Sarah Michelle Gellar

**Sarah Michelle Gellar** (born April 14, 1977) is an American actress. After several television acting roles during the 1990s, Gellar became famous for playing Buffy Summers in the television series _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_. After _Buffy_, she started acting in movies. She has starred in the family movies _Scooby-Doo_ (2002) and _Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed_ (2004), the movie _Harvard Man_ (2001), and the horror movies _The Return_ (2006), _The Grudge 2_ (2006), _The Grudge_ (2004) and _I Know What You Did Last Summer_ (1997). She won an award for her part in the 1999 movie _Cruel Intentions_.

## Early life

Gellar was born in New York City. She is the only child of Rosellen Greenfield and Arthur Gellar. Both of her parents were Jewish from Hungary and Russia, but Gellar's family had a Christmas tree during the holidays while she was growing up. In 1984, her parents divorced. She was raised by her mother on New York's Upper East Side. Gellar and her father did not have a good relationship from this time until his death from liver cancer on October 9, 2001. She went to school at New York's Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School and the Professional Children's School. Gellar was a very good student and was a good figure skater. Her best friend was Melissa Joan Hart. Several years later, Hart was the star of the series _Clarissa Explains It All_ and _Sabrina, the Teenage Witch_.

## Television career

At the age of four, Gellar was seen by an talent agent in a restaurant in Uptown Manhattan. Two weeks later, she auditioned for a part in _An Invasion Of Privacy_, a movie made for television. The movie starred Valerie Harper, Carol Kane and Jeff Daniels. At the audition, Gellar read the lines for both her own character and Harper's character. The directors thought this was very impressive and she got the job. A short while later, she got a part in a television commercial for the fast food restaurant Burger King. In it, she said bad things about McDonald's and said she only ate at Burger King. Gellar made other commercials while doing other acting job. Some of these jobs were playing Emily in an episode of the TV series _Spenser: For Hire_, appearing in a small role in the Chevy Chase comedy movie _Funny Farm_ and in the movie _High Stakes_. She was also in Europe working on the TV series _Crossbow_. In 1991, she played a young Jacqueline Bouvier in _A Woman Named Jackie_.

Gellar's major break came in 1992. She starred in the teen soap opera _Swan's Crossing_. After that, she got a part in another soap opera, _All My Children_. She playing the character Kendall Hart, the long-lost daughter of character Erica Kane (Susan Lucci). In 1995, at the age of eighteen, she won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Leading Actress in a Drama Series for her work as Kendall Hart.

Gellar left _All My Children_ in 1995. People were saying that her and Susan Lucci did not get along and this caused problems with them working together. She got the main role in the 1997 TV series _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_. She played a teenager who had to fight many of supernatural enemies with the help of the Scooby Gang and her Watcher (a mentor). The show was well liked by both the critics and the audience. Another series, (_Angel_), was made based on characters from _Buffy_. _Buffy_ was on television for seven seasons and a total of 144 episodes. During the show, Buffy, and Gellar also, became cult icons in the United States and the UK. They were a symbol of "empowered" women. Gellar also sang several of the songs during the _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ musical episode "Once More, with Feeling".

During the show's later years, Gellar said she did not like some parts of season six and the seventh season's final episode. After the show ended, Gellar said that she did not want to be in a _Buffy_ movie. Since that time, she has said she might do it if the script is good enough.

Gellar's picture has been used on the covers of _Cosmopolitan, Glamour, FHM, Rolling Stone_, and other magazines. She was part of Maxim's _Hot 100_ list in 2002, 2003, and 2005, and in FHM's _100 Sexiest Women_ of 2005. In 1998, she was named one of _People_ Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People (in the World)". Gellar has also been in  the Stone Temple Pilots music video _Sour Girl_ and is a celebrity spokesperson for the cosmetics company, Maybelline.

## Movie career

After _Buffy_, Gellar tried to use her television fame for a movie career. Some of her movies were well liked, others were not. After roles in the popular horror movies _I Know What You Did Last Summer_ and _Scream 2_ (both 1997), she starred in the 1999 movies _Simply Irresistible_, a romantic comedy, and _Cruel Intentions_. _Cruel Intentions_ was a small hit at the box office. It made over $38 million in the United States. The movie had a lesbian kiss between Gellar and co-star Selma Blair that won the "Best Kiss" award at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards. Critic Roger Ebert said that Gellar is "effective as a bright girl who knows exactly how to use her act as a tramp".

Gellar starred as Daphne in the box office success _Scooby-Doo_ (2002), a live-action version of the cartoon series. Gellar, Prinze and their friends Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini were also in the sequel _Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed_ (2004), which made less money than the first movie. Gellar's next movie was the 2004 horror movie _The Grudge_. It was very well liked. Gellar appeared in the sequel _The Grudge 2_. It opened on October 13, 2006.  She has also starred in several movies that have yet to be released, including _Southland Tales_, _The Air I Breathe_ and _The Girls' Guide to Hunting And Fishing_.

## Personal life

Gellar met her husband Freddie Prinze, Jr. during filming of the 1997 teen horror movie _I Know What You Did Last Summer_ but the two did not begin a intimate relationship until 2000. They were engaged to be married in April 2001. They got married in Jalisco, Mexico on September 1, 2002.

In 2004, while filming _The Grudge_ in Japan, Gellar visited the famous Japanese swordmaker Shoji Yoshihara (Kuniie III) and bought a Katana from him as a birthday gift for her husband. Gellar found out that she needed permission from the government to take the sword out of the country. After she got permission, she said that it was incredibly difficult to do.

Gellar and her husband have two children together — a daughter born in 2009 and a son born in 2012.

### TV series

- 1997-2003 _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ as Buffy Summers
- 1993-1995 _All My Children_ as Kendall Hart

### Movies

- 2009 _Veronika Decides to Die_ as Veronika
- 2007 _Happily N'Ever After_ as Ella
- 2006 _The Grudge 2_ as Karen Davis Filming
- 2004 _The Grudge_ as Karen Davis
- 2004 _Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed_ as Daphne Blake
- 2002 _Scooby-Doo_ as Daphne Blake
- 2001 _Harvard Man_ as Cindy Bandolini
- 1999 _Cruel Intentions_ as Kathryn Merteuil
- 1999 _Simply Irresistible_ as Amanda Shelton
- 1997 _Scream 2_ as Casey "Cici" Cooper
- 1997 _I Know What You Did Last Summer_ as Helen Shivers

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Sarah Michelle Gellar
- **image**: Sarah Michelle Gellar (54305143551) (cropped) (cropped).jpg
- **caption**: Gellar in 2024
- **birth place**: Long Island, New York, U.S.
- **other names**: Sarah Michelle Prinze
- **years active**: 1981–present
- **children**: 2
- **signature**: Sarah Michelle Gellar signature.svg