She is best known for her role as Tara Maclay on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1999–2002), and has directed, produced and starred in her own films Chance (2002) and Lovers, Liars & Lunatics (2006).

She co-directed the film Drones (2010) with fellow Buffy cast member Adam Busch, and starred as a waitress in the crime thriller The Killing Jar (2010).

Her father is Jewish and her mother was raised Southern Baptist;[4] Benson grew up attending a Reform synagogue in Alabama.

While still working on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Benson co-wrote the movie The Theory of the Leisure Class with director Gabriel Bologna, released in 2001, and directed, produced, edited, and acted in a digital video feature called Chance (2002) which also featured her Buffy co-star James Marsters.

These books follow the fortunes of Tamara and William Swift, who first appeared in the BBC animated web movie Ghosts of Albion: Legacy.

[11] In 2005, Benson collaborated with artist Jamie McKelvie on a short story within the Image Comics collection Four Letter Worlds.

In 2006, Benson collaborated with artist Ben Templesmith on Demon Father John's Pinwheel Blues published by IDW as a four-part split-book, Shadowplay (with work by Ashley Wood and Christina Z.

The project, initially called "The Dirty Script," was ultimately titled Lovers, Liars and Lunatics by producer Diane Benson, Amber's mother.

In December 2006, Benson and Golden released yet another collaboration, the short novel The Seven Whistlers which is distributed through Subterranean Press in a limited number of signed copies.

[23] In February 2021, Benson spoke out in support of Buffy The Vampire Slayer co-star Charisma Carpenter's accusation of unprofessional and abusive behavior on the part of Buffy creator Joss Whedon, corroborating Carpenter's account by relating that the set of that series was a "toxic environment" whose traumatic effects upon those who worked there were long-lasting.