Name: Julie Marie Benz
Character: Darla
Date of Birth: 1 May 1972
Place of Birth: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Web Presence: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | IMDB | Wikipedia |
Appearances
Season One: Welcome to the Hellmouth | The Harvest | Angel
Season Two: Becoming Part 1
Season Five: Fool For Love
Season One: The Prodigal | Five by Five | To Shanshu in L.A
Season Two: Judgement | First Impressions | Untouched | Dear Boy | Darla | The Trial | Reunion | Redfinition | Reprise | Epiphany
Season Three: Heartthrob | That Vision Thing | Offspring | Quickening | Lullaby
Season Four: Inside Out
Season Five: The Girl in Question
Bio
Julie was born in Pennsylvania to a surgeon and figure ice skater. When Julie was two her family moved to Murrysville and, following in her mother’s footsteps, she began ice skating at the age of three. She continued skating, competing in the US Junior Championships until the age of 14 when she sustained a fracture.
In 1999 Julie turned to acting, becoming involved with the local theatre and, after graduating High School she attended the New York University to study acting. On graduation she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her career, here she gained work both in movies and TV until 1996 when she gained the role of ‘vampire girl’ in, which soon evolved into the much loved character of and recurred in both and Angel right to the end.
Since Buffy and Angel ended, Julie has continued to work, starring in Steven Spielberg’s series, Taken, guest starring on shows such as Supernatural and CSI, and appearing as a regular character in Dexter (2006-2010), No Ordinary Family (2010-2011) and Defiance (2013-2015). She has also played a recurring character on Hawaii Five-0 and most recently starred in the movie spin-off, Training Day.
Trivia
Julie Benz originally auditioned for the role of Buffy, but landed the part of Darla instead. This was not the first time she lost out on a role to Sarah Michelle Gellar, having also audition for the part of Kendal Hart on All My Children.
