BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER - Authentic Show-Worn Costume Card - NICHOLAS BRENDON

Nicholas Brendon (born April 12, 1971) is an American actor and writer. He is known for playing Xander Harris in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003) and Kevin Lynch in Criminal Minds (2007–2014). He has also starred in films such as Psycho Beach Party (2000) and Coherence (2013).

Nicholas Brendon was born Nicholas Brendon Schultz on April 12, 1971, in Los Angeles, three minutes after his identical twin brother, Kelly Donovan.

As a child, he aspired to become a professional baseball player, but he "lost the passion for it" at 20. Instead, he decided to pursue acting to help him manage his stutter, which had first become apparent at age seven or eight, and had made him so fearful of speaking or interacting with strangers that he did not begin dating until 21 or 22. Brendon comments, "Every day I still have to remind myself to slow down and concentrate. Constant repetition of tongue-twisters was like lifting weights for me, but patience and persistence have paid off."

He gave up acting after two years because he "couldn't stand the politics in Hollywood". Brendon returned to school to study medicine, which didn't work out; he also tried his hand at a variety of odd jobs, including plumber's assistant, veterinary janitor, day care counselor, waiter, and production assistant for the television show Dave's World .

Career

At the age of 25, Brendon decided to return to acting. He signed with a manager and obtained the role of Xander Harris on Buffy the Vampire Slayer three months later. He appeared in all but one of the 144 episodes in the series, and even shared the screen with his twin, Kelly Donovan, when his character was split in two in the fifth-season episode "The Replacement".

After the series ended in 2003, Brendon joined the cast of the Fox television pilot The Pool at Maddy Breakers . The series was not picked up by the network. In 2004, he co-starred in his first ABC Family movie, Celeste in the City. The following year, he returned to Fox as part of the cast of Kitchen Confidential , based on the book by chef Anthony Bourdain. Thirteen episodes were made, but the series was canceled on December 9 of the same year after the fourth episode aired, due to low ratings.

In 2006, he voiced Huntsboy #89 for season 2 of the animated series American Dragon: Jake Long . That same year, he reunited with his former Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Charisma Carpenter in the ABC Family TV movie Relative Chaos .

From July 26 through August 30, 2006, Brendon co-starred with Noah Wyle in the play Lobster Alice at the Blank Theatre Company in Los Angeles. He subsequently appeared in the Blank Theatre's annual Young Playwrights Festival and its productions of The SantaLand Diaries (November 20 to December 20, 2009), and Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them .

In 2007, Brendon began appearing on the TV series Criminal Minds in the recurring role of FBI technical analyst Kevin Lynch. He appeared in episodes in each subsequent season through the tenth season.

On September 29, 2010, he premiered his web comic Very Bad Koalas , co-created with animation director/producer Steve Loter. The comic follows the journey of two sheltered and innocent koalas experiencing a variety of people and places while on the run from the law in a 1958 Cadillac El Dorado.

On October 28, 2010, Brendon began a four-episode arc on ABC's Private Practice playing Lee McHenry, a mentally disturbed man who assaults Charlotte King.

In 2014, Brendon was part of a summit for writers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics, which included Joss Whedon, Jane Espenson, Drew Greenberg, Andrew Chambliss and the then-incoming Buffy writer Christos Gage. He is currently involved with the show's canonical comic book series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten, on stories centering on his character.

It was announced on August 27, 2014, that Brendon will star in the new Untitled Web Series About a Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time feature film along with Sylvester McCoy, Robert Picardo, Mayim Bialik, Chase Masterson, Rosearik Rikki Simons, Travis Richey, Eric Loya, and Carrie Keranen.

Charity work

Brendon has done work for the Stuttering Foundation of America, which approached him around 2001, and made him its honorary chairperson for its National Stuttering Awareness Week in May 2001.

Personal life

On October 5, 2014, Brendon married Moonda Tee in Las Vegas. They announced their separation and intention to divorce on February 14, 2015.[citation needed ]

On April 25, 2004, at a Buffy fan convention in Cleveland, Ohio, he announced that he had voluntarily entered rehab for alcoholism.

Legal issues

In the early morning of March 17, 2010, Brendon was tased and arrested by Los Angeles police, who confronted him in response to a call about an intoxicated individual. He allegedly swung his fists at the officers and attempted to run away, and after being subdued, was arrested for felony vandalism. He was initially held on $20,000 bail. Brendon was later charged with four misdemeanors, including one count of resisting arrest, two counts of battery against a police officer, and one count of vandalism.

In May 2010, he checked himself into the SOBA Recovery Center in Malibu to address his addiction to alcohol and sleeping pills. On June 19, 2010, he pleaded no contest to all four charges and received a one-year suspended jail sentence, was placed on probation for 36 months, and was required to perform 10 days of community service.

On October 17, 2014, Brendon, participating in the Tree City Comic Con, was arrested in a Boise, Idaho hotel lobby, for misdemeanor charges of malicious injury to property, and resisting or obstructing officers. According to authorities, he was booked in the Ada County jail and released after posting bond.

