Gellar was born in New York City on April 14, 1977. She is the only child of Rosellen (née Greenfield), a nursery school teacher, and Arthur Gellar, a garment worker.[5][6] Both of her parents areJewish.[7][8] In 1984, when she was seven, her parents divorced and she was raised by her mother on Manhattan'sUpper East Side.[9] While growing up, she lost contact with her father, from whom she remained estranged until his death in 2001.[10][11][12] She once described him as "non-existent",[13] and stated: "My father, you can just say, is not in the picture. I'm not being deliberately evasive about him, it's just that there's so little to say."[12][14][15] Gellar was a competitive figure skater, once finishing in third place at a New York State regional competition,[16] and obtained ablack belt intaekwondo.[16]
With her single mother working "just above the poverty line",[17] Gellar received a partial scholarship to study at theColumbia Grammar & Preparatory School, where she experiencedbullying.[16][18] She remarked: "I was different and that's the one thing you can't be at school, because you're ostracised. I didn't have the money these kids had".[19] As a workingchild actress, she was not present in class for a considerable amount of time, and recalled having "more absences in the first month than you're supposed to have for an entire year".[16] She then briefly attended theFiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, but dropped out due to acting obligations.[16] Gellar graduated from theProfessional Children's School[16][20][21] in 1994 as a "straight A" student with a 4.0 grade average.[22][23][24] As she spent significant time working onAll My Children while "trying to graduate",[25] the majority of her senior year was completed through guided study.[26]
At the age of four, Gellar was spotted by an agent in a restaurant inUpper Manhattan.[27] Two weeks later, she auditioned for a part in thetelevision filmAn Invasion of Privacy. At the audition, she read both her own lines and those ofValerie Harper, impressing the directors enough to cast her in the role.[16] The film aired onCBS in January 1983.[28]
While growing up, Gellar appeared in television commercials for a variety of brands such asBurger King,Shake 'n Bake,Duncan Hines,Milton Bradley,LJN, andAvon.[29][30][31][32] A 1982 advertisement for Burger King, in which she claimed the brand made larger and better tasting burgers than competitorMcDonald's, was one of the firstattack ads in the fast food industry.[33] Executives at McDonald's parent company were so enraged that they sued all parties involved, naming Gellar and reportedly banning her from eating at the food chain.[34][35][36] In a 2004 interview, she recalled: "I wasn't allowed to eat there. It was tough because, when you're a little kid, McDonald's is where all your friends have their birthday parties, so I missed out on a lot of apple pies."[37][38] She was signed as a model forWilhelmina.[16][39]
Gellar appeared in a safety skit during the September 28, 1982 episode ofLate Night with David Letterman,[40] and returned for the December 11, 1985 episode during "The Guy Under the Stairs" segment, playing Suzy Walker.[41] Throughout the 1980s, she was a guest performer in the television seriesLove, Sidney,Guiding Light,Spenser: For Hire, andCrossbow,[42] and played uncredited roles in the filmsOver the Brooklyn Bridge (1984) andFunny Farm (1988), though her scene in the latter was cut.[43] She obtained a larger role as the daughter of a prostitute in theB thrillerHigh Stakes (1989).[44][45][46] At the age of nine, she acted in the off-Broadway productionThe Widow Claire,[16][47][48] as well as in theKids Sing-A-longVHS tapesCamp Melody andU.S.S. Songboat byKids Klassics.[49][50] In 1989, she shared hosting duties withSoleil Moon Frye and Rod Brogan in the syndicated weekly variety showGirl Talk, based on theboard game of the same name.[51][52] It only produced five episodes.[53]
Gellar portrayed 13-year-old Mollie in the initial production ofNeil Simon's playJake's Women, which ran at theOld Globe Theatre inSan Diego, California, from March to April 1990.[54] In 1991, she was cast as a youngJacqueline Bouvier inA Woman Named Jackie. The miniseries won theEmmy Award forOutstanding Limited Series. Gellar obtained her first leading role, as a mayor's manipulative daughter, in the 1992 syndicated teen serialSwans Crossing, which chronicled the lives of a group of wealthy teenagers. She felt that playing a "villainous" character gave her the call for "better and more varied acting skills", while the gig's weekly payment proved a financial aid for Gellar and her mother.[16] The series ran for a 65-episode season and earned her twoYoung Artist Award nominations for Best Young Actress.[55]
Gellar made her debut on the ABC soap operaAll My Children in 1993, playingKendall Hart, the long-lost teenage daughter of characterErica Kane (Susan Lucci). As she got the role, Gellar was complimented as having the acting talent and the "forceful personality" needed to go up against Lucci's experience; Kendall was supposed to be like a younger version of Erica.[56] Her stint on the show was successful as "longtime fans of the soap saw her as the second coming of Erica".[57] Writers showcased her more after her initial reception and she became a household name to the soap opera medium.[57] In 1995, at the age of eighteen, she won aDaytime Emmy Award forOutstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for the role.[58] The same year, Gellar left the show and moved to Los Angeles to pursue other acting opportunities.[59][60] In 1996, she filmed theABC television filmBeverly Hills Family Robinson, in which she played a spoiled adolescent.
