Julie has been cast in a new pilot for ABC called “No Ordinary Family”! I hope the pilot gets picked up!

Looks like Julie Benz is sticking with ABC a bit longer.

The former Dexter star, who currently recurs on Desperate Housewives, has landed the other lead role in the network’s drama pilot No Ordinary Family, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Shield’s Michael Chiklis to play superdad in new pilot

The series centers on a typical American family with super powers. The Shield’s Michael Chiklis is already onboard to play the patriarch, Jim, a former aspiring artist-turned-police artist with special abilities. Benz, 37, will play his wife, a scientist with a power for super speed.

No Ordinary Family comes from Greg Berlanti, the man behind Brothers & Sisters, Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money.

Julie Benz has been branching out beyond her “Dexter” role — and how! In “The Boondocks Saints II: All Saints Day,” due in September, “I get to play a badass. I’ve always been the damsel in distress. In this I play this really, really phenomenal FBI agent who’s smart and sexy and feminine. She can shoot a gun better than the guys. She wears pink rubber gloves and stiletto heels to a crime scene, but she can hold her own with the fellas, no problem.”

“It’s a highly-anticipated sequel. They’ve done an amazing job,” she adds. “I can’t give anything away, but it’s such a cool movie. There’s one stunt in it that is so amazing and we only had one take to do it. It’s probably the coolest thing I’ve ever gotten to do.”

Benz notes, “I didn’t have any time to train for it because I was wrapping for the last season of ‘Dexter.’ They put a gun in my hand on the first day and I had to break into a room and start firing away like a pro. That’s when your acting technique and sheer will kicks in.”

MEANWHILE: Benz has also branched out to star in the Lifetime Movie Network’s TV movie “Held Hostage,” airing July 19, in which she plays real-life kidnapping victim Michelle Renee. “Michelle and her daughter both came on set for a couple of days so I got to meet them. I was so overwhelmed when I met Michelle I started to cry,”

Benz tells this column. “Her story of being kidnapped and having a bomb attached to her and her daughter and having to rob a bank — it so deeply touched me and moved me that I was at a loss for words when I met her. She complemented me on my work and what was I supposed to say, ‘Thanks for going through such an awful thing so I could have a great role to play. No,’” she notes. “The whole thing was just very intense. There was a lot of sensitivity in developing this project and really being as true as possible to what happened, and I’m really proud of the movie.”

Here’s a new article about Julie’s upcoming Lifetime Movie Network movie, “Held Hostage”!

Dexter Actress Julie Benz to Star in Lifetime Movie Network’s Held Hostage
Julie Benz Stars in True-Life Drama for Lifetime Movie Network’s Held Hostage Premiering July 2009
Acclaimed actress Julie Benz (Showtime’s wildly popular serial-killer drama Dexter, Saw V, Rambo, Buffy) will star in a Lifetime Movie Network original movie, Held Hostage. Held Hostage is an incredible true mother/daughter story of terror, courage, resiliency and self-discovery premiering on Lifetime Movie Network in July 2009. Bruce McGill (W., Cinderella Man) and Canadian actress Natasha Calis (Impact, Christmas Caper) also joins the cast.

About Held Hostage:

Ripped from the headlines, the film is based on the true story and book of the same title by Michelle Renee (www.Michelle-Renee.com). Benz plays Michelle Renee/Estey, an abused teenage runaway that escapes the streets and climbs the corporate ladder as a single mother to become one of the youngest bank executive’s for one of the largest banks in the world. Benz’s character is then kidnapped by three masked gunmen, held hostage for 14 hours and forced to rob a bank to save her only child’s life while they are both wired to explode.

In the midst of the traumatic aftermath the tactical criminal defense team calls Michelle’s role in the bank heist into question and reveals damaging information about her haunting past that could devastate the prosecution’s case against her attackers. Completely dismantled and suffering with PTSD, Michelle realizes that to recover from this terrifying event in a positive way for her daughter and herself, she must embrace her past and heal her life…all of it. Read Full Article

SOURCE

…part of FX International to be held at the Orlando Convention Center the weekend of April 17-20. Tickets are now available for this event. Seating is strictly limited and tickets are selling fast. Each participant in this part of FX International will receive a goody bag full of exclusives.

FX International inludes a creator’s alley of artists and writers, and all you could want of anime, gaming, tattoo artists, and more.

Special guest this year are James Marsters, Julie Benz, Clare Kramer, Juliet Landau, Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite, Bud Davis, Jonathan Frakes, Mark Goddard, James Kyson Lee, Danny Steinmann, Cerina Vincent, Lindsay Wagner, WWF’s Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Valerie “SoCalVal” Wyndham.

The Hallmark Channel announced its movie lineup for 2009-2010 and this little blurb was included.

Current in-production movies include “Mrs. Miracle,” “A Soldier’s Love Story” and “Uncorked,” with “Dexter” star Julie Benz.

No further information was given but I will keep you all up to date as I learn more.