On February 16, 2015, Brendon was arrested on suspicion of grand theft by Fort Lauderdale police after he reportedly trashed his hotel room and refused to pay the bill. He had been in Fort Lauderdale for a local comic convention. His spokesman released a statement shortly after the incident: "Nicholas is, unfortunately, battling a disease that many of us don't understand. ... he's sorry for his actions. ... we are aware that Nicholas' actions are of a much deeper origin—and we are working toward creating a healthy environment for him to thrive in. The past several months have been trying, and Nicholas' disease is damaging and consistently misunderstood. We are doing everything in our power at camp Nick to assure his recovery."

On March 13, 2015, Brendon was arrested again after destroying another hotel room after demanding an upgrade because he was a "TV star". In an interview the next day, he said he has been struggling with depression since he was a kid and had stopped taking his medication recently, which was a mistake and culminated in his taking some sleeping pills and then going into a blackout. He said, "a lot of it has to do with my coming to terms with the stuff that I am having to deal with inside of my head which is not fun—and it's not funny, and people who make fun of it and make light of it, I wish that it doesn't happen to them." Brendon said he plans to go back to his doctor to get back on the right medication. Regarding the first day of the ALT*Con conference that he missed due to his arrest, he said, "I hate how I feel right now. I hate how I have come off. This isn't who I am." Regarding his plans to keep his commitment to appear on the second day of the ALT*Con convention in Tallahassee, Florida, he said, "these events kind of give me hope and I love meeting my fans. So, it's kind of like the refuge outside of my head."

In August, 2015, Brendon appeared on Dr. Phil to discuss his recent arrests and alcoholism. However, he walked off soon after the interview began. Writing on Facebook about the interview he wrote; "when I was in that seat, I felt that Dr. Phil went for the jugular, talking about some of my recent mistakes, with no build-up. I felt that he wanted me to lay the darkest parts of myself on national TV right from the start, and I'm not willing to do that."

On October 1, 2015, Brendon was arrested in Saratoga Springs, New York for attacking a woman in a hotel room. He was charged with felony third-degree robbery, criminal mischief and obstruction of breathing. He pleaded guilty to criminal mischief, a misdemeanor. As part of a "conditional charge" issued by the judge, Brendon would not serve jail time if he completed drug and alcohol counseling and stayed out of trouble for one year. On December 1, 2015, Brendon returned to Dr. Phil to talk about his demons. He went to the rehab program offered, and on January 30, 2016 his friend Clare Kramer celebrated his 90 days of sobriety.

On October 11, 2017, Brendon was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend at a hotel bar in Palm Springs, California. The Riverside County District Attorney's Office charged him with felony corporal injury to a spouse on April 30, 2019. On May 13, 2019 he pleaded "not guilty" to the charge. On February 28, 2020, he was sentenced to three years' probation and 20 hours of community service. He was also required to complete a 52-week domestic violence course.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest	Basketball Player One
2000	Psycho Beach Party	Starcat
2002	Demon Island	Kyle
2007	Unholy	Lucas
2008	Blood on the Highway	Chase Sinclair
2009	A Golden Christmas	Michael
2009	My Neighbor's Secret	Brent Keller
2010	The Portal	Paul
2013	Big Gay Love	Andy
2013	Coherence	Mike
2014	Indigo	Gary
2014	Attack of the Morningside Monster	Mark Matthews
2017	Surge of Power: Revenge of the Sequel	Himself
2018	The Nanny	David

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Married... with Children	Guy in Ray-Ray's Gang	Episode: "Hood 'n the Boyz"
1995	Dave's World	N/A	Episode: "Do the Write Thing"
1997–2003	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Xander Harris	Main role
2003	The Pool at Maddy Breaker's	N/A	Television film
2004	Celeste in the City	Dana Blodgett/Harrison	Television film
2005–2006	Kitchen Confidential	Seth Richman	Main role
2006	Relative Chaos	Gil Gilbert	Television film
2006–2007	American Dragon: Jake Long	Huntsboy No. 89	Recurring voice role, 6 episodes
2007	Fire Serpent	Jake Relm	Television film
2007–2014	Criminal Minds	Kevin Lynch	Recurring role (seasons 3–10), 21 episodes
2009	Without a Trace	Edger	Episode: "Undertow"
2010–2011	Private Practice	Lee McHenry	4 episodes (season 4)
2012	Hollywood Heights	Dan Testa	Episode: "Loren and Kelly Clash"
2014–2015	Faking It	Jackson Lee	Recurring role
2019	Dark/Web	Donovan	Episodes: "Chapter Six", "Chapter Eight"

Video games and web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Xander Harris	Video game
2003	Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds	Xander Harris	Video game
2019	Noob	Ethan Sprite	Web series; episode: "Cooldown"

Awards and nominations

• 1998 Saturn Award for Best Genre TV Actor – Buffy the Vampire Slayer ; Nominated

• 1999 Saturn Award for Best Genre TV Actor – Buffy the Vampire Slayer ; Nominated

• 2000 Saturn Award for Best Genre TV Supporting Actor" – Buffy the Vampire Slayer ; Nominated

• Named one of The Mighty's Mental Health Heroes of 2018

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American supernatural drama television series based on the 1992 film of the same name. It was created by Joss Whedon under his production tag, Mutant Enemy Productions, with later co-executive producers being Jane Espenson, David Fury, David Greenwalt, Doug Petrie, Marti Noxon, and David Solomon.

