Drusilla was mortal and living in London when Angel first came across her in 1860, as she was confessing her sins (she'd been having premonitions) at Church. Angel slowly drove her mad by killing her family and friends and convincing her that she was the spawn of Satan. She was almost killed in Prague by an angry mob which left her sickly and weak, and Spike, her lover of over a century, brought her to Sunnydale to restore her health. Angel's blood, as her sire, was needed to complete the ritual, but Buffy and the gang arrived in time to stop it before he was killed. Nonetheless, it had been enough time for Drusilla to be restored to health, although the Church they were in collapsed on her and Spike, reversing their roles as he was left in a wheelchair while she was fit and strong. Once she was restored, she had the demon known as The Judge assembled so he might destroy the world, but Buffy stopped them before they could accomplish the plan. When Angel lost his soul and joined forces with Spike, Drusilla and he enjoyed a particularly cruel flirtation in front of the devoted Spike and finally pushed him to join forces with Buffy to stop Angelus so that he might get Dru back. Dru killed Kendra by hypnotizing her and subsequently slitting her throat, and she also used her hypnotic talents on Giles, convincing him that she was Jenny Calendar to get him to reveal the key to wakening the demon Acathla and destroying the world. Spike overpowered Dru during the final battle between Buffy and Angel and she was last seen unconscious in Spike's car driving out of Sunnydale. However, she has left Spike twice since then, once for a Chaos Demon and once for a Fungus Demon, saying that Spike wasn't evil enough for her. She eventually turned up again in LA at the behest of Wolfram and Hart, Angel's rivals, to turn her resurrected grandsire, Darla, back into a vampire. Spurred by nostalgia, she returned to Sunnydale to attempt to patch things up with Spike, only to have Spike reject her in favor of his unrequited love for Buffy.
Juliet Landau, 32, is the daughter of actors Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, and the sister of producer Susan B. Landau (whose movies include Bram Stoker's Dracula, Cool Runnings and An Ideal Husband). She was born in America but spent 4 years in Britain which is where she acquired the British accent she uses for Drusilla. Juliet's career in show business started out in dance - she was a dancer for about 4 and a half years and finally took acting classes which provided her with theatre work and then a supporting role in the movie Ed Wood. Juliet didn't actually audition for the role of Drusilla - Joss had seen her work in Ed Wood and he called her agent; they met and read through some pages of the script and talked over the character, and ultimately she got the part. Subsequent to her work on Buffy, Juliet has worked on a few projects, including Ravager, with Robin Sachs (Ethan Rayne). When she's not acting, Juliet — a self-described workaholic — still attends dance and acting classes and works out avidly. She also enjoys reading and keeping very physical, as well watching Felicity.
Birthdate: March 30, 1971
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
Height: Unknown
Eyes/Hair: Blue/Dark brown
Dating Status: Unknown
Cordelia Chase, born and raised in Sunnydale, is a classic snob. She's a popular cheerleader, extremely self-centered, and always speaks her mind ("Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass."). When Buffy first came to Sunnydale, Cordelia tried to befriend her, since anyone from Los Angeles must be cool. But after Buffy mistakenly attacked her with a stake, and then began hanging out with "losers" Willow and Xander, Cordelia decided to shun her instead. It was a mutual dislike, but eventually Cordelia needed Buffy's help (when an invisible girl was terrorizing her), and soon after, Cordelia found out that Buffy was the Slayer. She found herself hanging out with the Scooby Gang more and more (though the insults were still exchanged regularly), and eventually she found herself in a relationship (of sorts) with Xander. When her "cool" friends found out and alienated her, she broke up with him, but then changed her mind, deciding she'd date whoever she wanted, "no matter how lame" they were. However, Xander and Willow found themselves kissing one day, and had a bit of trouble trying not to do it again — until Cordelia and Oz caught them. Cordelia and Xander never got back together, but they did recently seem to call a bit of an unofficial truce. She later developed a crush on the new Watcher, Wesley, but upon kissing, they realized they had no chemistry. It was revealed toward the end of the third season that Cordelia's family, who've always had money, are now broke; her father made some "mistakes" on his taxes — twelve years in a row. Cordelia moved to Los Angeles to become an actress, but ended up working with Angel and Wesley to help the helpless. Their dead colleague Doyle gave her his talent for receiving visions of people in trouble, and experiencing all the suffering in LA has had a marked effect on her previously vapid personality.
