Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar was born on April 4, 1977 in New York City. An only child, she held a straight-A average as a student and was also known as a competent figure skater. She was discovered by a casting agent at four years old, and was soon cast in the television movie An Invasion of Privacy, which aired in 1983. She later appeared in a controversial television commercial for Burger King, which let to a lawsuit that was eventually settled out of court. She received her big break in the short-lived syndicated teen soap Swans Crossing, where she played the lead, Sydney Rutledge. She was then cast as Kendall Hart, the long-lost daughter of television host Erica Kane (Susan Lucci), in the daytime soap All My Children; she won a Daytime Emmy for the role in 1995.
Gellar is, however, more known as vampire-fighting teenager Buffy Summers in the hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She left All My Children amidst rumors of a strained working relationship with some of the cast, and auditioned 11 times for several characters in Buffy before eventually getting the lead. The program ran for seven years, from 1997, and was a huge success; Gellar consequently became both a cult figure and an archetype of empowered women around the world. Despite later dissatisfaction with some aspects of the show, she stayed on the role until the series ended in 2003.
Aiming to capitalize on her television fame, Gellar tried her hand at acting for films. During Buffy’s run, she appeared in several wide-known films, with varying commercial successes: her most successful include I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2, Cruel Intentions and Scooby-Doo. After 2003, she concentrated her career on films. Her roles mostly centered on horror flicks, notably the runaway successes The Grudge and The Grudge 2, where she played the lead role. She’s also starred in more dramatic roles: films like Southland Tales, The Air I Breathe and Suburban Girl were exhibited in international film festivals, and critics acclaimed her performances.