The series premiered on March 10, 1997, on The WB and concluded on May 20, 2003, on UPN. The series narrative follows Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar), the latest in a line of young women known as "Vampire Slayers", or simply "Slayers". In the story, Slayers or the 'Chosen Ones' are "called" (chosen by fate) to battle against vampires, demons, and other forces of darkness. Buffy wants to live a normal life, but as the series progresses, she learns to embrace her destiny. Like previous Slayers, Buffy is aided by a Watcher, who guides, teaches, and trains her. Unlike her predecessors, Buffy surrounds herself with a circle of loyal friends who become known as the "Scooby Gang".

The series received critical and popular acclaim, frequently being listed as one of the greatest TV shows of all time, and usually reached between four and six million viewers on original airings. Although such ratings are lower than successful shows on the "big four" networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox), they were a success for the relatively new and smaller WB Television Network.

The success of Buffy has led to hundreds of tie-in products, including novels, comics, and video games. The series has received attention in fandom (including fan films), parody, and academia, and has influenced the direction of other television series. The series, as well as its spinoff series Angel , and extensions thereof, have been collectively termed the "Buffyverse". As of 2018, a reboot of the series is being developed for television, with Monica Owusu-Breen as showrunner.

Premise

Characters

Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) is the "Slayer", one in a long line of young women chosen by fate to battle evil forces. This mystical calling endows her with powers that dramatically increase physical strength, endurance, agility, accelerated healing, intuition, and a limited degree of clairvoyance, usually in the form of prophetic dreams. She has returned from death twice and is known as a reluctant hero who wants to live a normal life. However, she learns to embrace her destiny as the vampire slayer.

Buffy receives guidance from her Watcher, Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head). Giles, rarely referred to by his first name (it is later revealed that in his rebellious younger days he went by "Ripper"), is a member of the Watchers' Council, whose job is to train and guide the Slayers. Giles researches the supernatural creatures that Buffy must face, offers insights into their origins and advice on how to defeat them, and helps her train to stay in fighting form.

Buffy is also helped by friends she meets at Sunnydale High: Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon). Willow is originally a wallflower who excels at academics, providing a contrast to Buffy's outgoing personality and less-than-stellar educational record. They share the social isolation that comes with being different, and especially from being exceptional young women. As the series progresses, Willow becomes a more assertive character and a powerful witch, and comes out as a lesbian. In contrast, Xander, with no supernatural skills but very athletic, provides comic relief and a grounded perspective. It is Xander who often provides the heart to the series, and in season six, becomes the hero in place of Buffy who defeats the "Big Bad". Buffy and Willow are the only characters who appear in all 144 episodes; Xander is missing in only one.

The cast of characters grew over the course of the series. Buffy first arrives in Sunnydale with her mother, Joyce Summers (portrayed by Kristine Sutherland), who functions as an anchor of normality in the Summers' lives even after she learns of Buffy's role in the supernatural world ("Becoming, Part Two"). Buffy's younger sister Dawn Summers (Michelle Trachtenberg) is introduced in season five ("Buffy vs. Dracula"). A vampire tortured with a soul in return for horrific deeds committed in the past to many, including a young gypsy girl and her family, Angel (portrayed by David Boreanaz), is Buffy's love interest throughout the first three seasons. He leaves Buffy as he believes he isn't good enough for her. He goes on to make amends for his sins and to search for redemption in his own spin-off, Angel . He makes several guest appearances in the remaining seasons, including the last episode.

At Sunnydale High, Buffy meets several other students besides Willow and Xander willing to join her fight for good, an informal group eventually tagged the "Scooby Gang" or "Scoobies". Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), the archetypal shallow cheerleader, reluctantly becomes involved. Daniel "Oz" Osbourne (Seth Green), a fellow student, rock guitarist and werewolf, joins the group through his relationship with Willow. Jenny Calendar (Robia LaMorte), Sunnydale's computer science teacher, joins the group after helping destroy a demon trapped in cyberspace during season 1. She later becomes Giles' love interest. Anya (Emma Caulfield), a former vengeance demon (Anyanka) who specialized in avenging scorned women, becomes Xander's lover after losing her powers and joins the group in season four.

In Buffy's senior year at high school, she meets Faith (Eliza Dushku), the other current Slayer, who was "called" forth when Slayer Kendra Young (Bianca Lawson) was killed by vampire Drusilla (Juliet Landau), in season two. Although Faith initially fights on the side of good with Buffy and the rest of the group, she comes to stand against them and sides with Mayor Richard Wilkins (Harry Groener) after accidentally killing a human in season three. She reappears briefly in the fourth season, looking for vengeance, and moves to Angel where she voluntarily goes to jail for her murders. Faith reappears in season seven of Buffy , after having helped Angel and his crew, and fights alongside Buffy against The First Evil.

Buffy gathers other allies: Spike (James Marsters), a vampire, is an old companion of Angelus (Angel) and one of Buffy's major enemies in early seasons, although they later become allies and lovers. At the end of season six, Spike regains his soul. Spike is known for his Billy Idol-style peroxide blond hair and his black leather coat, stolen from a previous Slayer, Nikki Wood; her son, Robin Wood (D. B. Woodside), joined the group in the final season. Tara Maclay (Amber Benson) is a fellow member of Willow's Wicca group during season four, and their friendship eventually turns into a romantic relationship. Buffy becomes involved personally and professionally with Riley Finn (Marc Blucas), a military operative in "the Initiative", which hunts demons using science and technology. The final season sees geeky wannabe-villain Andrew Wells (Tom Lenk) come to side with the Scoobies after initially being their captive/hostage; they regard him more as a nuisance than an ally.