During the early airing ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer, Gellar made her first major film appearances in two successfulslasher films. InI Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), she took on the role of ill-fated beauty queenHelen Shivers.[71]Washington Post found the cast to be "solid",[72] in whatSan Francisco Chronicle described as a "competent but uninspired" film.[71] Budgeted at US$17million, the film made US$125million globally.[73][74][75] For her part, Gellar earned aBlockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress – Horror and aMTV Movie Award nomination forBest Breakthrough Performance.[76][77] InScream 2 (1997),[78] Gellar played a likewise ill-fated vain character, this time that ofSorority sisterCici Cooper. She filmed her scenes in between shots ofBuffy and had only recently finished work onI Know What You Did Last Summer. Despite the hectic scheduling, she agreed to perform inScream 2 without having read the script, on the basis of the success of the first film.[79]Scream 2 grossed over US$172million worldwide.[80][81]
InRoger Kumble'sCruel Intentions (1999), a modern-day retelling ofLes Liaisons dangereuses, Gellar portrayedKathryn Merteuil, a cocaine addict with an appetite for manipulating people.[89] In his review for the film, Ebert felt that she is "effective as a bright girl who knows exactly how to use her act as a tramp",[90] and in an interview withChicago Tribune, Kumble described her as "the most professional actor I ever worked with".[16] The film was a hit at the box office, grossing US$75million worldwide, and went on to become acult classic.[91][92][93] Gellar and co-starSelma Blair obtained the Best Kiss award at the 2000MTV Movie Awards.[94][95][96] InAngel, aspin-off series ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer, Gellar reprised her titular role for a three-episode arc, starting in 1999.[97]
In 2000, Gellar appeared as a film studio executive in theHBO seriesSex and the City episode "Escape from New York".[98] Her next film,James Toback's independent dramaHarvard Man (2001),[99][100][101] in which she starred as the "sharp and shrewd" daughter of a mobster,[102] helped her shed her good girl image, along withCruel Intentions, according toPeter Travers ofRolling Stone.[103] In 2002, Gellar portrayedDaphne Blake in thelive action–comedyScooby-Doo. For the production, she trained with aHong Kong wire team, and commuted betweenQueensland andCalifornia every two weeks due to her simultaneous commitment toBuffy.[104] Despite negative reviews,A. O. Scott ofThe New York Times felt that her performance added "a snarl ofPowerpuff feminism to her character's ditzy stereotype",[105] and with a global gross of US$275million,[106]Scooby-Doo emerged as Gellar's most widely seen film to date.[107] Her role earned her the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Comedy.[108] WithJack Black, she hosted the2002 MTV Movie Awards, which attracted 7.1million viewers on its June 6 broadcast, achieving the show's highest rating ever at the time.[109][110]
During her growing film career, Gellar continued to work onBuffy the Vampire Slayer, but she decided to leave the series after the seventh season. When asked why, she explained, "This isn't about leaving for a career in movies, or in theater –it's more of a personal decision. I need a rest."[111][112][113][114] In her feature inEsquire magazine, Gellar expressed her pride for her work onBuffy, "I truly believe that it is one of the greatest shows of all time and it will go down in history as that. And I don't feel that that is a cocky statement. We changed the way that people looked at television."[115]
After the end ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer, Gellar reprised the role of Daphne inScooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004).[116][117] Like the first film,Scooby-Doo 2 was a commercial success despite a negative critical response.[118] InTakashi Shimizu'sThe Grudge (2004), she portrayedKaren Davis, an exchange student inTokyo who becomes exposed to a supernatural curse.[119] The film received mixed reviews from critics,[120][121] but was a major box office hit,[122][123] grossing more than US$110million in North America and US$187million globally.[124] She received aMTV Movie Award nomination forBest Frightened Performance as well as a Teen Choice Award nomination for Choice Movie Actress – Thriller.[125]
Gellar provided her voice for the character Gina Vendetti inThe Simpsons episode "The Wandering Juvie", which aired in March 2004. From 2005 to 2018, she voiced several recurring characters of the animated television seriesRobot Chicken.[126] Though she only appeared in 15 episodes, she received a special credit in most episodes, due to her friendship withSeth Green, the series' co-creator. She originally provided voice-over work for the animated educational filmQuantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey,[127] but due to a lengthy post-production, the role was recast and voiced byAmanda Peet.[128]
