Julie Benz

Julie Benz

Julie Benz

Julie Benz was born in Pittsburgh, PA to a surgeon father, and a figure skater mother. Julie began ice skating at the age of three, and competed in the 1988 U.S. Championships in junior ice dancing. She finished 13th, and realized that perhaps professional ice dancing may not be the correct career path.

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 a small role 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.

Julie a native of Pittsburgh, and a daughter of a vascular surgeon comes from a long line of doctors. She was determined to be the first female doctor in the family, until a small teenage infraction caused her father to issue an ultimatum: Be grounded or watch hemmorroid surgery. She watched the surgery and decided against a medical career.

When a skating career ended, Julie auditioned for a local community theatre play and won the part. Soon after, she attended an acting seminar with two well known West Coast casting directors and a New York based manager, Vincent Cirrincione, who has represented her since that time. After studying at NYU, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her career.

Julie has been in Jossverse from the word “go”, when her character of Darla appeared in the pilot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The once long-time lover and partner in crime to the great Angelus, the pair wreaked havoc across the world, leaving a bloody trail behind them.

Despite Darla being staked in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, writers caused a stir by bringing the character back in the first season finale of Angel. In season two, a further twist was added when it was revealed that Darla was human. The creativity of the writers came forth with the character of Darla when she was sired by Drusilla and later became pregnant by Angel. The once unfeeling creature staked herself in order to give her son life.

'What would people be surprised to learn about you?"
Julie Benz: "I love to stay at home, not going anywhere and staying in my pajamas all day. I don't get to do it a lot. I live a very quiet life; people would be surprised to learn that I'm boring. It doesn't take much to make me smile."

Movies:

Punisher: War Zone

Cast: Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Julie Benz, Dash Mihok, Doug Hutchison, Wayne Knight, Colin Salmon, T.J. Storm

Punisher: War Zone is a 2008 American comic book action film directed by Lexi Alexander; based on the fictional Marvel Comics vigilante/anti-hero the Punisher. The film is a reboot which follows the original telling of Frank Castle's war on crime and corruption rather than a sequel to 2004's The Punisher, and is the first film to be produced under the Marvel Studios and Marvel Knights production banner, which focuses on films for mature audiences. Irish actor Ray Stevenson replaces Thomas Jane as Frank Castle. In the film, Castle wages a one-man war against a horribly disfigured mob boss known as Jigsaw (Dominic West).

Waging his one-man war on the world of organized crime, ruthless vigilante-hero Frank Castle sets his sights on overeager mob boss Billy Russoti. After Russoti is left horribly disfigured by Castle, he sets out for vengeance under his new alias: Jigsaw. With the "Punisher Task Force" hot on his trail and the FBI unable to take Jigsaw in, Frank must stand up to the formidable army that Jigsaw has recruited before more of his evil deeds go unpunished.

Saw V.

Cast: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Mark Rolston, Carlo Rota, Julie Benz, Greg Bryk, Laura Gordon, Meagan Good

Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) might be dead, but his traps live on in this fifth Saw entry, which finds the series' production designer David Hackl at the helm for his debut directing gig. Costas Mandylor reprises his role as Hoffman, the detective whose involvement in the string of grisly murders turns out to be more than meets the eye. Picking up where the fourth entry left off, Hoffman is revealed to be a hidden accomplice in Jigsaw's grisly games of death, which look to be continued by the lawman. The plot bounces back and forth from the beginning of their relationship to the present, as Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) delves farther into the case. Also in the cast are Dexter's Julie Benz and One Missed Call's Meagan Good as victims of another one of Jigsaw's lessons in morality. Saw IV scribes Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan return to pen the screenplay for the Twisted Pictures/Lionsgate co-production

Rambo

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden, Paul Schulze, Graham McTavish, Sai Mawng, Jake La Botz

Twenty years after the last film in the series, John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) has retreated to northern Thailand, where he's running a longboat on the Salween River. On the nearby Thai-Burma (Myanmar) border, the world's longest-running civil war, the Burmese-Karen conflict, rages into its 60th year. But Rambo, who lives a solitary, simple life in the mountains and jungles fishing and catching poisonous snakes to sell, has long given up fighting, even as medics, mercenaries, rebels and peace workers pass by on their way to the war-torn region.

That all changes when a group of human rights missionaries search out the 'American river guide' John Rambo. When Sarah (Julie Benz) and Michael Bennett (Paul Schulze) approach him, they explain that since last year's trek to the refugee camps, the Burmese military has laid landmines along the road, making it too dangerous for overland travel. They ask Rambo to guide them up the Salween and drop them off, so they can deliver medical supplies and food to the Karen tribe. After initially refusing to cross into Burma, Rambo takes them, dropping off Sarah, Michael and the aid workers...

Less than two weeks later, pastor Arthur Marsh (Ken Howard) finds Rambo and tells him the aid workers did not return and the embassies have not helped locate them. He tells Rambo he's mortgaged his home and raised money from his congregation to hire mercenaries to get the missionaries, who are being held captive by the Burmese army. Although the United States military trained him to be a lethal super soldier in Vietnam, decades later Rambo's reluctance for violence and conflict are palpable, his scars faded, yet visible. However, the lone warrior knows what he must do...




Related Pages: Rambo, Saw, Punisher