Buffy featured dozens of recurring characters, both major and minor. For example, the "Big Bad" (villain) characters were featured for at least one season (for example, Glory is a character who appeared in 12 episodes, spanning much of season five). Similarly, characters who allied themselves to the group and characters who attended the same institutions were sometimes featured in multiple episodes.

Sarah Michelle Prinze (née Gellar ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actress, producer, and entrepreneur. After being spotted by an agent at the age of four in New York City, she made her acting debut in the made-for-television film An Invasion of Privacy (1983). Following a role in the teen drama series Swans Crossing (1992), her television breakthrough came in 1993, when she originated the role of Kendall Hart on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children , winning the 1995 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series.

Gellar received widespread recognition for her portrayal of Buffy Summers on the WB drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003), which earned her five Teen Choice Awards and a Golden Globe Award nomination, and became recognized as one of the greatest female characters in U.S. television. Her most successful films at the box office are I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Scream 2 (1997), Cruel Intentions (1999), Scooby-Doo (2002), Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), and The Grudge (2004). This was followed by roles in mostly independent films, such as Southland Tales (2006), Suburban Girl (2007), TMNT (2007), and Veronika Decides to Die (2009). Gellar went on to headline the short-lived CW drama thriller series Ringer (2011–2012) and the CBS comedy series The Crazy Ones (2013–2014).

In 2015, Gellar, along with Galit Laibow and Greg Fleishman, founded Foodstirs, a food crafting brand and e-commerce startup selling baking kits, and in 2017, she released her own cookbook, Stirring Up Fun with Food .

Early life

Gellar was born on Long Island, New York. She is the only child of Rosellen (née Greenfield), a nursery school teacher, and Arthur Gellar, a garment worker. Both of her parents were Jewish, though Gellar's family also had a Christmas tree during her childhood. In 1984, when she was seven, her parents divorced and she was raised by her mother on Manhattan's Upper East Side. While growing up with her mother, she lost contact with her father, from whom she remained estranged until his death in 2001; she once described him as "non-existent", and in the early 2000s, she 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." Besides being a working child at the time, Gellar was a competitive figure skater, once finishing in third place at a New York State regional competition, as well as having a black belt in taekwondo.

Gellar was given a partial scholarship to study at the Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School, as her mother was not able to pay full tuition, for which she was constantly bullied. She said in an interview with The Independent : "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". Gellar was not present in class for most of the time at the school as she had to work in several acting projects simultaneously, recalling that she "had more absences in the first month than you're supposed to have for an entire year. I was telling them that I had back problems and had to go to the doctor the whole time". Gellar then briefly attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, but dropped out due to acting obligations; the teachers threatened to fail her because of her constant absence from classes as she was busy going to auditions, despite earning good grades. Gellar graduated from the Professional Children's School in 1994 as a "straight A" student with a 4.0 grade average. As Gellar spent significant time working on All My Children while "trying to graduate", the majority of her senior year was completed through guided study.

Career

Early credits and prominence (1981–1996)

At the age of four, she was spotted by an agent in a restaurant in Upper Manhattan. Two weeks later, she auditioned for a part in the television film An Invasion of Privacy , with Valerie Harper, Carol Kane and Jeff Daniels. At the audition, Gellar read both her own lines and those of Harper, impressing the directors enough to cast her in the role. The film aired on CBS in January 1983. She subsequently appeared in a controversial television commercial for Burger King, in which her character criticized McDonald's and claimed to eat only at Burger King. The ad led to a lawsuit by McDonald's, naming Gellar and banning her from eating at the food chain; she recalled in a 2004 interview: "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." While growing up, Gellar also worked as a model for Wilhelmina and acted in numerous television commercials.

During the 1980s, Gellar played minor roles in the films Over the Brooklyn Bridge (1984), Funny Farm (1988) and High Stakes (1989), and also guest starred in various television series, such as Spenser: For Hire and Crossbow . At the age of nine, she appeared alongside Matthew Broderick and Eric Stoltz in the Broadway production The Widow Claire . She served briefly as a co-host of the teen girl talk show Girl Talk , which aired in 1989. In 1991, she was cast as a young Jacqueline Bouvier in A Woman Named Jackie , starring Roma Downey. The miniseries won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series.

Gellar next took on the leading role in the 1992 syndicated teen serial Swans Crossing , which chronicled the lives of a group of wealthy teenagers. The series ran for one season and earned Gellar two Young Artist Award nominations, for Best Young Actress in a New Television Series and for Best Young Actress in an Off-Primetime Series. She made her debut in the soap opera All My Children in 1993, playing Kendall Hart, the long-lost daughter of character Erica 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. Her stint on the show was successful as "longtime fans of the soap saw her as the second coming of Erica". Writers showcased her more after her initial reception and she became a household name to the soap opera medium. In 1995, at the age of eighteen, she won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for the role. The same year, Gellar left the show to pursue other acting opportunities.