Charisma Carpenter, 32, is reportedly nothing like her character (that's a relief). Named after an Avon perfume, she was born in Las Vegas and lived there until she was fifteen, when her family moved to Mexico, and then to a San Diego suburb. Throughout the course of all this moving, Charisma attended three high schools: Gorman Catholic High School in Las Vegas, Bonita Vista High School near San Diego, and the Chula Vista High School of the Creative and Performing Arts in San Diego, where she graduated in 1988 with an emphasis in classical dance. Charisma was a fairly average teenager, with her share of bad grades and broken curfews. She wasn't overwhelmingly popular, but she was a cheerleader and a member of the homecoming court, so she wasn't an outcast, either. After high school, she spent some time in Europe and then entered community college in San Diego, working at various points as a waitress, a property manager, a video store clerk, an aerobics instructor, and a San Diego Chargers Cheerleader. Eventually, she moved to Los Angeles, where she was introduced to a commercial agent while working as a waitress. She started taking acting classes for the first time, and discovered that she loved acting and could actually make a living at it. She appeared in numerous commercials, including a Secret antiperspirant commercial that ran for two years, and eventually got a guest spot on "Baywatch." Aaron Spelling saw her and cast her as mega-bitch Ashley Green in his short-lived series, "Malibu Shores." While working on that show, she went to audition for the role of Buffy on "BtVS," but they also had her read for Cordelia, which she was not prepared for. Despite that, she got the role (reportedly after Bianca Lawson, who later appeared as Kendra, turned it down). Charisma enjoys ballet, horseback riding, rollerblading, hiking, and rock-climbing, and has even sky-dived. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her Golden Retriever.
Thanks to Jennifer Ireland for some of the info about Charisma's high school years.
Birthdate: July 23, 1970
Birthplace: Las Vegas, Nevada
Height: 5'7"
Eyes/Hair: Hazel
Tattoos: A sun on her lower back
Siblings: "Active, outdoorsy brothers"
Dating status: Married to Damian Hardy; pregnant with their first child
Charisma was a regular for Seasons 1-3, appearing in every episode during those seasons.
Tara Maclay, 21, was Willow's girlfriend, and she slowly became integrated into the gang after she began dating Willow in Season 4. Tara's mother died when Tara was 17, and Tara seemingly inherited her power as a witch. Tara's birthdate was roughly November 7, 1980. The Maclay family, an odd and old-fashioned bunch, have a family legend — designed to keep the womenfolk in line — that the female members turn into demons at age 20 or so. Thanks to Spike, Tara found out that this was a lie, after much agonizing about the demon she thought was inside her. Tara was shy and nervous around new people and tends to stutter when talking with them, but this usually faded once she got to know them. She helped the gang many times — most notably, she was the one who realized that Buffy was not Buffy when Faith took over Buffy's body; she also helped conjure the katra needed to switch the bodies back again. She helped Willow to further her witchy power, consequently boosting both their confidences and skill, and she owned a cat called "Miss Kitty Fantastico" (even though cats weren't allowed in the dorms). Tara had a single-study dorm where she and Willow, a very sweet and loving couple, spent a great deal of their time. In Season 5, Willow began started to outstrip Tara in magical prowess, which led to some tension between them, culminating in their first argument. When Willow stormed off, leaving Tara alone, Glory showed up and sucked out her sanity. Fortunately, Willow was eventually able to restore Tara's mind during the final fight with Glory. In Season 6, Willow continued to further her use of magic, and the two argued about whether Willow overusing it. After Tara found out that Willow had done a spell to make Tara forget their fight, the couple broke up. A few months later, after Willow had given up the use of magic entirely, they got back together, but very shortly thereafter, Tara was tragically shot and killed by Warren.
Amber Benson, 26, started her acting career in her teens when she was involved in productions at the local community theatre, and studied singing and dancing as well as acting. Soon after this her family saw that she was serious about pursuing her chosen career, and they moved to Los Angeles, where she has enjoyed steady work ever since. Her previous movie credits were mostly as the "best friend" to the star. Among her credits are The Crush with Alicia Silverstone, Imaginary Crimes with Fairuza Balk and in Bye Bye Love as Eliza Dushku's (Faith) best friend. Her favorite food is tofu, and her favorite musician is Jeff Buckley. Amber lives with her mother and sister in LA.
