Sarah Michelle Gellar: An Inside Look At The Life And Career Of The Buffy Star

Best known for depicting the titular character of the TV series, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Sarah Michelle Gellar charmed fans worldwide by killing vampires on a weekly basis. However, the actor was popular in all forms of entertainment, like her cameo in the "Sour Girl" music video by Stone Temple Pilots. On the big screen, she starred in the 1997 mystery slasher, "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and the 1999 teen film, "Cruel Intentions." Following into the next decade, she played Daphne in two live-action "Scooby-Doo" films alongside her future husband, Freddie Prinze Jr. While it seemed to some that Gellar dropped out of Hollywood after the early aughts, the actor stayed busy behind the scenes with her family and a few entrepreneurial pursuits. Fans of the Netflix animated series "Masters of the Universe: Revelation" will also recognize Gellar as the voice of superheroine Teela. 

Knowing a thing or two about supernatural TV series, Gellar then joined the 2023 Paramount+ "Teen Wolf" spinoff series, "Wolf Pack" as both an executive producer and actor. "I think for me, I've accomplished so much in my career, more than I've ever thought I would," Gellar told Forbes. While she could have easily stepped away from fame, the actor said she felt no pressure on finding projects and was focused on picking work that she found enjoyable, stating, "I like telling stories and I want to tell fun stories." Sarah Michelle Gellar's life and career certainly tells plenty of interesting stories.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is the daughter of Arthur Gellar and her mom, Rosellen Greenfield. Sarah's parents divorced when she was 8 years old and following the split, she lived with her mom, according to E! News. "Everything I am is because of my mom," she gushed in an interview with Dennis Hensley. The young girl lived in an apartment with Greenfield on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, where her mom, who was a teacher, would take Sarah to school as well as auditions around town as she pursued acting. "She's so cute too," she said about her mom. "She still cuts out little articles from like local papers and brings them to me."

As for her relationship with Arthur, the two were not close at all, once bluntly telling TV Guide (via E! News), "Just because you donate sperm does not make you a father. I don't have a father. I would never give him the credit to acknowledge him as my father" Speaking to Movieline, she elaborated, "He's not a part of my life," and explained that she didn't feel compelled to delve any deeper than necessary into her personal life during interviews. "My mom always told me I'm a person first and an actor second," she noted. Sarah and Arthur had been long estranged before he died in 2001, per ABC News.

When she was breaking into the entertainment industry, Sarah Michelle Gellar remembered the lack of diversity in characters. "There weren't great female roles when I came up. It was the girlfriend role, the wife role," she told The New York Times. "That's why Buffy was so spectacular because she really had something to do." Thanks to Gellar's Emmy-winning performance on "All My Children," she earned an audition to star in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," per Movieline. Yet, the lead role almost went to Charisma Carpenter, who originally auditioned for the title character — and wound up landing the role of Cordelia Chase. Meanwhile, Gellar originally auditioned for the role of Cordelia but was cast as Buffy. For the men's characters, Nathan Fillion originally auditioned for the role of Angel and Ryan Reynolds turned down the role of Xander, according to E! News.

While working on the series, Gellar said she was grateful for playing the character and believed it was rare to enjoy the work so much. "I get excited. There's nothing like arriving on the first day on a new set, or even that first day back on the set on Buffy after a break," she told Cinema. As for her favorite episodes, Gellar said she loved the prom episode, as well as "Becoming: Part 2," in which Buffy had to kill her boyfriend, Angel. "Because she had to save the world by sacrificing the man she loved," Gellar noted to Movieline.

In 2015, Sarah Michelle Gellar co-founded the company, Foodstirs, which sells baking mixes and kits to create fun-themed foods. The actor and her friend, Galit Laibow, wanted to bake with their daughters but were disappointed with the ingredients in existing baking kits. "I couldn't even pronounce half the ingredients in these mixes. So, we did some research and made our own from scratch," Gellar told People. 

She and her co-founders also wanted to make the end results picture-friendly, like many projects seen on Pinterest, for example. "Our whole idea is to bridge the gap between inspiration and execution," Gellar said about her brand. According to the actor, she also had little fear of branching out beyond entertainment. "I don't look at failure in the same way that other people look at it. I like to think of it as exercise. Failure is just the first attempt in learning," she told Entrepreneur.

By launching the company, Gellar admitted she learned more than expected. "It's definitely been eye-opening. I think so much about the younger generation and helping them understand where food comes [from]," she told The Hollywood Reporter. In fact, Gellar explained that she loves to go with her children and husband to farmer's markets on weekends and explain about the origins of the various items, she told Forbes. Showing her skills in the kitchen, Gellar then released a cookbook in 2017, following in the footsteps of her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr.'s cookbook the previous year.