Worldwide recognition (1997–2003)

Gellar moved to Los Angeles following her departure from All My Children , and in 1996, she read the script for Joss Whedon's television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer , which follows Buffy Summers, a teenager burdened with the responsibility of fighting occult foes and supernatural occurrences. She screen tested several times originally for the role of Cordelia Chase, but after approaching Whedon and producers about playing Buffy Summers, she auditioned again and was eventually cast in the title role. The show premiered in March 1997, to widespread critical and popular acclaim, and Gellar's Buffy, created to subvert the stereotypical female horror movie victim, went on to become recognized as one of the 100 greatest female characters in U.S. television. Buffy ran for seven seasons (144 episodes), and during its broadcast, earned Gellar five Teen Choice Awards, the Saturn Award for Best Genre Television Actress and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Television Series Drama. She sang during the series' musical episode "Once More, with Feeling", which spawned an original cast album, released in 2002.

During the early airing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Gellar made her first major film appearances in two successful slasher films. In I Know What You Did Last Summer , opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze, Jr, she took on the role of an ill-fated aspiring beauty actress. Budgeted at US$17 million, the movie made US$125 million globally. Washington Post found the cast to be "solid", in what San Francisco Chronicle described as a "competent but uninspired" film. For her part, Gellar earned a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress – Horror and a MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Breakthrough Performance. In Scream 2 (also 1997), Gellar played a likewise ill-fated vain character, this time that of a Sorority sister. She filmed her scenes in-between shots of Buffy and had only recently finished work on I Know What You Did Last Summer . Despite the hectic scheduling, she agreed to perform in Scream 2 without having read the script, on the basis of the success of the first film. Scream 2 grossed over US$172 million worldwide.

In 1998, Gellar hosted for the first time Saturday Night Live , and provided the voice of the Gwendy Doll in Small Soldiers , a moderate commercial success. Gellar also had her first appearance on the 'Most Beautiful' list by People magazine, which cemented her "It girl" status at the time. In 1999, she had a cameo appearance in the sleeper hit She's All That , and took on the lead role of a struggling restaurant owner in the critically panned romantic comedy Simply Irresistible . Gellar once called it "bad choice", but Roger Ebert, on the other hand, found her to be "lovely" in what he described as an "old-fashioned" comedy. In Cruel Intentions (1999), a modern-day retelling of Les Liaisons dangereuses , Gellar played Kathryn Merteuil, a brunette cocaine addict with an appetite for manipulating people. The US$10 million film was a hit at the box office, grossing US$75 million worldwide. Roger Ebert felt that she is "effective as a bright girl who knows exactly how to use her act as a tramp", and in an interview with Chicago Tribune , director Roger Kumble, describing her work in the movie, said: "She unquestionably is the most professional actor I ever worked with". Gellar and co-star Selma Blair obtained the "Best Kiss" award at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards. Around that time, she guest starred in three episodes of Angel and appeared as Debbie in the HBO series Sex and the City episode "Escape from New York".

Gellar played the daughter of a mobster in James Toback's independent drama Harvard Man , which premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. While the film found a limited release in theaters, Gellar's performance in it, along with Cruel Intentions , helped her shed her good girl image. Gellar portrayed Daphne Blake in the live action–comedy Scooby-Doo , directed by Raja Gosnell and alongside Freddie Prinze, Jr., Linda Cardellini and Matthew Lillard. Scooby-Doo made over US$275 million, and became Gellar's most widely seen film to date. She won the Teen Choice Award in the category of Choice Movie Actress – Comedy for her part in the picture. Alongside Jack Black, she hosted the 2002 MTV Movie Awards, which attracted 7.1 million viewers on its June 6 broadcast, achieving the show's highest rating ever at the time.

During her growing film career, Gellar continued work on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer , but she left the show 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." In her feature in Esquire magazine Gellar expressed her pride for her work on Buffy , "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."

Continued film roles (2004–2010)

After the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Gellar provided her voice for the character Gina Vendetti in The Simpsons episode "The Wandering Juvie", which aired in March 2004. Her next film was Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), reprising the role of Daphne. While IGN felt that both Gellar and Prinze "exhibit marked improvements over their work in [2002's Scooby-Doo ]", the film was a commercial success, grossing US$181.4 million around the globe. In the horror remake The Grudge (also 2004), Gellar portrayed Karen Davis, an exchange student living and working in Tokyo who becomes exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse. Critic Rob Blackwelder wrote that she "played her part well, and her fear and disorientation are terrifically enhanced by the decision to keep the [original] setting in this remake". The film was a major box office hit, grossing more than US$110 million in the US, and US$187 million worldwide. She received a MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Frightened Performance as well as a nomination for the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Thriller for her role. Since 2005, she has voiced several characters in 13 episodes of the animated television series Robot Chicken , as of 2018.

Gellar starred opposite Dwayne Johnson, Seann William Scott, and Justin Timberlake in Richard Kelly's Southland Tales (2006), as an adult film star working on creating a reality television show. Gellar had met with Kelly and was drawn to the original ideas for the movie, accepting the role before she even read the script. The film found a limited audience in theaters, but J. Hoberman for Village Voice remarked that the director "contrives two memorable comic performances" by Gellar and Johnson. In 2006, Gellar also briefly reprised her role of Karen in the critically panned sequel The Grudge 2 , and starred in the psychological thriller The Return , as a businesswoman haunted by memories of her childhood and the mysterious death of a young woman. The film was a critical and commercial failure, grossing only US$11 million. The New York Times called it a "career stagnation".