Birthdate: January 8, 1977
Birthplace: Birmingham, Alabama
Height: 5'4"
Eyes/Hair: Blue/Blond
Pets: A Dalmatian called Pennsylvania (Penny) and a "fat" cat called Benneton
Dating Status: Unknown
Glory was one of three hellgods who ruled over a demon dimension, but her power started to outstrip that of her fellow hellgods. In fear that she would overpower them they struck first, and managed to expel her from their dimension, and trap her inside a human body. She was supposed to remain buried inside the human body (a man called Ben) and die when Ben did, but her power was too great and every so often, for a period of time, she could submerge Ben's personality and take over his body, making it look like her. While Ben was in control he was a normal human, and had no memory of Glory's actions, and Glory had no memory of Ben's actions while she was in control. Her power was severely limited by being in human form to only super strength, speed and invulnerabilit
y — while still very formidable, normally she would have been able to cast lightning bolts and perform other godlike acts. Her sanity was also being constantly deteriorated by this dimension, and she had to suck the sanity out of other humans to maintain her own. Her sole aim was to obtain the Key, Dawn, and use it to get back to her own dimension, which would have the side effect of destroying this world. Buffy eventually defeated her using a troll-god's hammer, weakening her to the point that Ben took over again, and Giles then killed the mortal Ben, killing Glory with him.
Clare Kramer was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in Delaware, Ohio. One of her first acting jobs was as "Wendy" — spokesgirl for the fast food chain Wendys. She graduated from Delaware Hayes High School and got her degree in acting from New York University. Clare likes cheddar cheese and macaroni and cheese. She is reportedly a good friend of Eliza Dushku's (Faith).
Birthdate: September 3, 1974 (occasionally reported as September 23 and/or 1978)
Birthplace: Atlanta, GA
Height: Unknown
Eyes/Hair: Hazel/blonde
Dating Status: Unknown
Joyce Summers works at an art gallery, where she acquires and sells art pieces. She is divorced from Hank Summers, whom she met at a Homecoming dance during her freshman year of college. Joyce remained oblivious to the fact that Buffy was the Slayer (despite many clues that something was odd about Buffy's life) until Buffy finally told her the truth at the end of season two. Joyce came to accept it, but she didn't like it, and she worried about Buffy. Despite this, the two seemed to have a good relationship. Joyce didn't date a lot after her divorce; she did get pretty serious with Ted, who turned out to be a robot-doppelganger of a guy from the fifties who had killed his past four wives. She also showed interest in Giles, and when they were under the influence of poisoned band candy, the two had sex; they avoided each other and the subject after that. Joyce wasn't a central part of Buffy's life when Buffy first went to college, however the addition of Dawn to the family changed that, as Buffy moved back home to protect Dawn from Glory. Joyce was aware of Dawn's supernatural origin, but loved her anyway. Joyce developed a brain tumor, which was successfully removed, though sadly she later died from an aneurysm (a side effect of the operation), and Buffy discovered her body lying on their couch. A grief stricken Dawn attempted to magically resurrect her, but she canceled the spell after learning of the possible terrible consequences of it, and after receiving support and reassurance from Buffy.
Kristine Sutherland loved her job on Buffy. She said that she used her role as the mother of a teenager to prepare herself for when her own daughter hits adolescence. Kristine feels very motherly toward and protective of both her young co-stars and their fictional characters: she worries, for example, about Sarah Michelle Gellar working too hard, and about Buffy not having a father around. Kristine is a big fan of the show, and says that she gets very caught up in the story lines. She's always liked fantasy and science-fiction, but she doesn't like horror; she even gets scared watching Buffy sometimes. Interestingly, Joyce auditioned for BtVS on the same day that David Boreanaz did — she saw him waiting with about four other guys, and he was the one that struck her (women's intuition, maybe?). Kristine hadn't had a whole lot of roles before playing Joyce, but you might recognize her from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids or her Hoover vacuum commercials.
Birthdate: Around 1957
Birthplace: New York
Height: Unknown
Eyes/Hair: Brown/brown
Husband: John Pankow (best known as Ira on Mad About You), since 1985
Children: One daughter, Eleanore
Siblings: At least one brother
Oz is a bit of a mystery — we didn't even find out his real name until "The Initiative" (it's Daniel Osbourne). He's a quiet, not-too-expressive kind of guy, though he's not lacking a sense of humor. He is extremely intelligent, though not very motivated — he failed his senior year and ended up graduating with the Buffy gang (he should have graduated the year before them). Oz is the former guitarist for the band Dingoes Ate My Baby, and even though Oz doesn't have a very high opinion of the band's talent, they did get a lot of gigs, both in and out of Sunnydale. During Oz's (first) senior year, he was bitten by his cousin Jordy, who, it turned out, was a werewolf. This was right after Oz and Willow had begun dating, but Willow didn't mind and was willing to continue dating him, noting that a few days out of the month, she's not much fun to be around either. The two developed an intense relationship, though the werewolf issue isn't turning out to be as harmless as Willow thought. The two hit a bump in the road when Oz found himself attracted to a female werewolf and gave in to that attraction. Reeling from his realization that the werewolf is part of him all the time (not just three days of the month), he left Willow and Sunnydale to go figure things out. A few months later he returned, thinking that he had the wolf under control. Unfortunately, it turned out that Willow had the potential to make him lose control. That, combined with the fact that Willow was in love with Tara, led to Oz leaving town again. The two parted amicably, though sadly.
