By 1989, with her figure skating career being over, Benz turned to acting and got involved in the local theater, where she got a role in the play Street Law. Her first movie role was a small, credited, speaking part in "The Black Cat" segment of the Dario Argento/George A. Romero co-directed horror flick Two Evil Eyes (1990). A year later, she got a role on a TV show called Hi Honey, I'm Home (1991). The show was cancelled after two seasons.

After graduating from high school, Julie entered New York University to study acting. After graduation, Julie moved to Los Angeles to further pursue her career and landed some small roles in movies and TV shows, including a guest appearance on an episode of Married with Children in 1994 and a role in the Aaron Spelling unaired TV pilot Cross Town Traffic. She also starred as Christie Lambert in another unaired TV pilot called Empire in 1995. She went on to guest star in many TV shows which include Hang Time, High Tide, Step by Step and Boy