Sarah Michelle Gellar

Sarah Michelle Prinze (née Gellar) is an American actress known for her portrayals of strong female characters in television and film, as well as her notable work in the horror genre. Born in New York City on April 14, 1977, she is the only child of Rosellen and Arthur Gellar. Following her parents' divorce in 1984, she was raised by her mother on Manhattan's Upper East Side. While growing up, she was a competitive figure skater and achieved a black belt in taekwondo. She attended the Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, and graduated from the Professional Children's School in 1994.

Discovered by a talent agent at age four, Gellar began appearing in television films and commercials, including a prominent 1982 Burger King advertisement. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, she made guest appearances on various television series and performed on stage in productions such as The Widow Claire and Neil Simon's Jake's Women. She landed her first leading role in the 1992 syndicated teen serial Swans Crossing. Gellar achieved her major career breakthrough playing Kendall Hart on the ABC soap opera All My Children from 1993 to 1995, a performance that earned her a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series.

In 1997, Gellar gained international recognition for her starring role as Buffy Summers in the supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Over its seven-season run through 2003, the series earned her widespread acclaim, four Teen Choice Awards, a Saturn Award, and a Golden Globe nomination. Concurrently, she established a prominent film career, starring in high-profile 1990s films including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2, and Cruel Intentions. Her performance in Cruel Intentions earned her an MTV Movie Award.

During the 2000s, Gellar's film projects included portraying Daphne Blake in the live-action Scooby-Doo (2002) and its 2004 sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, as well as starring in the box-office success The Grudge (2004). Her other feature credits include Harvard Man (2001), Southland Tales (2006), Do Revenge (2022), and Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026). She has also performed voice roles for animated projects, video games, and series, including Small Soldiers, TMNT, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Star Wars Rebels, Masters of the Universe: Revelation, and Robot Chicken.

Gellar's subsequent television work includes leading roles in Ringer, The Crazy Ones, Wolf Pack, and Dexter: Original Sin. Beyond acting, she co-founded the e-commerce baking brand Foodstirs, which operated from 2015 to 2022, authored the 2017 cookbook Stirring Up Fun with Food, and served as a judge on Star Search in 2026.