Amber Benson

Amber Benson

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Birth name: Amber Nicole Benson
Date of birth: 8 January 1977
Place of birth: Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Nickname: Amber
Height: 5′ 4″ (1.63 m)

Famous Quote: “I’ve never purposely gone out to take somebody out. Well, maybe in elementary school I once did try to trip somebody. I think when I cease to go to the bathroom, then I can call myself famous. I would say if you think you could survive without being an actor. It’s a horrible, painful, wonderful but miserable business. I started as a dancer when I was a little kid. I realized I didn’t like dancing as much as being onstage and having people clap for me. That’s how I segued into acting, the shortened version.”

Contact Address and Autograph: Addresses and fan mail information

Amber Benson
Artistry Management
340 N. Camden Drive, Suite 302
Beverly Hills, CA 90210, USA 

Biography:  Amber Nicole Benson, born on January 8, 1977, is an American actress, writer, film director, and film producer. She is best known for her role as “Tara Maclay”, on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 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. Benson was born in Birmingham, Alabama. She had a mixed Christian and Jewish upbringing. 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. 

While still working on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Benson wrote, directed, produced, edited, and acted in a digital video feature called Chance (2002) which also featured James Marsters. After her time on Buffy, Benson began production on a series of animation film for the BBC with co-creator Christopher Golden and animation studio Cosgrove Hall. Ghosts of Albion: Legacy (2003) and its sequels are available on the BBC Cult website. 

In 2006, Benson released her second independent feature film Lovers, Liars and Lunatics through her own production company, Benson Entertainment. The film was shot on film and was partly financed by the sale of limited edition “Triangle” Tara Buffyverse action figure. The project, initially called “The Dirty Script,” was ultimately titled “Lovers, Liars and Lunatics” by producer, Diane Benson.

Benson also writes novels and comic books mostly in collaboration with Christopher Golden. In 2003, Benson worked with Golden, Terry Moore, and Eric Powell of Dark Horse Comics to create the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow and Tara comic book titled “WannaBlessedBe”. During the same year, she worked with Christopher Golden and AJ (Ajit Jothikaumar) of Dark Horse Comics to create the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow and Tara comic books titled Wilderness #1 and Wilderness #2. In 2005, Benson collaborated with artist Jamie McKelvie on a short story within the Image Comics collection Four Letter Worlds. In 2006, Benson collaborated with artist Ben Templesmith on Demon Father John’s Pinwheel Blues published by IDW as a four-part split-book, Shadowplay (with work by Ashley Wood and Christina Z). 

Benson and Golden have also collaborated on two supernatural thrillers: Ghosts of Albion: Accursed and Ghosts of Albion: Witchery. These books follow the fortunes of Tamara and William Swift, who first appeared in the BBC computer animated web movie Ghosts of Albion: Legacy. In December 2006, Benson and Golden released yet another collaboration, the short novel The Seven Whistlers which is distributed through Subterranean Press in a limited number of signed copies. In September of 2007, Benson signed a three-book deal with Ginjer Buchanan of Penguin Books. The first book is tentatively titled Death’s Daughter.

In 2003, she collaborated with director James Kerwin to produce her play, Albert Hall, in Hollywood. Benson sang in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode “Once More, with Feeling”. She provided vocals for the songs “I’ve Got a Theory / Bunnies / If We’re Together”, “Under Your Spell” (her solo), “Walk Through the Fire”, “Standing/Under Your Spell (Reprise)” and “Where Do We Go from Here?” She also sang “Toucha Toucha Touch Me” (aka “Creature of the Night”) at VH-1′s celebrity karaoke tribute to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

On the 2000-11-02 episode of the radio show Loveline, Amber (at age 23) revealed that she did not have a driver’s license, that her mother drove her to the studio, and stated that she was at the time still a virgin. As of 2007, Benson resides in Los Angeles, California. She is a former vegetarian.

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