When she was just 15 years old, Julie Benz’s acting coach told her there was no chance she would ever succeed as an actress. As it turned out, the heartbreaking experience proved to be the best thing that happened to Benz. She landed her first movie role on a minor speaking part in “The Black Cat” segment of the horror film, Two Evil Eyes. One year later, she played on the TV show Hi Honey, I’m Home!, which ran for a couple of seasons.
On NCIS, Julie Benz was cast as Denise Johnson on an episode titled “A Weak Link.” Her character was a widowed wife of the departed Navy Seal Rick Johnson. Following Rick’s death, the Special Agents of NCIS were forced to begin an investigation. Her character at some point in the investigation was deemed a suspect in her husband’s death. Plot twist indeed!
Courtney Ford Then
Courtney Ford considered retiring from acting entirely. After she made what she deemed as her final audition, Ford was chosen to play the role of reporter Christine Hill in Showtime's hit TV series, Dexter. Since then, the American actress has landed numerous other roles, including 'Portia Bellefleur' in the popular HBO series, True Blood, where she appeared regularly throughout season 4.
On NCIS, Courtney Ford plays 'Kaylen Burrows', who works in the US Navy as a Petty Officer Second Class. The character is assigned on the U.S.S. Majestic in an episode titled “Patriot Down”. During the episode, the NCIS agents find out that the incident was linked to Petty Officer Burrows, since she was a victim of a vicious crime prior to the death of that individual.
Courtney Ford Now
Aside from her regular roles in True Blood, Supernatural, and Parenthood, Courtney Ford also made an appearance in episode 9, titled “The Naked Man”, in the fourth season of How I Met Your Mother, and in the fifth season of The Big Bang Theory, on the episode “The Good Guy Fluctuation.” Ford was also the voice behind Piper Wright, in Fallout 4, who served as the Editor-in-Chief of Diamond City's newspaper, Publick Occurrences.
Courtney Ford is wedded to the actor Brandon Routh, who portrayed the lead title Superman in the movie Superman Returns and was also cast in other superhero movies, namely Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. The celebrity couple had their first child, a son, on August 10th, 2012.
Julie Benz Now
The American actress rose to fame after she played Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and Rita Bennett on Dexter, for which she won the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2006 and the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2009. Benz also became a star on the series Roswell, Desperate Housewives, No Ordinary, A Gifted Man, Defiance, and Hawaii Five-O, which she still enjoys a regular role on until today.
Julie Benz also made her mark on films, including Jawbreaker, The Brothers, Rambo, Saw V and Punisher: War Zone. She married her co-actor John Kassir on May 30th, 1998, although their marriage would end in an unfortunate divorce in December of 2007. Four years later, the American actress got engaged to Rich Orosco, her partner at the currently non-operational B360 Studios, and finally tied the knot a year later, on May 5th, 2012.
Catherine Bell Then
Catherine Bell dropped out from UCLA during her sophomore years after she received a modeling offer from Japan. When she came back to the US, Bell decided to pursue a career as an actress and eventually found her way into quite a few TV shows. Later on, she would star in the Dolph Lundgren film, Men of War.
Although Catherine Bell didn’t make an appearance on NCIS, the American actress did manage to work on a major role in the series that started the development of NCIS - JAG. Catherine Bell played the role of Sarah MacKenzie, who endured a problematic past and ran away from home when she was still a teenager. MacKenzie would eventually enlist in the Navy and reach the rank of Lieutenant Colonel prior to season 5.