In the real vs. fake Christmas tree debate, Julie Benz votes for the latter. "I have a small, white, fake tree. I don't like cutting down trees and throwing them out. And I don't do Christmas cards. It's such a waste of paper," says Benz, who sends e-cards instead, and when she receives cards, she saves the ones containing photos of children in a photo album. "We also don't buy or overspend," she adds. "I used to be the big giver of crap and now I don't. I really try to find out what the person wants and needs and buy that one specific thing."

 

Benz and her fiancé haven't yet decided whether they'll stay home or "take a random trip somewhere warm" for the holidays this year, but first she has to make one more trip to New York, where she's been commuting to shoot the CBS Friday night drama "A Gifted Man." She recurs as Christina, the slightly goofy, emotionally expressive, spiritually minded sister of the very serious Dr. Michael Holt (Patrick Wilson). "I love working with Patrick. He's so present and in the moment, and I learn so much from working with him," she raves.

 

This week, Benz also stars in the TNT Mystery Night movie "Ricochet," based on the Sandra Brown novel in which she plays the wife of a corrupt judge (Gary Cole) who becomes involved in a murder — and with the investigating detective (John Corbett). "She's very southern, very reserved. I had to move and talk slower, not reveal a lot. It was a real challenge to play someone who you're not sure is good or bad," she says of the character. Set in Savannah, Georgia but filmed in New Orleans, the movie premieres Nov. 30 on TNT.

 

Two days later, Benz opens in "Answers to Nothing," a movie in which she plays a detective investigating the disappearance of a young girl in a multi-storyline plot reminiscent of "Crash" in that the characters from the various stories intersect, some from the outset and others only at the end, in surprising ways. She got the role offer just two days after the murder of her character, Rita, on "Dexter," a shock that had left her sad, depressed and out of work, so it came at the perfect time. She said yes without reading the script, and once on set found it refreshing to play a character so in control and opposite from Rita in "a wonderful gem of a movie. It was exactly where I needed to be," says Benz, who shared her "Dexter" secret with co-star Elizabeth Mitchell, who'd endured character death herself on "Lost" and provided her with "amazing advice and guidance." Also starring Dane Cook and Barbara Hershey and directed by Matthew Leutwyler, "Answers to Nothing" opens in select cities Dec. 2.

 

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