In 2007, Gellar voiced Ella in the poorly received animated film Happily N'Ever After , and also April O'Neil in TMNT , which made US$95 million. She starred in the romantic comedy Suburban Girl and the drama The Air I Breathe , both of which were screened at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. In Suburban Girl , alongside Alec Baldwin, she took the role of a New York City editor and the love interest of a much older influential man (Baldwin). The film was released for DVD in January 2008. In the likewise little-seen film The Air I Breathe , Gellar appeared with Forest Whitaker, Brendan Fraser and Kevin Bacon, portraying an up-and-coming pop singer. The New York Times called it a "gangster movie with delusions of grandeur", while DVD Talk noted that "her character here has the deepest emotional arc, and she hits all the right notes."

Possession , a psychological thriller Gellar filmed in 2006, saw her play a lawyer whose life is thrown into chaos after a car accident sends her husband (Michael Landes) and brother-in-law (Lee Pace) into comas. Due to financial problems at Yari Film Group, the film went to DVD in March 2010. In the film adaptation Veronika Decides to Die , Gellar starred as a young depressed woman who rediscovers the joy in life when she finds out that she only has days to live following a suicide attempt. Like Possession , the film failed to find a proper release in North American theaters, and was released for VOD in 2015. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter found the actress to be "reasonably compelling" in what he called a "ponderous and silly misfire".

Return to television (2011–present)

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 for a new drama titled Ringer , 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 a television series was because it allowed her to both work and raise her child. The series received positive reviews from critics; E! Online found her to be "awesome" and "fantastic", while TV Line felt she "does a fine job" as both characters. Ringer went on to have a large fan base, but it was canceled after the first season. For her portrayal, she received several award nominations, including one for the Teen Choice Award for Choice Television Actress – Drama.

In September 2011, Gellar returned as a guest star on the ABC soap opera All My Children before the show's ending but not as Kendall Hart; she portrayed a patient at Pine Valley Hospital who tells Maria Santos that she is "Erica Kane's daughter", and states that she saw vampires before they became trendy—a reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer . She voiced a character in the American Dad! episode "Virtual In-Stanity", and again for the December 6, 2012 episode ("Adventures in Hayleysitting"). On September 30, 2012, she reprised her role of Gina Vendetti in the premiere episode of The Simpsons' season 24.

A fan of Robin Williams for years, once Gellar learned that he was making the single-camera television series The Crazy Ones , 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. She obtained the part of an advertising director who runs an agency with her father. Digital Spy felt that Williams "shares a warm, genuine chemistry with his on-screen offspring Gellar," as part of a mixed critical response. The series was canceled after one season, but earned Gellar the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New Television Series.

In March 2015, Gellar guest-starred as Cinderella in Whitney Avalon's official YouTube channel video short Princess Rap Battle , and joined the cast of Star Wars Rebels for season two, playing a recurring character known as the Seventh Sister. In early 2016, Gellar filmed for NBC a pilot presentation for a potential television series based on the cult-classic film, Cruel Intentions , reprising her role of Kathryn Merteuil. The pilot was ultimately not picked up to series.

On May 16, 2019, Gellar appeared in the series finale of The Big Bang Theory .

Upcoming projects

On January 10, 2019, it was announced Gellar would appear in the limited series Sometimes I Lie , based on the best-selling book of the same name. The series is being produced by Gellar, as well as Ellen DeGeneres, in association with Warner Bros. Television. On August 22, 2019, it was reported that Gellar was attached to produce and appear in a pilot for Fox titled Other People's Houses .

In February 2020, Gellar joined the main voice cast of Netflix and Kevin Smith's Masters of the Universe: Revelation in the role of Teela.

Public image

Gellar has appeared on the covers and photo sessions of numerous magazines during her career. In February 1998, she appeared in Seventeen , and in subsequent years the list has grown to include Nylon , Marie Claire , Vogue , Glamour , Esquire , Allure , Cosmopolitan , FHM , Rolling Stone and Elle among others. In 1999, Gellar signed on to be the face of Maybelline – becoming the company's first celebrity spokeswoman since Lynda Carter in the late 1970s. She was honored with a Woman of The Year Award by Glamour magazine in October 2002, and in the same year, her wax figure by Madame Tussauds, was unveiled as part of the "Trail of Vampires" exhibition.

With her work in Buffy and mainstream movies such as Cruel Intentions , Gellar became a household name and a sex symbol across the globe, status she cemented with being a feature several times in the annual Maxim "Hot 100" list between 2002 and 2008. Wearing a black lace bra, she was on the cover of the December 2007 issue of Maxim and was named the 2009 Woman of the Year by the magazine. She was voted number 1 in FHM 's edition of "100 Sexiest Women" of 1999, and was featured in its 2005 list. She had also been in the magazine's German, Dutch, South African, Danish and Romanian editions of the 100 Sexiest Women list every year from 1998 onwards. Topsocialite.com listed her as the 8th Sexiest woman of the 90s along with Alicia Silverstone, Gillian Anderson and Shannen Doherty.

