Sarah Michelle Gellar born April 14, 1977 is an American film and television actress. She became widely known for her role as Buffy Summers on the WB/UPN television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for which she won six Teen Choice Awards and the Saturn Award for Best Genre TV Actress and received a Golden Globe Award nomination. She originated the role of Kendall Hart on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children, winning the 1995 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series.Her film work includes starring roles in I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Cruel Intentions (1999); Scooby-Doo (2002); the American remake of Japanese horror film The Grudge (2004); and The Return (2006). Gellar also played an ex-porn star in Richard Kelly's Southland Tales (2007) and was part of an ensemble cast in The Air I Breathe (2008). Gellar also starred in Veronika Decides to Die (2009). Most recently she has been cast as the star in the new television series, Ringer which airs on the The CW starting in September 2011.
Gellar was born in New York City. She is the only child of Rosellen (née Greenfield), a nursery school teacher, and Arthur Gellar, a garment worker. Both of her parents were Jewish, though Gellar's family had a Christmas tree during the holidays while she was growing up.In 1984, when she was 7 years old, her parents divorced and she was brought up solely by her mother on the Upper East Side. She graduated from Fiorello LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts in 1995.Gellar was estranged from her father until his death from liver cancer on October 9, 2001.
Gellar met her future husband Freddie Prinze, Jr., during filming of the 1997 teen horror film, but the two did not begin dating until 2000. They were engaged in April 2001 and married in Mexico on September 1, 2002 in a ceremony officiated by Adam Shankman, a film director and choreographer with whom Gellar had worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Gellar's bridesmaid was her closest friend of many years, Lindsay Sloane. In 2007, Gellar legally changed her name to Sarah Michelle Prinze in honor of the couple's fifth year of marriage. In 2004, while filming The Grudge in Japan, Gellar visited the famous Japanese swordsmith Shoji Yoshihara (Kuniie III) and bought a katana from him as a birthday present for her husband. Gellar learned that she needed clearance from the Japanese government to remove the sword from the country and, after eventually succeeding, stated that it was "incredibly difficult" to do.
Gellar has reflected on her choices as an actress; she frequently mentions how "proud" she is of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She has also been her own critic, talking about movie roles she has taken, saying, "Simply Irresistible was just a bad choice – and for that, it was a great learning experience. I wasn't ready to make that movie. I was too young. The script was not ready. I knew in my heart before I left to make it that I should back out."
During her 2006 interview with Marie Claire, Gellar spoke about her thoughts on the movie industry for women. She spoke about her views on the roles of women in movies saying, "You realize it's a very tough market for women. For me it's about getting roles where women get to do something active, not the girlfriend, not the wife. There are mainly two types of roles for us, women in-jeopardy films and romantic movies." Gellar has been praised by fans and critics alike for being a strong role model for young girls and women. Gellar went on to speak about how the business has changed and about magazine-cover attention-seeking Hollywood-starlets. Gellar said (when the interviewer said she was shocked at how many actresses seem to 'need' to be on the cover of a magazine like Us Weekly), "Can I interrupt you? Do you think those actresses strive to be on those covers? Because I don't, I think it's people striving to get that celebrity position, but I think you'll find that most 'actors' don't want that. Because when you know too much about them, it takes away the illusion that a film creates."
Gellar is an active advocate for various charities, including breast cancer research, Project Angel Food, Habitat for Humanity and CARE, a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty, all of which she says you get to "physically do something". She says, "I started because my mother taught me a long time ago that even when you have nothing, there's ways to give back. And what you get in return for that is tenfold. But it was always hard because I couldn't do a lot. I couldn't do much more than just donate money when I was on the show because there wasn't time. And now that I have the time, it's amazing."
Gellar said she was born Jewish but she doesn't believe in any organized religion now.
Gellar has said in interviews that she collects rare editions of classic children's literature.
Gellar has four tattoos. She has a symbol for integrity on her lower back; a heart, a dagger and a cherry blossom on her ankle and two dragonflies on her back.
Gellar has revealed that she suffers from a phobia of being buried alive. She has said "I really fear graveyards and I have a big phobia of being buried alive. It was really hard being an ass-kicking vampire slayer when you are afraid of graves."
Gellar and Prinze have a daughter, Charlotte Grace Prinze, born in September 2009.
Gellar is a taekwondo black belt
Filmography
Films
1983 An Invasion of Privacy
1984 Over the Brooklyn Bridge
1988 Funny Farm
1989 High Stakes
1997 Beverly Hills Family Robinson ,
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Scream 2
1998 Small Soldiers
1999 She's All That
Simply Irresistible
Cruel Intentions
2001 Harvard Man
2002 Scooby-Doo
2004 Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Grudge 1, TheThe Grudge
2006 Southland Tales
Grudge 2, TheThe Grudge 2
Return, TheThe Return
Happily N'Ever After
2007 TMNT
Suburban Girl
2008 Air I Breathe, TheThe Air I Breathe
2009 Veronika Decides to Die
Possession
Television
1988 Spenser: For Hire
1988 Crossbow
1991 A Woman Named Jackie
1992 Swans Crossing
1993-1995, 2011 All My Children
1997–2003 Buffy the Vampire Slayer
1998 Saturday Night Live
1998 King of the Hill
1999–2000 Angel
2000 Sex and the City
2001 God, the Devil and Bob
2001 Grosse Pointe
2004 Simpsons, TheThe Simpsons
2005–2009 Robot Chicken
2009 Wonderful Maladys, TheThe Wonderful Maladys
2011 American Dad
2011 Ringer
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