Sarah Michelle Gellar

Sarah Michelle Gellar (born April 14, 1977) is an American actress, best known for her role in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Some of her most commercially successful films have been horrors such as The Grudge (2004), but she has also acted in a variety of other motion pictures, from family films such as Small Soldiers (1998) and Scooby-Doo (2002) to thrillers like Harvard Man (2001).

Life and career

Gellar was born in New York City to Jewish-American parents Arthur and Rosellen. After her parents divorced in 1984, she was brought up by her mother. She refuses to acknowledge any relationship with her father saying "Just because you donate sperm does not make you a father." Arthur died on October 9, 2001 of unknown causes. Sarah has been acting since the age of four, when she did a commercial for Burger King. Her best friend as a child was Melissa Joan Hart, who later was the star of the television series Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.

Related Topics:
New York City - Jewish-American - October 9 - 2001 - Commercial - Burger King - Melissa Joan Hart - Television series - Sabrina, the Teenage Witch

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Gellar's major break came in 1992 in the teen soap opera Swan's Crossing. From there, she moved on to the long-running soap opera All My Children, where she played the conniving character Kendall Hart Lang, the long-lost daughter of character Erica Kane (played by Susan Lucci). In 1995, at the age of 18, she won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Leading Actress in a Drama Series.

Related Topics:
1992 - Soap opera - Swan's Crossing - All My Children - Erica Kane - Susan Lucci - 1995 - Daytime Emmy Award

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Gellar left All My Children in 1995 and landed the lead in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon. The role made her a cult icon in the United States and the UK.

Related Topics:
1995 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Joss Whedon - United States - UK

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Though many regarded her character as a feminist icon, Gellar told Detour magazine: "I hate the word 'feminist.' It has a bad connotation of women who don't shave their legs or under their arms."

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While continuing in that role, she attempted to capitalize on her television fame in order to create a career for herself in motion pictures. She has had only intermittent success. After roles in the popular thrillers I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2, Gellar starred in the film Simply Irresistible. This film, rumored to be the last film ever watched by critic Gene Siskel, featured a magical crab and borrowed heavily from Like Water for Chocolate. Gellar's next film was the steamy hit Cruel Intentions, a modern-day retelling of Les Liaisons Dangereuses: this movie gained much exposure due to a famous girl on girl kissing scene between Sarah and Selma Blair. Also in 1999, she made an appearance in the Stone Temple Pilots music video Sour Girl. She then went on to play a lead role in Harvard Man.

Related Topics:
I Know What You Did Last Summer - Scream 2 - Simply Irresistible - Gene Siskel - Like Water for Chocolate - Cruel Intentions - Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Selma Blair - 1999 - Stone Temple Pilots - Music video - Harvard Man

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Gellar finally found box office success playing Daphne in Scooby-Doo, a live-action adaption of the cartoon series. The film was popular with audiences but universally panned by critics. Gellar also appeared in the movie's sequel, ' (2004).

Related Topics:
Box office - Scooby-Doo - Cartoon - Sequel - 2004

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The president of Gellar's own talent agency, David Wirtschafter, indicated that he believed her movie career was floundering as of fall 2004, telling The New Yorker that the success of her low-budget film The Grudge "takes our client Sarah Michelle Gellar, who now is nothing at all, and it makes her a star, potentially. Suddenly, the Sarah Michelle Gellar space is meaningful." She has since left that agency as a result of the remark. Whether The Grudge, a 2004 remake of the Japanese horror film ', has raised her industry status remains to be seen.

Related Topics:
David Wirtschafter - The New Yorker - The Grudge

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Her next film project will be Southland Tales, a film by Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly. http://romanticmovies.about.com/od/donniedarko/a/darko052604.htm

Related Topics:
Southland Tales - Donnie Darko - Richard Kelly

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On September 1, 2002, Gellar and teen-movie actor Freddie Prinze Jr. were married in Mexico.

Related Topics:
September 1 - 2002 - Freddie Prinze Jr. - Mexico

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Gellar also sang several of the songs during the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode "Once More, with Feeling," which spawned an original cast album.

Related Topics:
Once More, with Feeling - Cast album

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