THE RUNDOWNThe Diplomat actor Rufus Sewell married actress and former model scout Vivian Benitez in a July 2024 ceremony at Manorbier Castle in Wales.Benitez is a Cuban-American actress known for Criminal Minds, Arsenal, and her work as Wilhelmina L.A.’s youngest model scout.She has spoken candidly about her career, heritage, and relationship with Sewell, whom she calls her “best friend.”Rufus Sewell’s personal life has taken a joyful turn over the past year. The Diplomat and Scoop actor married actress and former model scout Vivian Benitez in July 2024, following their engagement the previous winter. The two have largely kept their relationship off social media, but Benitez’s candid interviews and occasional Instagram glimpses have offered insight into their relationship and her own multifaceted career.Below, everything to know about Sewell’s wife, Vivian Benitez.Jump to:She and Sewell married in July 2024 in Wales.The couple announced their engagement in December 2023.Their relationship dates back several years.Benitez has spoken openly about public scrutiny surrounding their age gap.She’s an actress who began working as a teenager.She has been candid about her upbringing and heritage.She describes Sewell as her “best friend.”She and Sewell married in July 2024 in Wales.Benitez and Sewell exchanged vows on July 17 at Manorbier Castle in Tenby, Wales. The actress described the ceremony as “the perfect day,” sharing photos from the celebration on Instagram.“7.17.24 an absolutely perfect day,” she wrote. “I let my hair air dry and put on some makeup from a palette I used in middle school (we all still have them), slipped into a dress I bought at the Century City Mall, and got hitched in a Welsh castle to the best person I’ve ever met.”Benitez’s mother walked her down the aisle, and her first dance with her grandfather was set to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.” She also paid tribute to her father, who had passed away just days before the wedding, writing, “Hope my dad was swirling around there somewhere.”The couple announced their engagement in December 2023.Benitez revealed her engagement to Sewell on Instagram in early December 2023, posting two photos, including one where the actor kissed her cheek as she flashed her diamond ring. “Till death (or him continuing to walk on bathmats with his outside shoes) do us part,” she captioned the post.Speaking on the In Good Company podcast in May 2024, she said the attention surrounding the engagement “was just so weird for both of us. We were both shell-shocked like, wow, I guess people do care.” She added, “It was the week of my birthday, we had just got engaged in Rome, and we came back to London, I threw up a picture on Instagram for my friends and family. And then Daily Mail ran it. People were calling my mom, my dad who was very sick. They ran a story about my dad being sick, it was just so disgusting. And I love attention. I love talking about myself, I just didn’t want this.”She said that experience made her more empathetic to other women in public relationships: “I called my friend who dates a prominent actor—she’s been really dragged through it in recent years—and she was like, ‘No one’s reading it. No one actually cares.’”View full post on IframeTheir relationship dates back several years.The couple made their red carpet debut in 2021 at the New York premiere of Old.Taylor Hill//Getty ImagesBenitez had been posting glimpses of Sewell privately even earlier. In one Instagram from February 2020, she wrote, “1 year of being in love has really taken my personality hostage. pray for its safe return,” hinting that they began dating in 2019.View full post on InstagramThe pair have since appeared together at multiple premieres, including Netflix’s The Diplomat in 2023, where Sewell stars opposite Keri Russell.Roy Rochlin/GA//Getty ImagesDuring her appearance on In Good Company, Benitez shared how much Sewell’s support means to her. “He’s having a moment, and it’s so well deserved. He’s been working his whole life for it. He’s such a talented and phenomenal actor, and I’m so in awe of him all the time when I’m watching his work,” she said. “He’s so the opposite of what he plays. He’s just my best friend, and I’m so challenged by him intellectually and emotionally. He’s always pushing me to be better.”Benitez has spoken openly about public scrutiny surrounding their age gap.Benitez, who is 29 years younger than Sewell, addressed the attention directly during her In Good Company interview. “There is a big age difference and people love to point that out. We know that there’s an age gap. Anyone that meets us knows, we’ve never gotten weird looks in public,” she said.She elaborated that the conversation around their relationship revealed deeper double standards: “What bothers me the most is the cliché of a younger woman being with an older man means I’m in it for the money or I’m some naïve girl, instead of just that two people fell in love and are choosing to do life together.”Benitez emphasized that she and Sewell approach their relationship as equals: “I’ve been out of the house and working since I was 16. We are partners in every sense of the word. We both contribute equally to the relationship. We bought a house together; we split a house. It’s not like he’s bankrolling my life.”She’s an actress who began working as a teenager.Benitez was born on Dec. 6, 1996. Her acting credits include the thriller Arsenal (2017), CBS’s Criminal Minds, and the animated short Sky Dancers Grown Up (2021).Before acting full-time, she worked in the modeling industry. She joined Wilhelmina Miami at 17 and later transferred to Wilhelmina L.A., where she became the agency’s youngest model scout.On In Good Company, she recalled her start vividly: “At 17, I got a job as the assistant to the director of Wilhelmina Miami. I lied and said I was 18, and I got the job.”Her career was spotlighted in 2018 when E! launched a Snapchat reality series titled Vivian, chronicling her life as a young scout in Los Angeles.She has been candid about her upbringing and heritage.Benitez grew up in New Jersey in a Cuban-American household. On In Good Company, she explained, “I’m Cuban, 100 percent. Spanish was my first language, and I grew up in a very white town in New Jersey.”She recalled classmates mocking her accent as a child, leading her mother to stop speaking Spanish at home. She also drew parallels between her experience and Hollywood stereotypes: “When I came to L.A. to act, people were like, ‘You don’t look Hispanic.’ I literally started to have to wear hoop earrings to every audition. I was like, what do you want me to do? How many stereotypes do you need me to fit into?”She describes Sewell as her “best friend.”Speaking on In Good Company, Benitez called Sewell “the opposite of what he plays” on-screen. “He’s such a silly, goofy guy…I’ve been with him a long time; it’s been years. He’s just my best friend, and I’m so challenged by him intellectually and emotionally,” she said.“We are partners in every sense of the word,” she added.