# Juliet Landau
**Juliet Landau** (born 1965 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress, director, producer, and writer best known for playing the psychic vampire Drusilla on *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* and its spin-off *Angel*, and for her role as Loretta King in [Tim Burton](https://www.edgepedia.org/tim-burton)'s 1994 film *[Ed Wood](https://www.edgepedia.org/ed-wood-film)*.[1](https://www.fandango.com/people/juliet-landau-378289/biography) • [2](https://www.julietlandau.com/about.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1965, Los Angeles, California[1](https://www.fandango.com/people/juliet-landau-378289/biography) |
| Parents | Actors Martin Landau and Barbara Bain[1](https://www.fandango.com/people/juliet-landau-378289/biography) |
| Breakthrough role | Loretta King in Tim Burton's Oscar-winning biopic *Ed Wood* (1994), which also starred her father[1](https://www.fandango.com/people/juliet-landau-378289/biography) |
| Signature television role | Drusilla on *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* (1997–2003) and *Angel*[1](https://www.fandango.com/people/juliet-landau-378289/biography) |
| Directing | *Take Flight*, a 25-minute documentary on Gary Oldman; feature debut *A Place Among the Dead* (2020)[3](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/juliet-landau-interview-take-flight-gary-oldman-buffy-and-angel-and-more/) • [4](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-107946/filmographie/) |
| Writing | Co-wrote two issues of the *Angel* comic book for IDW[2](https://www.julietlandau.com/about.html) |
## Early life and start in performance
Landau was born to the actors [Martin Landau](https://www.edgepedia.org/martin-landau) and [Barbara Bain](https://www.edgepedia.org/barbara-bain), a Los Angeles native who entered entertainment first as a professional ballerina. She studied acting in London until she was 18 before turning to screen work.[1](https://www.fandango.com/people/juliet-landau-378289/biography) In her own account, her career began in dance: she danced for about four and a half years, then took acting classes, which led to theater work and eventually a supporting role in a film.[5](https://buffyguide.com/players/drusilla.php) Stage was her first medium as an actress, and her theater credits listed on her own site include *A Streetcar Named Desire*, *Awake and Sing!*, and *Danny And The Deep Blue Sea*.[6](https://buzzymag.com/juliet-landau-interview/) • [2](https://www.julietlandau.com/about.html)
## *Ed Wood* and film work
Her widely noticed screen role came as Loretta King in Tim Burton's *Ed Wood* (1994), the Oscar-winning biopic in which her father starred; the attention from the film brought further film and television offers, including a part opposite [Whoopi Goldberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/whoopi-goldberg) in *Theodore Rex* (1995).[1](https://www.fandango.com/people/juliet-landau-378289/biography) Her filmography also includes *The Grifters* (1990), *Neon City*, *Direct Hit*, *Carlo's Wake* (1999), *The Toolbox Murders* (2004), *Dark Hearts* (2012), and *The Yellow Wallpaper* (2010), in which she starred as Charlotte Weiland, the worn-down wife of a doctor, in an adaptation of [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlotte-perkins-gilman)'s short story.[2](https://www.julietlandau.com/about.html) • [4](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-107946/filmographie/) • [1](https://www.fandango.com/people/juliet-landau-378289/biography)
## Drusilla on *Buffy* and *Angel*
The role that defined her television career is Drusilla, a psychotic but psychic vampire who arrives in Sunnydale in the show's second season as Spike's girlfriend, recovering from a mob attack in Prague. In the character's backstory, Drusilla had been a chaste, religious girl in nineteenth-century England plagued by visions she believed came from the Devil; Angel became obsessed with her, killed her family, drove her insane, and sired her as a vampire.[7](https://www.btvsonline.com/cast/vampires-demons/drusilla-keeble-juliet-landau/)
Landau played Drusilla on *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* from 1997 until 2003, appearing in twelve episodes of season two and returning in seasons five and seven, and reprised the role on the spin-off *[Angel](https://www.edgepedia.org/angel-1999-tv-series)*.[1](https://www.fandango.com/people/juliet-landau-378289/biography) • [4](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-107946/filmographie/) In the season-two storyline, Drusilla is cured by Angel's blood, later joins the newly evil Angelus in wreaking havoc on the town, and kills the slayer Kendra.[7](https://www.btvsonline.com/cast/vampires-demons/drusilla-keeble-juliet-landau/) Writing in the academic journal *Slayage*, a scholar describes her season-two portrayal as an example of a contemporary vampire who blurs binaries and is identifiable as object.[8](https://buffystudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2.stepniak_-_slayage_15.2.pdf) In 2010 Landau said that inhabiting the character for so long made it fluid to tap back into her when she later wrote the character in comics.[3](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/juliet-landau-interview-take-flight-gary-oldman-buffy-and-angel-and-more/)
