Julie Benz

Julie Benz est née le 1er Mai 1972, à Pittsburg (Pennsylvanie).
Fille d'un chirurgien et d'une danseuse sur glace, Julie découvre le patinage artistique dès l'âge de 3 ans!
Très vite, elle participe aux championnats américains dans la catégorie junior.
Son frère aîné, Jeffrey, et sa soeur, Jennifer, ont même été champions en 1987!
Mais à l'âge de 14 ans, Julie fait une mauvaise chute et doit arrêter le patin ...
Pour éviter l'ennui et la déprime, sa mère l'inscrit à des cours de théâtre.
Commence alors une nouvelle carrière!

Julie passe quelques années sur les planches et rencontre son manager qui l'envoie à ses premières auditions.
En 1990, elle décroche un petit rôle dans un film d'épouvante signé Romero et Argento, puis se retrouve l'année suivante au générique d'une sitcom intitulée "Hi honey I'm home".
Suivent alors plusieurs téléfilms et des apparitions dans les séries "Mariés deux enfants" (David Boreanaz est aussi apparu dans cette série!), "Notre belle famille", "Incorrigible Cory", "Sliders" et surtout: "Buffy contre les vampires"!!
En 1999, elle devient l'inquiétante Katleen Topolski de "Roswell" puis rejoint le casting d' "Angel" dans le rôle de Darla...

Au cinéma, on a pu la voir dans "Pour le pire et le meilleur" ainsi que dans "Jawbreaker" aux côtés de Rose McGowan (Charmed) et Rebecca Gayheart (Wasteland).
Elle a également tenu le rôle principal de "Shriek if you kown what I did last Friday the 13th" (Parodie de film d'horreur).

Dans la vie, Julie est sagement mariée à un certain Jon Kassir depuis 1998.

Source: Hypnoweb Angel

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Cause at the end of the day, honestly, at the end of the day when you're in your death bed and that's it, I think it's the relationships you've had and the people that you've touched and the people that have touched you that matter.

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Everyone else trains just as hard as well and that there really is no such a thing as overnight success.

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I don't think as big and as creative as Joss.

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I loved playing Darla.

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I really take pride in the relationship that I have with my husband.

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I think Sarah Michelle Gellar has done some brilliant work as Buffy.

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I trained 8 hours a day 7 seven days a week and I had 2 weeks off in a year.

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I would love to re-visit Darla. I miss her. I really do.

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If you're offered something, you're not really sure exactly what is that they saw in you that they think is the character so it's a little scary, I feel.

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It's funny, I get really nervous when I audition for voiceovers.

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Oh, well, in Los Angeles everybody is an actor, or a producer, or a writer, or a director, or an agent, or... So everybody understands the hours.

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The meaning of life... I think the meaning of life is, I think it's love.

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When I first started I was always known as The Girl on the Sitcom with the Funny Voice.

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You don't realize how much a part of your character is part of yourself until you are no longer playing that character.

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You really have to work hard and apply yourself and by applying yourself and working hard and being diligent, you can achieve success.

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Darla was never a character that just fed information or was wasted. She's a character that every actor dreams of playing.

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When they took me to do the camera test for the vampire make up, after they put the prosthetic on, I went though the entire process, I went back to my trailer and I looked in the mirror and I smiled.

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I didn't get to keep any of them, but I really loved, on Angel, when we would do the flashbacks, and I'd have the big, wild, messy long hair that was thick and full and -that's how God meant for me to look.

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When I received the last script, where Darla sacrifices her life, I kinda knew that was going to happen, kinda where it was going, but when I received the script I just thought it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever been given as far as gifts go.

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I auditioned for the role of Buffy and that's how I met Joss. He really liked me but we all agreed that I wasn't right for Buffy.

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You really have to work hard and apply yourself and by applying yourself and working hard and being diligent, you can achieve success.

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My parents were very supportive and really tried to give us some semblance of a normal life, even though it wasn't normal.

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There's quite a few roles, work, I'm really proud of. Darla is especially one of them.

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Buffy was fun too, but it was the first time I had ever worked with prosthetic make-up and I was really uncomfortable - especially with the contact lenses.

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For me, it was such an honor to be in that group of talent, to be working with them, to have David Boreanaz as my partner.

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For me, the experience of working on Angel was more fun only because we got to delve into Darla's story.

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I really feel that I was given a gift when they brought Darla back to life and really explored her past and her relationship with Angel.

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Not only was she an amazing character but I got paid to work on a daily basis with amazing people like Joss, David Greenwalt, Tim Minear and David Boreanaz.

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I originally auditioned for the role of Buffy, like hundreds of girls in LA.

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I mean with Darla, I lived with her for 6 years and that makes her very special and the whole experience very special.

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(Strange encounters from fans): I actually find the fans are always supportive and respectful. A couple times I’ve been approached when I’m buying underwear. That’s more embarrassing for me rather than for them because it’s like, Oh hello. I’m just buying some panties.

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(How it felt to do the Pilot for Dexter): When we did the pilot, I was very nervous. I was beginning to work with my favorite actor and I had to do a lot of relaxation to be on set with Michael. I was such a huge fan of his and just couldn't believe I was cast to play opposite him. I was really waiting for someone to come up to me and say it's all a joke.

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(Julie's favorite scenes from Dexter): I had a couple. I loved when she dressed up as Lara Croft and gave Dexter things. It was such a fun scene to play and it's the first time you really saw a little bit of her strength and her playfulness, and it was so nice to do after playing so much of this vulnerable, beaten-down woman, to have this fun moment with Dexter. I also love the scene towards the end where she confronts Paul (Rita's abusive ex-husband) in prison and basically lays it on the line from a place of great strength, where she finally just tells him how it's going to be and how he needs to explain to the kids why he's in prison.

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(Julie on her Angel character's, Darla, departure from the show): She was such a wonderful character to begin with. To have such a beautiful ending. For me, it felt like they gave me a gift, a really special gift. After playing her for so long, it was such a beautiful way for her to go. The last 20 minutes redeemed her in the eyes of the fans as well. She was able to finally do something good after 400 years of evil and terror.

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(Julie's response when a shocked interviewer learned that even though she was an ice skater, she could not dance): Yeah, you'd be surprised. And I'm not very coordinated either. Only on skates, not in real life.