Early life

Benz was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, grew up in Murrysville, and graduated from Franklin Regional High School. Her mother, Joanne Marie (née Seemiller), was a figure skater, and her father, George Benz, Jr., 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 skating partner David Schilling, and finished in 13th place. 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 in her right leg and had to take time off.

Career

At age 15, Benz was told by an acting coach that she would never succeed as an actress. According to Benz, "I remember the teacher telling me I should not even try acting. I still have the report card where she was like, 'You will never be an actor. Your voice is horrible.' That was the best thing that ever happened to me because I was like, 'I'll show you'." By 1989, with her figure skating career over, Benz became involved in local theater and 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), which was canceled after two seasons.

After graduating from high school, Benz studied acting at New York University. After graduating from NYU in 1993, she moved to Los Angeles. Two weeks after her move, she obtained a bit part in a 1994 episode of Married... with Children, playing a girl who wanted to lose her virginity to Bud Bundy. Her subsequent roles included an unaired Aaron Spelling television pilot Crosstown 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 for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer but lost the role 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 the TV series Payne, an American remake of the British sitcom Fawlty Towers. It was cancelled after eight episodes had aired. Benz played undercover FBI Special Unit agent Kathleen Topolsky on Roswell during its first season, starred in the TV movie Satan's School for Girls (2000), 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 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 the only white actor featured in the principal cast of the romantic comedy The Brothers (2001). 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, provided the voice of Miranda Keyes for the video game Halo 2, and 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 the Swedish independent movie Kill Your Darlings (2006), a lead role in the Lifetime movie Circle of Friends (2006), and joined the cast of TV show Dexter as Rita Bennett. 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 Rambo (2008), the fourth film of the series.

She played the title role in the short film Kidnapping Caitlynn, written by her close friend Jenny Mollen, which premiered at the Vail Film Festival 2009 and was released online April 6, 2009. She starred in the Lifetime movie Held Hostage as Michelle Estey. in July. She also starred in the Hallmark Channel movie Uncorked (2009) as Johnny Prentiss 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. She played Frankie in the 2011 film Answers to Nothing.

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 master's degree in education who gets offered the chance to transition into a more legitimate career. 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). After the Season 4 finale of Dexter, she returned for the Season 5 premiere.

In early 2010, ABC announced that Benz had landed a lead role as Stephanie Powell, in the network's drama pilot No Ordinary Family. Production of the series commenced the following May and it premiered on September 28, 2010, as part of the 2010-11 season. On May 13, 2011, No Ordinary Family was canceled after one season with only twenty episodes filmed. In 2011, she was cast in the new CBS TV show A Gifted Man. She was originally a co-star but was downgraded to recurring. A Gifted Man was canceled by CBS in May 2012 after one season of 16 episodes. She was cast in TV movie Ricochet as Elise Laird. Benz plays the lead female role, Mayor Amanda Rosewater, in the science fiction series Defiance and also stars in the indie movie Supremacy. and the unaired TV pilot Middle Ages.

Julie Benz currently has a recurring role on CBS hit "Hawaii Five 0" with Alex O'Loughlin, Scott Caan, Grace Park, and Daniel Dae Kim. She joined the cast in Fall 2015. She plays the latest team member and Chin Ho's girlfriend Abby Dunn.

Personal life

Benz married actor John Kassir on May 30, 1998 and filed for divorce in December 2007. In 2011, she became engaged to Rich Orosco, a partner at B360 Studios, and they married on May 5, 2012.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Two Evil Eyes	Betty	Segment: "The Black Cat"
1996	Black Sheep	Woman	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
1999	Dirt Merchant	Angie
2000	Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth	Barbara Primesuspect	Video
2000	Bad Girls from Valley High	Danielle
2001	Brothers, TheThe Brothers	Jesse Caldwell
2003	Midget Stays in the Picture, TheThe Midget Stays in the Picture	A-List Actress	Short film
2003	George of the Jungle 2	Ursula Stanhope, Queen of the Jungle	Video
2005	8mm 2	Lynn	Video
2006	Kill Your Darlings	Katherine
2008	Rambo	Sarah Miller
2008	Saw V	Brit Steddison
2008	Punisher: War Zone	Angela Donatelli
2009	Kidnapping Caitlynn	Caitlynn	Short film
2009	Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, TheThe Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day	Eunice Bloom
2010	Bedrooms	Anna
2011	Ricochet	Elise Laird
2011	Answers to Nothing	Frankie
2014	Supremacy	Kristen
2015	Circle	Wife
2016	Havenhurst	Jackie

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	Barefoot Executive, TheThe Barefoot Executive	Sexy Woman	TV movie remake
1995	Crosstown Traffic	Unknown role	Unaired pilot
1995	Empire	Christine Lambert	Unaired pilot
1995	Hang Time	Linda Cantrell	Episode: "Earl Makes the Grade"
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	Movie
1996	Diagnosis: Murder	Julie Miller	Episode: "Murder on Thin Ice"
1996	Sliders	Jenny Michener	Episode: "The Electric Twister Acid Test"
1996	Single Guy, TheThe Single Guy	Cranberries Girl	Episode: "Love Train"
1997	Veronica's Video	Heidi	Unaired pilot
1997	Walton Easter A Walton Easter	Jeannie	Uncredited
1997	Big Easy, TheThe Big Easy	Roxanne	Episode: "BeGirled"
1997	Fame L.A.	Vanessa	Episode: "The Beat Goes On"
1997-2000	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Darla	5 episodes
1998	Ask Harriet	Joplin Russell	7 episodes
1998	Conrad Bloom	Julie	Episode: "The Rebound Guy"
1999	Payne	Breeze O'Rourke	9 episodes
1999	King of Queens, TheThe King of Queens	Julie Patterson	Episode: "Train Wreck"
1999-2000	Roswell	Kathleen Topolsky	7 episodes
2000	Satan's School for Girls	Alison Kingsley	Movie
2000	Good Guys/Bad Guys	Unknown role	Unaired pilot
2000-2004	Angel	Darla	20 episodes
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	Long Shot: Believe in Courage, TheThe Long Shot: Believe in Courage	Annie Garrett	Movie
2004	NCIS	Denise Johnson	Episode: "A Weak Link"
2004	Oliver Beene	Cigarette Girl	Episode: "Idol Chatter"
2005	Locusts: The 8th Plague	Vicky	Movie
2005	Lackawanna Blues	Laura	Movie
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	Movie
2006-2010	Dexter	Rita Bennett	49 episodes Won - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2007	Law & Order	Dawn Sterling	Episode: "Church"
2009	Held Hostage	Michelle Estey	Movie
2009	Uncorked	Johnny Prentiss	Movie
2010	Desperate Housewives	Robin Gallagher	5 episodes
2010-2011	No Ordinary Family	Stephanie Powell	Main role (20 episodes)
2011	Royal Pains	Elyse	Episode: "An Apple a Day"
2011-2012	Gifted Man, AA Gifted Man	Christina Holt	Recurring; 7 episodes
2012	Middle Ages	Unknown role	Unaired pilot
2013	Sole Custody	Zoey	Movie
2013	Taken: The Search for Sophie Parker	Stevie Parker	Movie
2013-2015	Defiance	Mayor Amanda Rosewater	Main role (39 episodes)
2015	Charming Christmas	Meredith	TV movie
2015-present	Hawaii Five-0	Inspector Abby Dunn	Recurring

Video Games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Everybody's Golf 4 (a.k.a. Hot Shots Golf Fore!)	Various voices
2004	Halo 2	Miranda Keyes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]