Sarah Michelle Gellar

Actress. Born Sarah Anne Michelle Gellar on April 14, 1977 in New York City. Gellar attended the Professional Children’s School in New York City where high school classmates included actors Tara Reid, Jerry O’Connell and Macaulay Culkin. She was a competitive figure skater for three years and was ranked 3rd in New York Sate’s regional competition.

In 1983, Gellar made her first TV movie, An Invasion of Privacy. The movie was followed by small TV roles and commercials, as well as theater, including The Widow Claire with Matthew Broderick and Eric Stoltz. Her breakthrough role came in 1992 as Sydney Rutledge in the teen soap opera Swans Crossing. In 1993, Gellar began work on the set of All My Children, earning an Emmy in 1995 in the Younger Leading Actress category. During 1997, she appeared on the big screen in two films, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2.

That same year, Gellar landed what was to become her star-making role in the critically acclaimed WB TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Gellar had auditioned first for the role of Buffy, but the producers thought she was better suited to play Cordelia. She continued to pursue the role of Buffy and ultimately won it. In February 2003, after six seasons helming the acclaimed series, Gellar announced that she will be leaving the show to pursue a film career.

In 1999, Gellar signed a contract with Maybelline to become the company’s first celebrity spokeswoman since Linda Carter in the late ’70s.