2000 Good Guys/Bad Guys unaired NBC TV series pilot
2002 Glory Days Ellie Sparks Unaired Pilot
2002 Taken Kate Keyes 2 episodes
2002 She Spies Elaine Episode: "Spies vs. Spy"
2002 Peacemakers Miranda Blanchard Episode: "The Witness"
2002 Coupling Amanda Episode: "Decatur Guy"
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"
2005 Lackawanna Blues Laura
2006 Supernatural Layla Rourke Episode: "Faith"
2006 CSI: Miami Hayley Gordon Episode: "Deviant"
2006 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Heidi Wolff Episode: "Time of Your Death"
2006 Circle of Friends Maggie
2006–
2010
Dexter Rita Morgan 49 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"
2009 Kidnapping Caitlynn Caitlynn
2009 Held Hostage Michelle Estey
2009 Uncorked Johnny Prentiss
2010 Desperate Housewives Robin Gallagher recurring 2010; 5 episodes
2010 No Ordinary Family Stephanie Powell
Videogames
Year Title Role Notes
2003 Everybody's Golf 4 (aka Hot Shots Golf Fore!) Various voices
2004 Halo 2 Miranda Keyes (voice)

References

  1. ^ "SMGFAN.com's Exclusive Interview with Julie Benz". smgfan.com. 2003-11-11. Archived from the original on 2008-01-03. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
  2. ^ "Murrysville Native Stars In New 'Rambo' Movie". The Pittsburgh Channel. 2008-01-25. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
  3. ^ "Gaining Recognition". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 1999-02-20. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
  4. ^ "SCREAM '09: Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter on 'Dexter', More!". Bloody-disgusting.com. 2009-10-18. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  5. ^ [1][dead link]
  6. ^ "Michelle Renee: Breaking The Chains of Domestic Violence". Huffingtonpost.com. 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  7. ^ "Julie Benz (juliebenz) on Twitter". Twitter.com. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  8. ^ "Julie Benz | Your source for Julie @". Julie-benz.info. 2009-03-26. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  9. ^ Bierly, Mandi (2009-03-26). "Hallmark Channel to produce 35 original movies with stars like Andrew McCarthy, Lori Loughlin, and Julie Benz. Pinch. Me". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  10. ^ "Benz Happy for 'Dexter' Castmates Marriage - Netscape Celebrity". Channels.isp.netscape.com. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  11. ^ Gina DiNunno. "Dexter's Julie Benz to Pay a Visit to Wisteria Lane". TVGuide.com.
  12. ^ "Julie Benz Joins ABC's New Super Family". TVGuide.com.
  13. ^ Ram, Archana (2010-09-28). "EW.com, September 28, 2010". Popwatch.ew.com. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  14. ^ Rice, Lynette (May 12, 2010). "Breaking: ABC picks up 'No Ordinary Family' starring Michael Chikilis". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
  15. ^ "Julie Benz Returning to Dexter". TVGuide.com.
  16. ^ "Angel – Interviews – Julie Benz and John Kassir". BBC Online.
  17. ^ "IMDB bio".

Template:Persondata