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Amber Benson
at the Buffy "wrap party", 2003
Born	Amber Nicole Benson January 8, 1977 (1977-01-08) (age 33) Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.

Amber Nicole Benson (born 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, but has also directed, produced and starred in her own films Chance (2002) and Lovers, Liars & Lunatics (2006).^[1] She is also co-director with Adam Busch of the upcoming film Drones.^[2]

Early life

Benson was born in Birmingham, Alabama. Her parents are Edward (a psychiatrist)^[3] and Diane Benson, and she has a younger sister, Danielle, who is an artist. She had a mixed Christian and Jewish upbringing.^[4][5]

As a child, Amber studied music and dance, and performed in the Birmingham Children's Ballet, as well as in local theater. She attended high school (one of her classmates being Joey Fatone) in Orlando, Florida after her family moved there, in part to help Amber pursue acting opportunities, the most prominent of which was an unsold television series called Kids' News, in which Amber was to have been one of two main anchors. The Bensons then relocated to Los Angeles, and Amber began to very quickly land roles in films and on television.

Career

TV and film

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 her Buffy co-star James Marsters. After her time on Buffy, Benson began production on a series of animation films 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 & 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, Amber's mother. She is the co-director with Adam Busch of Drones, a comedy film due for release in 2010.^[6]

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?" In 2002, she appeared in two songs on Buffy colleague Anthony Stewart Head's album Music for Elevators. 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.

In 1997 she co-wrote the movie The Theory of the Leisure Class with director Gabriel Bologna.^[7]

Writing: novels and comics

Benson also writes novels and comic books mostly in collaboration with Christopher Golden. In 2001, 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". The following year (2002), 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 2007, Benson signed a three-book deal with Ginjer Buchanan of Penguin Books. The first book was Death's Daughter, an Ace imprint paperback^[8] which was released on February 24, 2009, and the second book is Cat's Claw,^[9] released on February 23, 2010.

Other

• In 2003, Benson collaborated with director James Kerwin to produce her play, Albert Hall, in Hollywood.
• During the 2008 campaign season, Benson was featured in the MoveOn.org-sponsored pro-Barack Obama ad.^[10]

Personal life

As of 2007, Benson resides in Los Angeles, California. She is a former vegetarian.^[11] As of March 2009, she was dating Adam Busch, who played Warren on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the character that murdered her character Tara on that show.^[12]

Filmography

Television

(Includes made-for-TV movies and TV series)

• Jack Reed: Badge of Honor (1993) TV movie - Nicole Reed
• Jack Reed: A Search for Justice (1994) TV movie - Nicole Reed
• Jack Reed: One of Our Own (1995) TV movie - Nicole Reed
• Promised Land (1998) TV series - Amy Farnsworth (episode titled "Out of Bounds")
• Cracker (1999) TV series - Amy (episode titled "The Club")
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (in 1999–2002 seasons) TV series - Tara Maclay (47 episodes)
• The Enforcers (2001) TV miniseries - Abby
• Cold Case (2004) TV series - Julia Hoffman (episode titled "Volunteers")
• The Inside (2005) TV series - Allison Davis (episode titled "The Perfect Couple")
• Supernatural (2006) TV series - Lenore (episode titled "Bloodlust")
• Holiday Wishes (2006) TV movie - Danni Hartford
• Gryphon (2007) TV movie - Princess Amelia of Lockland
• Long Island Confidential (2008) TV series pilot
• 7 Things to Do Before I'm 30 (2008) TV movie - Lori Madison
• Private Practice (2009) TV series - Jill Duncan

Books

Ghosts of Albion

• Accursed (with Christopher Golden) (Del Rey, 2005)
• Witchery (with Christopher Golden) (Del Rey, 2006)
• The Ghosts of Albion Roleplaying Game (with Timothy S. Brannan and Christopher Golden) (Eden Studios, 2007)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

• WannaBlessedBe (Willow & Tara (2003) with Christopher Golden)
• Wilderness, Part 1 (with Christopher Golden)
• Wilderness, Part 2 (with Christopher Golden)

Calliope Reaper-Jones

• Death's Daughter (Feb 24,2009)
• Cat's Claw^[13] (Feb 23, 2010)

Other

• The Innocent in Tales of the Slayers
• Shadowplay #1-4 (with Ben Templesmith) (2005)
• The Seven Whistlers (with Christopher Golden) (2006)

Notes

External links

• Amber Benson at the Internet Movie Database
• An interview with Amber Benson on the BookBanter podcast
• Interview at Flames Rising (October 2005)
• Interview at LesbiaNation.com (May 2007)
• Interview at SlayerLit
• "'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' star Amber Benson finds new life as a novelist" New York Daily News (June 29, 2009).

From Wikiquote

Amber Nicole Benson (born January 8, 1977, in Birmingham, Alabama) is an American actress best known for playing Tara Maclay, Willow's lesbian love interest in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Sourced

Chance (2002)

Chance [to Simon]: You can't be asexual, you gotta want to fuck something.