Seth Green, 29, was born to Herbert, a math teacher, and Barbara, an artist. He graduated from Lamberton High School in 1991. It is said that a photograph of him being born was used in an ad campaign for natural childbirth, but this rumor has been denied by Seth's mother. Seth actually got his start in commercials as a child, for such products as Froot Loops and Jello Pudding Pops. One of his commercials was with Sarah Michelle Gellar, when she was four years old. He went on to appear in numerous TV shows and movies, including a role as Alyson Hannigan's love interest in 1988's "My Stepmother Is An Alien." The two have remained friends since then, so Seth felt welcome on the set when he joined the cast of BtVS. Interestingly, Seth had a part in the movie version of BtVS — unfortunately, his part ended up on the cutting room floor, though a still photo of him (as a vampire) is on the back of the video box. Though Seth has a very large list of credits, he didn't gain a whole lot of attention until BtVS and Austin Powers came along. Now he has attention and a lot of fans — especially, according to him, eleven to seventeen year old girls. As for the future, Seth is not interested in directing, but he would like to produce, as well as keep acting. He and his best friends Breckin Meyer and Ryan Phillippe have an office where they peruse scripts, and they are aiming to produce films together.
Birthdate: February 8, 1974
Birthplace: Philadelphia, PA
Height: About 5'4"
Eyes/Hair: Green/red (naturally)
Siblings: Older sister, Kaela
Dating status: Has a girlfriend, actress Chad Morgan
Riley Finn was born and raised in Huxley, a small farm town in Iowa. Not a whole lot is known about his history, but he was a Psychology graduate student at UC Sunnydale, a teacher's assistant to the late Professor Maggie Walsh, and Special Agent 75329 in the Initiative, a mysterious military operation which captures and experiments on demons. Riley is as sweet and affable as they come, but can also take charge and hold his own in a fight, due to his Initiative training. He likes to take long drives, can't dance, and likes cheese. He was Buffy's last boyfriend, and had trouble dealing with the fact that his girlfriend was stronger than him and had a bigger and better demon-killing track record than him. As Buffy became distracted with her growing dedication to her Slayer calling and with family issues, Riley felt he was unimportant to Buffy, and decided to rejoin the military, leaving Sunnydale and Buffy for good. He returned for one episode in Season 6, needing Buffy's help with a mission, and brought with him another demon-fighting agent — his wife, Sam.
Marc Blucas, 31, was born and raised in the small town of Girard, Pennsylvania. His life-long dream was to be a basketball player — he played all through high school, and played at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, though he didn't gain much attention there until his junior year. He ended up winning the Murray Greason Award, which honors the individual who's sacrificed the most to the team, and the Weaver-James-Corrigan scholarship, both in 1994. Unfortunately, he wasn't drafted to the NBA after college, though he did play for the Manchester Giants in England for a year. He returned to the U.S. to enter Law School, but realized the night before his LSAT (Law School Admission Test) that he wanted to be an actor. He'd always thought that the movie A Few Good Men made him want to be a lawyer, but when he watched it again that night, he realized that it made him want to be an actor. He started auditioning, and got a few bit parts in movies such as Eddie and Pleasantville (see links below for a complete filmography). Eventually, he landed a Buffy audition, and even though he auditioned with a severe back injury and thought it went horribly, he landed the job — and then became a regular within half a season. Marc loves food — virtually everything but raw onions; his favorite movies include A Few Good Men, Top Gun, and Usual Suspects ("I'm a sap... I'll site and cry at Rambo); his favorite TV shows are The Dukes of Hazzard, A-Team, and ER; his favorite book is Where the Read Fern Grows ("I read it in the eighth grade and it stuck with me"); his favorite color is blue; and his favorite NBA team is the San Antonio Spurs — a friend of his plays for them. He listens to everything from Stevie Wonder to Creed to Bon Jovi to Pearl Jam, and if he could be a superhero, he'd be Superman.
Birthdate: January 11, 1972
Birthplace: Girard, Pennsylvania
Height: 6'2"
Eyes/Hair: Hazel/dark blond
Dating status: Dating Mary Parent, Executive VP of Production at Universal Studios; together for over three years
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