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series creator, Joss Whedon was adored by fans for much of his career, especially for his role in developing strong female characters on screen. That is, until his downfall in Hollywood, according to Vulture. In 2021, Charisma Carpenter, who worked with Whedon both on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its spinoff, "Angel," posted a detailed note on Twitter about the director, claiming Whedon traumatized her in a variety of ways. "Joss has a history of being casually cruel," Carpenter wrote. The star claimed Whedon was difficult and abusive to work with, including calling her fat when she was four months pregnant. 

In response to the accusations, Gellar showed her support in a statement she posted on Instagram. "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," she wrote. The actor concluded in the statement, "I stand with all survivors of abuse and I am proud of them for speaking out."

Following the post, Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Dawn in "Buffy," also accused Whedon of misconduct with an Instagram post. She explained that she joined the show as a teenager and considered some of Whedon's behavior as inappropriate. "There was a rule saying he's not allowed in a room alone with Michelle again," Trachtenberg posted on Instagram. A source suggested to Vulture that the rule was implemented following a purported exchange between Whedon and Trachtenberg which left the then-16-year-old shaken. 

In 2009, Sarah Michelle Gellar gave birth to her first child with Freddie Prinze Jr., a baby girl named Charlotte Prinze. A few years later, the parents welcomed their son, Rocky. Gellar and Prinze decided to keep their children shielded from paparazzi, even blocking their faces in social media posts.

For Gellar, one of the highlights of being a mom is learning from her children. "I think the best part for me [is] getting to experience the world through their eyes," she told Life & Style. "We took them to see their first Cirque du Soleil ... and getting to experience the magic for the first time of watching them dive into the pool and see their faces and watching all of it — that was pretty spectacular." 

However, being a famous mom comes with some compromises, especially as Gellar continued to work in entertainment. The star told Us Weekly that while she sometimes feels guilty about being away from her family for work, she at least feels proud to be setting a good example for her kids. "I'm also showing my children that you can be a good parent and also chase your dreams and that they should do the same," she explained. Though Gellar was fully committed to her motherly duties, she admitted that she also wanted to avoid certain stereotypes. "I also swore that I would never be the type of mom to lick my fingers and wipe food off their faces," she told Yahoo! News.

While some hopeful actors dream of landing iconic roles early on a career, Sarah Michelle Gellar admitted this reality came with setbacks. Just a teenager when she first started out in the notoriously difficult industry, Gellar told  The New York Times, "I wouldn't want to be 17 again for anything." It didn't help that she was growing up in front of audiences. "We all have awkward phases both physically and emotionally. Growing up is tough," she mused to E! News. Still, she admitted it could have been worse in the modern era, suggesting she was grateful that camera phones didn't exist in her youth. 

In a 1997 interview with People, the star explained that — bloodsuckers aside — the angst experienced by the adolescent characters on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was similar to that of her own, and many other young women. "My junior high experience was Buffy ... I felt different and awkward," she said. It wasn't long until Gellar became a celebrity, though she admitted the fame didn't feel much different. The biggest life shift? A maid now visited her home every fortnight to keep her digs sparkling clean. According to Gellar, her newfound sense of celebrity from soap star to "Buffy" idol also changed one other major aspect of her life. "I get fewer prison letters than I did when I was on ['All My Children']," she quipped to People.

In "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Buffy and her Sunnydale friends would often team together to conquer whatever villain showed up in town. Yet, on set, it reportedly wasn't always so friendly between the co-stars. "We were young, we had ups and downs. Everybody had arguments," Sarah Michelle Gellar told author, Evan Ross Katz for his book, "Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts," (via Us Weekly). 

For example, she referenced working with her on-screen lover Angel, played by David Boreanaz, stating, "There were times where David could be a handful. He never really was to me, but I'm sure [he was]," Gellar recalled. She also fessed up to having experienced difficult moments with Alyson Hannigan, who played her best friend, Willow. However, Gellar admitted that she herself was likely less than pleasant to work with at times too, stating, "There are times where I wish I could have done things differently." She also noted that the long working hours, average young age of the cast, and toxic environment on set may have also had an impact, adding, "The world we were in was pitting us against each other."

A decade after the show went off the air, Gellar appeared to be extremely friendly with Hannigan, even posting a Twitter selfie with her former on-screen bestie in 2015.