Guide Note

Sarah Michelle Gellar began acting at the age of 4, when she was discovered while at a restaurant in uptown Manhattan. Her breakthrough role was as Kendall Hart in the ABC soap opera All My Children. In 1997 she took the title role of Buffy Summers in cult hit WB show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The show lasted for seven seasons, ending when Gellar opted not to renew her contract. The actress has had some success in films, most often horror films such as The Grudge and I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Fast Facts

1. Born: April 14, 1977
2. Daytime Emmys: 1
3. Golden Globe nominations: 1
4. Husband: Freddie Prinze Jr.

Gellar had small roles in a series of movies, but stood out while in short-lived series Swans Crossing. The 17-year-old was brought on to All My Children to play the illegitimate, long-lost, and evil-to-the-core 23-year-old daughter of Erica Kane (Susan Lucci). Gellar left the show two years later, amid rumors of friction on the set between Gellar and Lucci.

According to various reports, Gellar either initially auditioned for or was cast as bad girl Cordelia Chase in the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Once the early, unaired pilot was filmed, however, Gellar was already putting her stamp on the character of Buffy Summers, the former cheerleader turned vampire slayer. The physically challenging role brought Gellar numerous accolades, but Gellar began distancing herself from the project in later seasons, said she would not consider a film sequel to the series, and refused to appear in the final season of Angel. She has since said she would do a film if the script were right.

Gellar's success in films has been moderate. Before she landed the role of Buffy, she appeared in supporting roles in horror hits I Know What You Did Last Summer (where she met husband Freddie Prinze Jr.) and Scream 2. While still on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she appeared in Cruel Intentions, which was a minor hit, and Simply Irresistible, which wasn't. The Scooby-Doo movies were also successful, as was 2004's horror film The Grudge. Since 2004, although she has been the lead in a number of films, none has made an impression at the box office.