Benson was born in Birmingham, Alabama. She had a mixed Christian and Jewish upbringing. After her time on Buffy, Benson began production on a series of animation film for the BBC with co-creator Christopher Golden and animation studio Cosgrove Hall. In September of 2007, Benson signed a three-book deal with Ginjer Buchanan of Penguin Books. On the 2000-11-02 episode of the radio show Loveline, Amber (at age 23) revealed that she did not have a driver's license, that her mother drove her to the studio, and stated that she was at the time still a virgin. She is a vegetarian.