Willow & Tara

• I saw them in the grocery store [...] sitting benignly in their spinning racks, their technicolor faces looked like a not very girl-friendly amalgam of muscles, testosterone and pulpy, bloody flesh.
  • Introduction
• "No more talk of gloomy Angel, though. Only happy thoughts. Sunshine, picnic, that spell we did last night. With the oil?" ~ Tara

Seeing Red (#6.19)" (2002)

• Willow: Hey, clothes.
• Tara: Better not get used to 'em.

Older and Far Away (#6.14)" (2002)

• Spike: I had a muscle cramp. Buffy was, uh, helping.
• Tara: A muscle cramp... in your pants?
• Spike: What? It's a thing.

I Was Made to Love You (#5.15)" (2001)

• Tara: Well, I go online sometimes, but everyone's spelling is really bad. It's depressing.

Family (#5.6)" (2000)

• Willow: Tell me a story.
• Tara: Okay. Once upon a time, there was, um... a kitty. She was very little, and she was all alone, and nobody wanted her.
• Willow: This is a very upsetting story.

This Year's Girl (#4.15)" (2000)

• Willow: Don't worry, we're sure to spot Faith first. She's like this cleavagey slutbomb walking around going, "Ooh, check me out, I'm wicked cool, I'm five by five".
• Tara: "Five by five?" Five what by five what?
• Willow: See, that's the thing. No one knows.

Checkpoint (#5.12)" (2001)

• Willow: Questions. Great.
• Tara: W-we can answer questions.
• Nigel: Good. I need to know a little bit more about the Slayer, and about the both of you. Your relationship, whatever you can tell me.
• Tara: O-o-our relationship?
• Willow: We're friends.
• Tara: Good friends.
• Willow: Girlfriends, actually.
• Tara: Yes, we're girlfriends.
• Willow: We're in love. W-we're lovers. We're lesbian, gay-type lovers.
• Nigel: I meant your relationship with the Slayer.

All the Way (#6.6)" (2001)

• Anya: How 'bout you, ever play Shiver Me Timbers?
• Tara: I'm not really much for the timber.

Tough Love (#5.19)" (2001)

• Tara: Sweetie, you wouldn't blow off a class if your head was on fire.

Forever (#5.17)" (2001)

• Willow: What did I have for breakfast this morning? Do you remember?
• Tara: Huh?
• Willow: I-I wanna say bagel, but I think that was yesterday. You had two eggs sunny side up. I remember because they were wiggling at me like little boobs.
• Tara: Sassy eggs.

Triangle (#5.11)" (2001)

• Willow: We can come by between classes. Usually I use that time to copy over my class notes with a system of different colored pens. But it's been pointed out to me that that's, you know, insane.
• Tara: I said "quirky."

Interviews

• Oh my God, it's Tara.
  • "Buffy abroad" special feature, on Triangle/Checkpoint DVD, quoting British fans.
• It doesn't matter who you sleep with, it's how you treat other people in this world.
  • Amber Benson - Interview at Madame Tussaud's - 10 December, 2003
• It was interesting to have humanoid villains that were rooted in our three-dimensional reality... or four dimensional reality, I'm not sure which!
  • Amber Benson - Interview at Madame Tussaud's - 10 December, 2003
• I wouldn't want to forget anything, even the weird stuff and the bad stuff. It makes you who you are.
  • Amber Benson - Interview at Madame Tussaud's - 10 December, 2003
• I don't think you ever die on Buffy.
  • Chat at BBC-CULT December 19, 2002
• I don't think anything lives up to what you envisioned.
  • 10 Questions: Amber Benson Answers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Tara. by Ken P.
• I'm kissing Alyson Hannigan and I almost stuck my tongue in her mouth because we just got so into it at one point.
  • Amber Benson at Toronto Trek, July 6, 2002

Unsourced

• "I do think that if MEN were the ones that bore the children a more effective means of birth control would have been implemented years ago.”
  • “It's not real. I mean, there are no vampires, there are no witches. Well, there are Wiccans, but they're not making out with Alyson, so...”
• “Maybe because she's smaller than me she might look taller.”
  • "If I liked girls, I’d be a very happy camper. I’ve gotten some wonderful letters, and they’ve assured me that if I decide to play for the other team, I’ll have a place."
• "I'm known as the fat lesbian chick on Buffy. Of course I mean you stand me next to an actress like Sarah and I look like I'll eat her. Wait, that didn't sound right. But, you know what I mean."
  • "Everybody at work has a BMW except me. I don't have a car. I have a movie."
• "I'm really a big dork who likes to stay home and read a book."
  • "I’ve never purposely gone out to take somebody out. Well, maybe in elementary school I once did try to trip somebody."
• "Got to sing. Got to dance. Got to suck face with Alyson Hannigan."
  • "I wish someone would start a rumor. I need some spice in my life."

External links

Wikipedia has an article about:

Amber Benson