Dexter star Julie Benz explains how she landed the role of Rita

Dexter’s Julie Benz recently sat down for an awesome chat with Backstage, which interviewed her and three other stars from TV shows that have a strong following:  Ty Burrell from Modern Family, Jim Parsons from Big Bang Theory and Lea Michele from Glee.

The actors were singled out for creating indelible characters on the small screen, and the piece is very revealing of their different processes for earning a role and making it their own. It’s worth a read, but we’ve distilled the best of Benz’ comments here.

On Dexter, Benz’s Rita has recovered from abuse by her first husband’s hand, found love again with Dexter, seen their relationship threatened by his demons and come out the other side.

It’s hard to imagine her playing any other character on the show, but Benz said she initially auditioned for both Deb and Rita — and she wanted to play Deb because she liked the idea of cursing a blue streak on TV. The producers felt she’d be better suited to the role of Rita, but they worried that Benz’s beauty would come off as too glamorous to play the single mom.

“I had to come in with no makeup on and in sweats,” she recalled. “And then I took it a step further because they wanted me to look really downtrodden, so I actually drank wine so I was hung over and I put mascara in my hair to give myself really bad roots.”

Her dedication paid off with the role she’s brought to life for four seasons by channelling herself at her most fragile, Benz said.

“I don’t have her tragic background,” she said of Rita, “but what we do share is our vulnerabilities are very much the same. I probably have a stronger veneer than she does, but when you take away the mask and I’m at my most vulnerable, that’s Rita.”

The Dexter cast members are extremely close with one another, she said, which is one reason the actors can dig deep. “We shot our pilot on location in Miami, when the hurricanes were going through. And for some reason, spending those three weeks together really made us close. I usually say it’s the kiss of death when you all get along because I’ve been on numerous shows where we got along and we were canceled. When work is too much fun to go to, it doesn’t last. But this one has lasted.”

Image: Fame Pictures