.......If you were to mix My So Called Life with Scream and The X-Files, you would get an idea of what is in-store for you on television's Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the WB (Warner Brothers) Network. By day, Buffy Summers is your typical teenager who juggles the traumas of being an outsider at cliquey Sunnydale High School. By night, she's a martial arts master, fighting to protect the world from the vampire armies of the night.

.......Ordinarily, I'm not a big fan of teenage dramas. It is a television genre that originated at the onset of television, itself. But, the series (which is actually based on the 1992 film by the same name which starred Luke Perry and Kristy Swanson) cleverly combines comedy and horror with the everyday reality of adolescence (which I guess is what adolescence is all about.) With hip horror, and savvy pop culture references, its tone is in the same ironic vein as celebrated hits Xena: Warrior Princess and Wes Craven's blockbuster gore-fest Scream.
.......There are, of course, some ways in which Buffy is like her television predecessors as she has to deal with many of the same themes of adolescence. However, its vision is much darker. Death is a predominate theme. In last season's finale, Buffy experiences death and resurrection. The dark themes are all presented simultaneously in a comedically horrific fashion. Despite its tongue-in-cheek premise of high school being the ultimate terror, one of the main reasons for the show's success is the 21 year old actress Sarah Michelle Gellar who plays the title role. Her role of Buffy has made an instant celebrity of Gellar. Television critics have applauded Gellar's easy physicality and personality which comes through in the character. As in her other work, Gellar radiates confidence and sexiness without being girly or cutsie. She isn't quite a conventional knock-em-dead beauty: light brown hair, huge green eyes, wide mouth, tiny nose, but she is close enough. Beautiful, athletic and talented, her allure is neither too fierce nor too sensuous.
.......Currently, Gellar is in hyper drive. She is very busy with her hectic Hollywood schedule. Recently she began building her film career with two features. First, she was cast as a small town beauty queen in the suspense thriller I Know What You Did Last Summer (also starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt) and then she appeared as one of Neve Campbell's college friends in Scream 2 (also starring: Courteney Cox, Jada Pickett, David Arquette, and Laurie Metcalf.)
.......While Buffy put Gellar, on the map, what may surprise audiences is that she has been acting diligently in TV, film, and stage, from a very young age. As an only child, Gellar was brought up on New York's Upper East Side by her mother, Rosellen Gellar. Her parents divorced when she was very young. When she was 4, Gellar was discovered by an agent while eating in a restaurant. Within months, she auditioned for a Burger King commercial. Gellar got the part and caught the acting bug. Determined to succeed, she continued to pursue her theatrical ambitions in New York even though she missed a lot of school. She kicked off her acting career with small roles in General Hospital(??), Spenser For Hire, Love Sidney and Guiding Light.
.......At age 15, Gellar won the role of the conniving Sydney Rutledge on the teen-soap opera Swans Crossing. After SC was cancelled, Gellar began work on the popular daytime soap All My Children. She played Kendall Hart, Erica Kane's (Susan Lucci) calculating and disturbed daughter. During her second season of playing Kendall, she won a daytime Emmy for Outstanding Younger Actress. After her win, there were tabloid stories about the asperity displayed between the TV mother and daughter. (Lucci never having won an Emmy allegedly begrudged her co-star's success.)
.......Shortly after her departure from AMC, Gellar was picked as the lead of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. WB originally bought 13 episodes. It did poorly in the ratings but was renewed because of the good reviews and a loyal fan base.
.......Gellar's feature film credits include - Jennifer Bianchi, Valerie Harper's daughter in the television movie, An Invasion of Privacy, Phil's daughter in Over the Brooklyn Bridge, a small, uncredited role as a student in Funny Farm (with Chevy Chase) and Sally Kirkland's daughter Karen in the forgettable High Stakes. Gellar then played the young Jackie Kennedy in the critically acclaimed television mini-series A Woman Named Jackie, and in the 1997 ABC television movie Beverly Hills Family Robinson. It was about a family who had to adjust being stranded on a deserted island. She has made many films now, and not one could be called great. However, this is no way a reflection of her performances.
.......In addition to her many television and movie roles Gellar has also appeared on stage with Matthew Broderick and Eric Stoltz in the New York production of The Widow Claire and played Molly in the original cast of Neil Simon's Jake's Women.
.......The thing that struck me about Sarah Michelle Gellar is that right now everybody loves her and can't get enough of her. Yet, she also knows that every one of them could turn on her or vanish. For that reason she refuses to take any of it too seriously. She doesn't mind the adoration she receives as a celebrity but is more comfortable in her current, unselfconscious lifestyle. It is apparent she doesn't feel the need to portray herself as a movie star. In fact she maintains the same tough, uncompromising attitude and focus that she first developed as a young actress.
.......To stay in shape for her role as a physically demanding vampire slayer, she studies the Korean art of Tae Kwon Do. Gellar has been devoted to this since she was 9 years old. Fighting evil creatures requires her to be physically fit, and Gellar often performs many of her own stunts. She also enjoys scuba diving, rollerblading, and figure skating. She was a competitive figure skater for 3 years.
.......There are only three things about which Gellar is really serious: the movies she makes, the people she loves and the self she is trying to protect. Quite grounded, Gellar talks graciously about her work and what she thinks of it. But, she won't talk about her personal life, which is something that she greatly values. In a recent interview in TV Guide, Gellar said that lately she "has been feeling a little intimidated by everything...I've waited for my whole life, and now it's happening. I worry that I'm going to do something to jinx it." But there's really no need for her to worry. Without a doubt, given her track record, no end is in sight!