Sarah Michelle Gellar is an American actress born on April 14, 1977 in New York City. She is the only child of Jewish parents Rosellen Greenfield, a nursery school teacher, and Arthur Gellar. In 1984, her parents divorced and she was raised by her mother. She was educated at New York's Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School and the Professional Children's School. She was a straight-A student and a good figure skater. She became close friends with Melissa Joan Hart, who later became an actress.

Sarah Michelle Gellar was spotted by an agent at the age of four, while in a restaurant in Uptown Manhattan. She was subsequently cast in a number of television commercials and later auditioned for a part in the made-for-TV film An Invasion of Privacy. The directors were impressed by her and she got the role. She then appeared on television series like Spenser: For Hire and had a minor role opposite Chevy Chase in Funny Farm. She was also in the movie High Stakes, and has filmed in Europe for the film Crossbow. In 1991, she was cast as the lead in A Woman Named Jackie. The next year brought her a breakthrough role, as Gellar starred in the serial Swans Crossing. She next appeared in All My Children, which won her a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She was only 18 at the time. When she left the show in 1995, she underwent a screen test eleven times before landing the title role in the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was well-received by critics and audiences, and the popular cheerleader with a destiny as a Slayer became a cult icon. She has also appeared on two episodes of the Buffy spin-off series Angel, but refused to be cast in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer feature film. However, she ventured into the movies, making films like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2, Cruel Intentions, Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, and Happily N'Ever After. Gellar also filmed The Grudge in 2004, a horror film that became a box office success. She also had a minor role in its sequel, The Grudge 2 in 2006. She has lent her voice to characters in the TMNT movie, as well as the animated series Robot Chicken.



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