She was featured in Google's Top 10 Women Searches of 2002 and 2003, coming in at No. 8, and was included in UK Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sex Symbols in 2007, ranking at No. 16. Other appearances and listings include: Entertainment Weekly ranked her in its Top 100 TV Icons in 2007, and placed her No. 3 in its Top 12 Entertainers of the Year in 1998, and Glamour ranked her in its 50 Best Dressed Women in the World 2004 and 2005 at Nos. 17 and 24, respectively. BuddyTV ranked her No. 27 on TV's 100 Sexiest Women of 2011 list, as well.

She has appeared in "Got Milk?" ads as well as in the Stone Temple Pilots music video "Sour Girl" and Marcy Playground's "Comin' Up From Behind". Gellar was featured on the cover of Gotham and their main story in the March 2008 issue, in which she spoke about how her style has evolved since she passed 30. Gellar said: "It sounds clichéd, but when women turn 30, they find themselves. You become more comfortable in your own skin. Last night on Letterman , I wore this skintight Herve Leger dress. Two years ago, three years ago? I would never have worn it."

Other endeavors

Charitable activities

Gellar is an active advocate for various charities, including breast cancer research, Project Angel Food, Habitat for Humanity and CARE. Of her charitable pursuits, she says, "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."

In 1999, she went to the Dominican Republic to help Habitat for Humanity's project of building homes for the residents; Gellar recalled in an interview she had worked with the cause a lot, explaining: "You actually get to physically do something, where you get to go and build these houses. I like working with things where you can directly affect someone in particular". With Project Angel Food, she delivered healthy meals to people infected with AIDS, and through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, she granted sick children's wishes of meeting her while working on Buffy . In 2007, Gellar was featured in Vaseline's "Skin Is Amazing" campaign, with other actors such as Hilary Duff, Amanda Bynes and John Leguizamo. She agreed to auction nude-posed photos of herself on eBay, to raise money for the Coalition of Skin Diseases, an organization which supports clinical research, fosters physician and patient education.

In May 2011, Gellar joined "The Nestlé Share the Joy of Reading Program", which promotes reading to young children to encourage them to read during the summer break. The following year, she was presented with the Tom Mankiewicz Leadership Award during the Beastly Ball at the Los Angeles Zoo. The honor recognizes members of the entertainment community who have excelled in establishing meaningful and lasting programs that contribute to the welfare of the world's natural and civic environment. In 2014 and 2015, Gellar hosted two fundraisers for Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA.

Foodstirs

In October 2015, Gellar, along with entrepreneurs Galit Laibow and Greg Fleishman, co-founded Foodstirs, a startup food crafting brand selling via e-commerce and retail easy to make organic baking mixes and kits for families. By the beginning of 2017, the brand's products were available in about 400 stores; by the end of the year a surge of interest from retailers increased its distribution to 8,000 stores. In 2018, Foodstirs entered into a deal with Starbucks to carry its mug cake mixes across 8,000 of its stores.

Cook book

Gellar released a cook book titled Stirring up Fun with Food on April 18, 2017. The book was co-authored by Gia Russo, and features numerous food crafting ideas.

Personal life

Gellar met her future husband Freddie Prinze Jr., while they were filming the 1997 teen horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer , but the two did not begin dating until 2000. They were engaged in April 2001 and married in Mexico on September 1, 2002, in a ceremony officiated by Adam Shankman, a director and choreographer with whom Gellar had worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer .

Prinze and Gellar have worked together several times; they played each other's respective love interests as Fred and Daphne in the 2002 film Scooby-Doo and its sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed , and both provided their voices for the animated feature film Happily N'Ever After (2007) and the animated science fiction series Star Wars Rebels . In 2007, in honor of their fifth year of marriage, Gellar legally changed her name to Sarah Michelle Prinze.

Together, Gellar and Prinze have two children, a daughter born in 2009 and a son born in 2012. The family lives in Los Angeles.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Over the Brooklyn Bridge	Phil's Daughter	Uncredited
1986	Crossroads	Church Goer	Deleted scenes
1988	Funny Farm	Elizabeth's Student	Deleted scenes
1989	High Stakes	Karen Rose
1997	I Know What You Did Last Summer	Helen Shivers
	Scream 2	Casey "Cici" Cooper
1998	Small Soldiers	Gwendy Doll (voice)
1999	Cruel Intentions	Kathryn Merteuil
	She's All That	Girl in Cafeteria	Special thanks
	Simply Irresistible	Amanda Shelton
2001	Harvard Man	Cindy Bandolini
2002	Scooby-Doo	Daphne Blake
2004	The Grudge	Karen Davis
	Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed	Daphne Blake
2006	The Grudge 2	Karen Davis
	The Return	Joanna Mills
	Southland Tales	Krysta Now
2007	The Air I Breathe	Sorrow
	Happily N'Ever After	Ella (voice)
	Suburban Girl	Brett Eisenberg
	TMNT	April O'Neil (voice)
2009	Possession	Jessica
	Veronika Decides to Die	Veronika Deklava
2013	The Illusionauts	Nicole (voice)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	An Invasion of Privacy	Jennifer Bianchi	Television film
1988	Crossbow	Sara Guidotti	Episode: "Actors"
	Spenser: For Hire	Emily	Episode: "Company Man"
1989	Girl Talk	Herself / Host	Episode: "Pilot"
1991	A Woman Named Jackie	Teenage Jacqueline Bouvier	Miniseries
1992	Swans Crossing	Sydney Orion Rutledge	Main role
1993–1995; 2011	All My Children	Kendall Hart	55 episodes
1997	Beverly Hills Family Robinson	Jane Robinson	Television film
1997–2003	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Buffy Summers / Various	Main role
1998–2002	Saturday Night Live	Herself / Host	5 episodes
1998	King of the Hill	Marie (voice)	Episode: "And They Call It Bobby Love"
1999–2000	Angel	Buffy Summers	Episodes: "I Will Remember You" & "Sanctuary"
2000	Sex and the City	Debbie	Episode: "Escape from New York"
2001	Grosse Pointe	Herself	Episode: "Passion Fish"
2004; 2012	The Simpsons	Gina Vendetti (voice)	Episodes: "The Wandering Juvie" & "Moonshine River"
2005–2018	Robot Chicken	Buffy Summers / Daphne Blake / various voices	13 episodes
2010	The Wonderful Maladys	Alice Malady	Unaired pilot; also executive producer
2011–2012	American Dad!	Phyllis / Jenny (voices)	Episodes: "Virtual In-Stanity" & "Adventures in Hayleysitting"
	Ringer	Bridget Kelly / Siobhan Martin	Main role; also executive producer
2011	God, the Devil and Bob	That Actress on That Show (voice)	Episode: "There's Too Much Sex on TV"
2013–2014	The Crazy Ones	Sydney Roberts	Main role
2015–2016	Star Wars Rebels	Seventh Sister (voice)	5 episodes
2016	Cruel Intentions	Kathryn Merteuil	Unaired pilot; also executive producer
	Those Who Can't	Gwen Stephanie	Episode: "The Fairbell Tape"
2019	The Big Bang Theory	Herself	Episode: "The Stockholm Syndrome"