Gellar starred inRichard Kelly'sSouthland Tales (2006) as a psychicadult film star who creates areality television series based on prophetic visions. Drawn to the "batshit ambitious" ideas for the film,[129] she accepted the role before she even read the script.[130][131][132]Southland Tales polarised critics upon its debut at the2006 Cannes Film Festival and found a limited audience in theaters.[133] However, J. Hoberman forVillage Voice remarked that the director contrived a "memorable" comic performance from Gellar, while the film gathered acult following in subsequent years.[134] In 2006, Gellar briefly reprised the role of Karen in the sequelThe Grudge 2,[135][136][137] and starred inAsif Kapadia's psychological thrillerThe Return, as a businesswoman haunted by memories of her childhood and the mysterious death of a young woman.[138]The Return was a critical and commercial failure, grossing only US$11million.[139][140] Jeannette Catsoulis ofThe New York Times called it a "career stagnation".[141]
In 2007, Gellar voiced Ella andApril O'Neil inHappily N'Ever After andTMNT, respectively.[142][143][144] She starred in the romantic comedySuburban Girl and the dramaThe Air I Breathe, both of which were screened at the 2007Tribeca Film Festival and released in January 2008.[145][146] InSuburban Girl, she took on the role of a New York City editor and the love interest of a much older businessman (Alec Baldwin). InThe Air I Breathe, Gellar portrayed an up-and-coming pop singer.[147][148]The New York Times described the latter as a "gangster movie with delusions of grandeur",[149] whileDVD Talk noted that "her character here has the deepest emotional arc, and she hits all the right notes."[150]
The psychological thrillerPossession, in which Gellar starred as a lawyer whose life is thrown into chaos after a car accident sends her husband and brother-in-law into comas, had a range of release dates in the United States between 2008 and 2009, due to financial problems atYari Film Group.[151][152][153] The film ultimately went to DVD in March 2010.[154] InVeronika Decides to Die, an adaptation of the1998 novel byPaulo Coelho,[155][156] Gellar starred as a depressed woman who rediscovers the joy in life when she finds out that she only has days to live following a suicide attempt.[157] Initially released abroad in 2009 and 2010, the film was distributed domestically in January 2015.[158][159][160] Frank Scheck ofThe Hollywood Reporter found the actress to be "reasonably compelling" in what he called a "ponderous and silly misfire".[161]
Gellar took a two-year hiatus from acting following the birth of her daughter in 2009, and in 2011, she signed to star and work as executive producer forthe CW'sRinger, in which she played the dual role of twin sisters, one of whom is on the run and manages to hide by assuming the wealthy life of the other. Gellar has stated that part of her decision to return to television was because it allowed her to both work and raise her family.[162][163][164] Despite a large fan base,[165][166] the series received mixed reviews,[167][168][169] and was canceled after the first season.[170] For her portrayal, she received several award nominations, including one for theTeen Choice Award for Choice Television Actress – Drama.[171][172]
In September 2011, Gellar returned as a guest star onAll My Children before the show's ending but not as Kendall Hart;[173] she portrayed a patient at Pine Valley Hospital who tellsMaria Santos that she is "Erica Kane's daughter", and states that she saw vampires before they became trendy—a reference toBuffy the Vampire Slayer. She voiced different characters in theAmerican Dad! episodes "Virtual In-Stanity" and "Adventures in Hayleysitting", which aired in November 2011 and December 2012, respectively.[174][175][176] On September 30, 2012, she reprised her role ofGina Vendetti in thepremiere episode ofThe Simpsons'season 24.[177][178] Her sole film credit during the decade was a voice-over role in an English dub ofThe Illusionauts (2012).[179]
A fan ofRobin Williams for years, once Gellar learned that he was making theCBS single-camera sitcomThe Crazy Ones (2013–2014), she contacted her friend Sarah de Sa Rego, the wife of Williams' best friend,Bobcat Goldthwait, in order to lobby for a co-starring role.[180] She obtained the part of an advertising director who runs an agency with her father.[181][182]Digital Spy felt that Williams "shares a warm, genuine chemistry with his on-screen offspring Gellar,"[183] as part of a mixed critical response.[184][185][186] The series earned Gellar thePeople's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New Television Series.[187]
