Whether you knew Dawn Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2000-2003), Casey Carlyle in Ice Princess (2005) or Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl (2008-2012), Michelle Trachtenberg likely touched your life in one way or another. And although the actress had a life shorter than she deserved, Trachtenberg moved everyone that had a chance to watch her act.
Born on October 11, 1985, Trachtenberg was made for the life of an actress. She began filming commercials at the age of 3, appearing in ads like this 1991 Burger King commercial. But it wasn’t long before she broke onto the screen more prominently, booking episodes in series like Clarissa Explains It All (1993), All My Children (1994) and Nickelodeon’s The Adventures of Pete & Pete (1994-96).
Michelle Trachtenberg books her first movie
In 1996, the actress scored her first lead role in the Nickelodeon movie, Harriet the Spy, as Harriet Welsch, which she starred in alongside Rosie O’Donnell. On the film’s 25th anniversary, Trachtenberg remembered her time working with O’Donnell.
“I turned 10 years old on the first day of principal photography of Harriet the Spy,” Trachtenberg shared. “Rosie [O’Donnell] was my biggest supporter. There was a lot required of me. I’m extremely grateful for the experience.”
A year later, the actress booked the short-lived series, Meego (1997), which only aired for 13 episodes, followed by the movies Inspector Gadget (1999), Can’t Be Heaven (1999) and A Father’s Choice (2000).
Trachtenberg joins the ‘Buffy’ family
In 2000, Trachtenberg booked a pivotal role, when she starred as Dawn Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, alongside star Sarah Michelle Gellar.
“I was a fan first,” Trachtenberg shared at the Buffy cast reunion in 2017. “I was a huge fan of the show…It was really prevalent throughout my whole school; how big Buffy was an influence.”
Trachtenberg starred on the series for the last three seasons until the show came to an end in 2003. She had even been in talks to reprise her role as Dawn Summers in the upcoming Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival series.
The actress’ career begins to soar after ‘Buffy’
In 2005, two years after her time on Buffy, Trachtenberg got another starring role in the Disney movie Ice Princess, where she portrayed Harvard-bound teen Casey Carlyle. While her character is ready to follow in her mother’s footsteps, she finds a passion performing on the ice as a figure skater, much to her mother’s dismay, and works towards following her dreams.
“I’d like every little girl in the audience to see the movie and feel empowered,” Trachtenberg said of the film. “You may not necessarily want to be an ice skater, but maybe you want to be a teacher, a doctor or a lawyer… I want them to say, ‘I can do that! Casey did it and she was scared, but I’ll put my mind to it, and I’ll succeed.’”
The Ice Princess continued to book roles like The Circuit (2008), 17 Again (2009) with Zac Efron, and what may be one of her most memorable roles, as Georgina Sparks on Gossip Girl. Georgina was notably one of the most infamous characters to come out of the series, always stirring up trouble and getting away with it.
“She’s actually my favorite character that I’ve played because she’s such an evil b—-, that it was fun!” Trachtenberg said in a 2021 interview.
In an earlier interview, the actress shared a similar note, saying, “What we love about Georgina is that she can’t help but be evil, even when she pretends to be good.”
Since her Gossip Girl days, Trachtenberg had appeared in multiple projects including Guidance (2015), The Christmas Gift (2015), Human Kind Of (2018) and the 2022 Gossip Girl reboot series.
