Sarah Michelle Gellar is an American actress, best known for her role as Buffy in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

She was born on April 14, 1977 in New York City. Her parents separated when she was seven, and she grew up with her mother on the Upper East Side. She remained estranged from her father until his death in 2001. While growing up, her best friend was Melissa Joan Hart, who would later go on to star in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. At the age of four, Gellar was spotted by an agent in a restaurant, and soon auditioned for and got the part in a made-for-television movie called An Invasion of Privacy. She continued to act in television and film through her teens, and also appeared in a number of television commercials.

She got her big break in 1992, when she was cast in the role of Kendall Hart on the daytime soap All My Children. Three years later, at the age of eighteen, she won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Leading Actress in a Drama Series. She soon left the show, and in 1997 landed the lead role in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The show was well received by both critics and audiences, and soon became a cult hit, lasting for seven seasons and 144 episodes. It later spawned a spinoff series named Angel, where Gellar made two guest appearances.

After Buffy’s run ended, Gellar landed parts in several feature films, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2 and Cruel Intentions. In 2002, she appeared as Daphne Blake in the live-action film adaptation of popular cartoon Scooby-Doo, and married co-star Freddie Prinze Jr. that same year, who she had met in 1997 on the set of I Know What You Did Last Summer. She has since starred in The Grudge, as well as sequels to both The Grudge and Scooby-Doo. Most recently she has appeared in Southland Tales and The Air I Breathe.

Gellar has appeared on the cover of numerous magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, FHM and Glamour. In 1999, she was voted # 1 in FHM’s “100 Sexiest Women” edition. In December 2007, she was voted Woman of the Year by Maxim magazine. Gellar has hosted Saturday Night Live three times, and won several Teen Choice Awards for her role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In 2007, she legally changed her name to Sarah Michelle Prinze, in honour of her fifth wedding anniversary. Gellar enjoys ice skating, walking her dogs and reading, and also has a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do.