Amber Benson Biography
Pretty blonde performer Amber Benson racked up numerous film and television credits before rising to fame on the popular supernatural series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Benson moved with her family to Los Angeles at age fourteen in 1991. By 1993 she had made the first of three “Jack Reed” TV-movies, “Jack Reed: Badge of Honor”, appearing as the daughter of the titular Chicago cop in this NBC entry as well as its 1994 and 1996 follow-ups. 1993 also saw the actress make her big-screen debut with featured roles in the teen thriller “The Crush” and Steven Soderbergh’s coming-of-age drama “King of the Hill”. Her relatively small but memorable parts in these very different features helped to launch the young performer’s career.
The following year she was featured in Anthony Drazan’s period drama “Imaginary Crimes” and had a pivotal supporting role in the social satire “S.F.W.”. Playing determined, pure-hearted and somewhat wise characters seemed to come easy to Benson, who brought a palpable intelligence to her powerful performances. She essayed the charmingly innocent daughter of divorced dad Randy Quaid in “Bye Bye, Love” (1995) and guest starred on an episode of the Fox series “Partners” the following year. Though her role as ‘Stoned Girl’ in the teen comedy “Can’t Hardly Wait” was drastically cut to earn a PG-13 rating, Benson soon became a familiar presence to the film’s target audience when she began appearing on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (The WB) the following year. Her 1999-2001 recurring role as the good witch who becomes more than just a friend to fellow enchantress Willow (Alyson Hannigan) saw the actress taking on controversial topics and earning the esteem of the notoriously hard-to-please “Buffy” fan base. When the series moved to UPN in 2001, Benson’s role was upgraded to that of a regular.
In connection with “Buffy”, the actress sought to broaden the scope of her talents, co-writing with novelist Christopher Golden the comic book WannaBlessedBe, based on her character on the supernatural series. Back on the big screen, Benson was featured in the festival-screened, controversy-plagued “Don’s Plum” (2001; filmed 1995-96) which was barred from domestic release as per a legal agreement mandated by the film’s stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, who allege the project was misrepresented. Taking over her own project, Benson proved a multitalented filmmaker and avid do-it-yourselfer as writer, producer, director and prime financer of “Chance” (lensed 2001), a dark comedy in which she also starred.
Fairuza Balk Biography
Blue-eyed, dark-haired Fairuza Balk weathered the storms of Oz, gradually breaking free from her fresh-faced little kid persona to plunge into dark and depressing film scenarios that ultimately reveal an optimism at her core. She worked first on TV in NBC’s “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” (1983) before beating out 1,200 girls to fill Dorothy’s ruby slippers in Walter Murch’s feature debut, “Return to Oz” (1985). Refusing to be traumatized by critics comparing her unfavorably to Judy Garland, Balk rebounded for more kid stuff as the well-meaning klutz Mildred Hubble in “The Worst Witch”, a 1986 HBO movie based on the popular children’s book.
Balk attracted attention in her first somewhat adult role as the virginal Cecile de Volanges promised in marriage to someone 30 years her senior in Milos Forman’s “Valmont” (1989). She turned in an outstanding performance as a young rape victim in the TV film “Shame” (Lifetime, 1992) and played the blossoming younger sister of Ione Skye in Allison Anders’ indie favorite “Gas Food Lodging” (1992). Balk portrayed the older daughter who inadvertently becomes head of the household when the latest scheme of her father (Harvey Keitel) turns sour in “Imaginary Crimes” (1994) and was extremely sympathetic as a self-destructive prostitute in the little-seen “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead” (1995). She continued to work steadily in features of varying quality, including playing a high school student caught up in the dark side of witchcraft in the hit supernatural thriller “The Craft” (1996) and co-starred with Edward Norton and Edward Furlong in Tony Kaye’s “American History X” (1998), about a white supremacist who reforms.
- Also Credited As:
Fairuza A. Feldthouse - Born:
on 05/21/74 in Point Reyes Station, California - Job Titles:
Actor
Family
- Father: Solomon Feldthouse.
- Grandmother:
- Mother: Cathryn Balk. also taught Mid-Eastern and flamenco dance
Significant Others
- Companion: David Thewlis. met during filming of “Island of Dr. Moreau”; no longer together
Education
- Vancouver Academy of Music, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Ramona Beauchamps Screen Kids
Milestones
- 1978 Moved to Vancouver, Canada at age four (date approximate)
- 1983 TV acting debut, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” (ABC)
- 1985 Film acting debut as Dorothy in “Return to Oz”
- 1987 Played Barbara (at age 12) in NBC movie “Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story”
- 1989 Portrayed 14-year-old girl entangled in an arranged marriage to a man 30 years her senior in “Valmont”
- 1992 Received a CableACE nomination for her performance in the Lifetime movie “Shame”
- 1992 Turned down “Cool World” to do Allison Anders’ “Gas Food Lodging”, playing the idealistic youger daughter of a truck-stop waitress
- 1993 Acted the real-life part of Caril Ann Fugate in the ABC miniseries “Murder in the Heartland”, based on the Starkweather-Fugate murder spree of the 1950s
- 1994 Shined as Harvey Keitel’s older daughter in “Imaginary Crimes”
- 1995 Played never-say-die prostitute in “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead”
- 1996 Experimented with witchcraft in supernatural thriller “The Craft”
- 1996 Portrayed Marlon Brando’s daughter in “The Island of Dr. Moreau”; met David Thewlis
- 1997 Starred in “American Perfekt”, with Robert Forster, Amanda Plummer, Paul Sorvino and Thewlis
- 1998 Acted in Tony Kaye’s “American History X”, about white supremacist gangs terrorizing the inner city
- 2000 Had supporting role as a “band-aid”, a sort of groupie, in “Almost Famous”
- 2002 Co-starred in the drama feature “Personal Velocity”
- Moved with mother to England