American actress
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Written by
Barbara Whitney
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Article History
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- Born:
- April 14, 1977, New York, New York, U.S. (age 47)
- Awards And Honors:
- Emmy Award
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Sarah Michelle Gellar (born April 14, 1977, New York, New York, U.S.) is an American actress and entrepreneur who was perhaps best known for her work on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003).
Gellar’s show-business career began when, at the age of four, she was noticed by an agent. A few weeks later she began work on the made-for-television movie An Invasion of Privacy (1983). Other projects quickly followed, including the films Over the Brooklyn Bridge (1984) and Funny Farm (1988), an appearance on the television series Spenser: For Hire in 1986, hostess duties on the TV talk show Girl Talk (1989), and the role of the young Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy in the TV miniseries A Woman Named Jackie (1991). She also appeared in the Broadway productions The Widow Claire (1986) and Jake’s Women (1992). Gellar began attracting fans with a role in the teen soap opera Swans Crossing (1991), and she gained more popularity—as well as a 1995 Emmy Award—for her work (1993–95) in the soap opera All My Children. During these years she also competed as an ice skater, worked as a model, appeared in dozens of TV commercials, and studied tae kwon do—a martial art that she put to good use as Buffy.
Britannica QuizPop Culture QuizIn 1996 Gellar was cast in the title role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a spin-off of the 1992 motion picture of the same name); the television series debuted the following year. By combining action-adventure elements, supernatural themes, a strong female lead, and wry humour, the show became an international hit. The success was due in no small part to Gellar. As the slayer—the chosen one destined to do battle with an assortment of demons, vampires, werewolves, and the like that threatened the fictional town of Sunnydale, California—she portrayed Buffy’s strength and plucky determination as well as her teenage conflicts and vulnerabilities. After seven seasons, Buffy ended production in 2003.
While appearing as Buffy, Gellar added more films to her list of credits—among them the teenage thrillers I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and Scream 2 (1997), the romantic comedy Simply Irresistible (1999), and Cruel Intentions (1999), a youthful reworking of Dangerous Liaisons with Gellar as the seductive villain. She later appeared as Daphne in the movie adaptation (2002) of the television series Scooby-Doo; her costars included Freddie Prinze, Jr., whom she married in 2002. They both reprised their roles in the sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004). She later appeared in the horror films The Grudge (2004) and its sequel (2006).
After Buffy ended, Gellar continued to work on television in a sporadic fashion—notably, providing voices for the animated series Robot Chicken. She returned to a regular starring role with the psychological drama series Ringer (2011–12), in which she played the dual roles of a troubled stripper and her socialite twin sister. Gellar starred alongside Robin Williams in the sitcom The Crazy Ones (2013–14), and she lent her voice to the animated series Star Wars Rebels (2014–18) and Masters of the Universe: Revelation (2021). She later appeared in the supernatural drama Wolf Pack (2023– ), about teen werewolves.
During this time Gellar cofounded (2015) Foodstirs, which sold “junk-free” baking mixes that were kid-friendly. She later released the cookbook Stirring Up Fun with Food (2017; written with Gia Russo).
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