## Voice work and later television
Through the 2000s Landau worked extensively in voice acting, in animated series such as *[Justice League](https://www.edgepedia.org/justice-league-tv-series)* (2005), the *Ben 10* franchise, and *Green Lantern*, and in video games including *[BioShock](https://www.edgepedia.org/bioshock-series)* and *BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea*.[1](https://www.fandango.com/people/juliet-landau-378289/biography) • [2](https://www.julietlandau.com/about.html) On television she took the recurring role of Rita Tedesco on the Amazon series *[Bosch](https://www.edgepedia.org/bosch-tv-series)*, appearing in five episodes of its fifth season in 2019 and in *Bosch: Legacy* in 2025, and was cast as Cordelia on TNT's *Claws*.[2](https://www.julietlandau.com/about.html) • [4](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-107946/filmographie/)
## Directing and writing
Landau's directorial debut was *Take Flight*, a 25-minute short documentary about [Gary Oldman](https://www.edgepedia.org/gary-oldman)'s creative process. It grew out of a music video Oldman directed for the Jewish hip hop band Chutzpah, shot entirely on cell phones; Oldman asked Landau to direct the making-of, and the material developed into a documentary built around the cell-phone point of view, kept in 4:3 aspect ratio against 16:9 footage to mark when the viewer sees through Oldman's eyes.[3](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/juliet-landau-interview-take-flight-gary-oldman-buffy-and-angel-and-more/) She followed it with *Dream Out Loud*, featuring interviews with [Guillermo del Toro](https://www.edgepedia.org/guillermo-del-toro), Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and [Rian Johnson](https://www.edgepedia.org/rian-johnson), and the Godhead "Hero" music video, co-directed with her husband Deverill Weekes under their Miss Juliet Productions banner.[2](https://www.julietlandau.com/about.html) • [3](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/juliet-landau-interview-take-flight-gary-oldman-buffy-and-angel-and-more/)
Her feature directorial debut, *A Place Among the Dead* (2020), which she also wrote and in which she stars as Jules, includes appearances by Gary Oldman, Ron Perlman, Robert Patrick, Lance Henriksen, Joss Whedon, and [Anne Rice](https://www.edgepedia.org/anne-rice), appearing in a film for the first time.[2](https://www.julietlandau.com/about.html) • [4](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-107946/filmographie/) She has also developed *The Undead Series*, a project assembling figures from the horror genre, and begun writing its companion coffee table book, *Book of the Undead*. With the comic writer's credit noted above, she co-wrote two issues of the *[Angel](https://www.edgepedia.org/angel-buffy-the-vampire-slayer)* comic book for IDW, a continuation set just before and just after the Fall in which the Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart send Los Angeles to Hell.[2](https://www.julietlandau.com/about.html) • [3](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/juliet-landau-interview-take-flight-gary-oldman-buffy-and-angel-and-more/)
## References
1. [Juliet Landau Biography, Fandango](https://www.fandango.com/people/juliet-landau-378289/biography)
2. [About, julietlandau.com](https://www.julietlandau.com/about.html)
3. [Juliet Landau interview: Take Flight, Gary Oldman, Buffy and Angel and more, Den of Geek (2010)](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/juliet-landau-interview-take-flight-gary-oldman-buffy-and-angel-and-more/)
4. [Juliet Landau : Filmographie, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-107946/filmographie/)
5. [Drusilla / Juliet Landau, BuffyGuide](https://buffyguide.com/players/drusilla.php)
6. [Juliet Landau Interview, Buzzy Mag](https://buzzymag.com/juliet-landau-interview/)
7. [Drusilla Keeble (Juliet Landau), Buffy the Vampire Slayer Online](https://www.btvsonline.com/cast/vampires-demons/drusilla-keeble-juliet-landau/)
8. [Stepniak, Drusilla, Slayage 15.2](https://buffystudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2.stepniak_-_slayage_15.2.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames Ki to La*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license