Following the conclusion ofThe Crazy Ones and the death of Williams, Gellar took another sabbatical from screen acting, stating that she had "been working [her] entire life" and "needed that break" to focus on raising her children.[188] During that period, she made an appearance asCinderella in a March 2015 episode of Whitney Avalon'sYouTube channel seriesPrincess Rap Battle,[189] voiced a recurring character known as the Seventh Sister in the second season of the animated science fiction seriesStar Wars Rebels (2015–2016),[190][191] and guest starred as herself in the series finale ofThe Big Bang Theory, which aired on May 16, 2019.[192] Gellar was also attached to several television projects that ultimately were not picked up for production.[193] These included a2016 pilot for a series based onCruel Intentions, in which she reprised her role of Kathryn Merteuil.[194][195]
In 2021, Gellar voicedTeela inKevin Smith'sMasters of the Universe: Revelation, an animated series forNetflix.[196][197] In 2022, she made her first live-action film appearances in 13 years with brief roles in Smith'sClerks III andJennifer Kaytin Robinson'sDo Revenge, released in theaters and on Netflix respectively, in the same week.[198][199] Gellar's part as a headmistress inDo Revenge was specifically written for her, with her own input, as a tribute to herCruel Intentions character.[200] Despite her three-minute screen time, it was described as a "sizeable" role by Alison Stine ofSalon.com.[201] Evan Romano ofMen's Health considered it a "brilliant move to let audiences know [that] this movie belongs."[202]
Gellar starred as an arson investigator in theParamount+ supernatural drama seriesWolf Pack (2023), for which she also served as an executive producer.[203] Critics praised her performance but found the series to be "bereft of a voice".[204][205] In another Paramount+ production, the prequel seriesDexter: Original Sin (2024–2025), she played a forensics expert and the title character's boss.[206] She made a cameo appearance as Helen Shivers, during a dream sequence, in Robinson's sequelI Know What You Did Last Summer (2025).[207]
Gellar has been an active advocate for various charities, includingbreast cancer research,Project Angel Food,Habitat for Humanity andCARE. Of her charitable pursuits, she said: "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 [Buffy] because there wasn't time. And now that I have the time, it's amazing."[214]
In 1999, Gellar helped Habitat for Humanity's project of building homes inDominican Republic.[215][214] The foundation stated in 2011 that she sponsored the construction of a house each year inGuatemala.[216] With Project Angel Food, she delivered healthy meals to people infected withAIDS, and through theMake-A-Wish Foundation, she granted sick children's wishes of meeting her while working onBuffy.[214] In 2007, Gellar was featured inVaseline'sSkin Is Amazing campaign,[217] in which she agreed to auction nude-posed photos of herself oneBay to raise money for the Coalition of Skin Diseases, an organization which supports clinical research, fosters physician and patient education.[218][219] In 2008, she visited Guatemala andTanzania to promote women's education as an ambassador for CARE.[220][221]
In 2011, Gellar joined The Nestlé Share the Joy of Reading Program, which promotes reading to young children.[222][223] The following year, she was presented with the Tom Mankiewicz Leadership Award during the Beastly Ball at the Los Angeles Zoo.[224][225] In 2013, she hosted the Kidstock Music and Art Festival, an event that benefited the One Voice Scholars Program.[226] In 2014 and 2015, Gellar hosted two fundraisers for Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA.[227][228] In 2021, she promotedSubaru of America's donation of 100 million meals toFeeding America.[229] In 2025, Gellar curated with eBay a one-day-only pop-up, The '95 Shop, with proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.[230] That year, she collaborated withAlyson Hannigan inGSK'sAsk2BSure campaign, to raise awareness aboutmeningitis and encourage vaccination among teens.[231]
In October 2015, Gellar, along with entrepreneurs Galit Laibow and Greg Fleishman, co-founded Foodstirs, a startup food crafting brand that sold easy-to-make organic baking mixes and kits for families throughe-commerce and retail.[4] By 2018, the brand's products were sold at 7,500 retailers nationwide, including Starbucks, Whole Foods, Walmart,WW and Amazon.[255][256][257] By 2022, Foodstirs had ceased operations, and Gellar sold off her remaining stake in the company.[258]
Gellar's cookbook,Stirring up Fun with Food, was published on April 18, 2017, byGrand Central Publishing. It was co-authored by Gia Russo, and features numerous food crafting ideas.[259]