Other works

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Sour Girl	Female love interest	Music video for Stone Temple Pilots
2011	Call of Duty: Black Ops	Herself	Call of Duty: Zombies - Call of the Dead DLC Map
2015	Princess Rap Battle	Cinderella	YouTube video series (1 episode)
2019	Killer Skin	Georgia Cunningham	Olay's first Super Bowl commercial

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
1993	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actress in a New Television Series	Swans Crossing	Nominated
		Best Young Actress in an Off-Primetime Series	Swans Crossing	Nominated
1994	Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series	All My Children	Nominated
	Young Artist Awards	Best Youth Actress in a Soap Opera	All My Children	Nominated
1995	Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series	All My Children	Won
	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance by a Youth Actress in a Daytime Series	All My Children	Nominated
1998	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Favorite Supporting Actress – Horror	I Know What You Did Last Summer	Won
	MTV Movie Awards	Best Breakthrough Performance	I Know What You Did Last Summer	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Actress on Television	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
1999	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite TV Actress	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Actress on Television	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Villain	Cruel Intentions	Won
		Choice TV Actress	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Won
	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a Television Series (Comedy or Drama) – Leading Young Actress	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
2000	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Television Friends (shared with David Boreanaz)	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
	MTV Movie Awards	Best Kiss (shared with Selma Blair)	Cruel Intentions	Won
		Best Performance – Female	Cruel Intentions	Won
		Best Villain	Cruel Intentions	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Actress on Television	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Actress	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Won
2001	Golden Globe Award	Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite TV Actress	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Actress on Television	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Actress	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
		Extraordinary Achievement Award	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Won
	Television Critics Association Awards	Individual Achievement in Drama	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
2002	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Female Butt Kicker	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Won
	Saturn Awards	Best Actress on Television	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
	SFX Awards	Best Television Actress	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Won
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie: Chemistry (shared with Freddie Prinze Jr.)	Scooby-Doo	Nominated
		Choice Movie Actress – Comedy	Scooby-Doo	Won
		Choice TV Actress – Action/Drama	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Won
	Young Hollywood Awards	Hottest, Coolest Young Veteran – Female	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Won
2003	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Female Butt Kicker	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Actress – Television Series Drama	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Actress on Television	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Actress – Drama	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Won
2004	Saturn Awards	Best Actress on Television	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Nominated
	SFX Awards	Best Television Actress	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Won
2005	MTV Movie Awards	Best Frightened Performance	The Grudge	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actress – Action/Adventure/Thriller	The Grudge	Nominated
2011	Virgin Media TV Award (UK)	Best Actress	Ringer	Nominated
2012	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Actress – Drama	Ringer	Nominated
2014	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Actress in a New Television Series	The Crazy Ones	Won

• Condition: Ungraded
• Subject Type: TV & Movies
• Card Size: Standard
• Autographed: No
• Set: Men of Sunnydale
• Character: Xander
• Card Condition: Near Mint
• Custom Bundle: No
• Size of Card: 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches
• Year Manufactured: 2005
• Material: Card Stock
• Franchise: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
• TV Show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Modified Item: No
• Graded: No
• Type: Non-Sport Trading Card
• Language: English
• Manufacturer: INKWORKS
• Features: Pieceworks, Wardrobe, Authentic Show-Worn Item, Costume
• Genre: Vampire, High School, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Joss Whedon, Cult Multi-Season TV Show, Supernatural High School Drama, Scooby Gang, Action, Adventure, Supernatural
• Featured Person/Artist: Nicholas Brendon
• Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
• Metric Dimensions of Card: 89 mm by 64 mm

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