Julie Benz

Julie Benz was born on 1 May 1972 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, into an ice skating family — her mother was a figure skater, her siblings were US Junior Ice Dance Champions, and Julie herself reached 12th in the US junior rankings before a stress fracture ended her skating career and redirected her towards acting. She trained at New York University before moving to Los Angeles, where she auditioned for the title role of Buffy the Vampire Slayer — and, like several actresses before her, lost out to Sarah Michelle Gellar, but was instead cast as Darla, the ancient vampire who sired the series’ brooding antihero.

It was the beginning of a long genre career. Darla went on to become one of the richest recurring characters in the Buffyverse, appearing across Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2000) and its supernatural spin-off Angel (1999–2004) — a 400-year-old vampire whose journey from calculating villain to unexpectedly tragic figure earned considerable critical praise. Julie went on to star as Rita Bennett, the guarded but warm love interest and eventual wife of the title character, in the Showtime thriller Dexter (2006–2010), winning the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role. She also starred in the science fiction series Defiance (Syfy, 2013–2015) and the superhero drama No Ordinary Family.

(From Wikipedia and IMDb)