Known for often playing characters with "strength, sensitivity and snark" in thehorror genre,[260] Gellar has been viewed as a "scream queen" throughout the majority of her career.[261] She has stated that horror offers actresses "the best roles" through which they "can really shine", and that it is in television where "women are the stars, but in films we're still struggling to play the leads".[261] Thus, she feels that she "couldn't just be the girlfriend or the wife in a film". She has said: "So I'll be wherever the good female roles are. I like horror."[261] Writing forBloody Disgusting, Alex DiVincenzo asserted that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer alone should be enough to cement her horror icon status", and highlighting some of her roles in the genre, observed: "Regardless of whether they made it to the end credits, her characters were intelligent, resourceful, and empowering."[261] She has ranked 6th among "The All Time Greatest Horror Scream Queens" byCinemaBlend,[262] 4th among the "9 Greatest Scream Queens in All of Horror" bySyfy,[263] and 8th among the "10 Best Scream Queens of the '90s" byScreen Rant.[264]
By the late 1990s, Gellar had become a household name, as well as one ofHollywood's "It Girls".[25] In 1998, she appeared onEntertainment Weekly's Top 12 Entertainers of the Year and the "Most Beautiful" list byPeople magazine. In 1999, she was voted number one inFHM's "100 Sexiest Women" of the year.[265] She was featured in the magazine's German, Dutch, South African, Danish and Romanian editions of the list.[266] Topsocialite.com listed her as the 8th Sexiest woman of the 1990s.[267]
In 2002, Gellar was honored with a Woman of the Year Award byGlamour magazine,[268] and her wax figure byMadame Tussauds, was unveiled as part of the "Trail of Vampires" exhibition.[269] Between 2002 and 2008, she was featured on the annualMaxim "Hot 100" list.[270][271][272] The magazine named her the 2008 Woman of the Year.[273] She was also featured in Google's Top 10 Women Searches of 2002 and 2003, coming in at No. 8,[274] and was included in UKChannel 4's 100 Greatest Sex Symbols in 2007, ranking at No. 16.[275] Other appearances and listings includeGlamour's 50 Best Dressed Women in the World in 2004 and 2005,[266]Entertainment Weekly's Top 100 TV Icons in 2007, andBuddyTV's 100 Sexiest Women of 2011.[276]
Gellar met her husband,Freddie Prinze Jr., while they were filming the 1997 teen horror filmI Know What You Did Last Summer,[277] but the two did not begin dating until 2000. She and Prinze have worked together several times, including when they played each other's respective love interests as Fred and Daphne inScooby-Doo andScooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.[278] They were engaged in April 2001 and married in Mexico on September 1, 2002,[279] in a ceremony officiated byAdam Shankman, a director and choreographer with whom Gellar had worked onBuffy the Vampire Slayer.[280] In 2007, in honor of their fifth year of marriage, Gellar legally changed her name to Sarah Michelle Prinze.[16] Together, she and Prinze have two children, a daughter born in 2009 and a son born in 2012.[281][282] The family lives in Los Angeles.[283]
On February 10, 2021, Gellar expressed support for herBuffy the Vampire Slayer co-starCharisma Carpenter after Carpenter made allegations of abuse against series creatorJoss Whedon. She also stated, "While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don't want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon."[284] In an interview withThe Hollywood Reporter published January 18, 2023, Gellar is quoted as saying, "I'll never tell my full story because I don't get anything out of it."[260]
^Bloom, Nate (May 30, 2008)."Celebrity Jews".The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California.Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. RetrievedJuly 12, 2014.
^Salemi, Vicki (April 12, 2009)."Buffy's Having A Baby".SheKnows.com. AtomicOnline.Archived from the original on November 1, 2010. RetrievedNovember 3, 2010.
^Stafford, Nikki (2007).Bite Me!: The 10th Buffyversary Guide to the World of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (3 ed.). ECW Press. pp. 33–34.ISBN978-1-550-22807-6.
^Television/Radio Age , Volume 37. Vol. 37. Television Editorial Corporation. 1989. p. 11.
^ab"Possession Now Going to DVD?".ShockTillYouDrop.com, Yari Film Group. January 13, 2009.Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. RetrievedJanuary 17, 2009.
^abHochman, David (September 9, 2013). "Still Crazy: Years after Mork and Buffy, Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar hope to rope us in with a new sitcom".TV Guide. pp. 16–19.
^Gellar, Sarah Michelle; Russo, Gia (April 4, 2017).Stirring Up Fun with Food: Over 115 Simple, Delicious Ways to Be Creative in the Kitchen: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Gia Russo. Grand Central.ISBN978-1455538744.
^Hochman, David (September 9, 2013). "Still Crazy: Years after Mork and Buffy, Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar hope to rope us in with a new sitcom".TV Guide. pp.16 – 19.
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