.......We love Buffy so much. Driving a stake through the heart of a creature that wants to suck a fluid out of you is so TeenMom. And we love Sarah Michelle Gellar, 'cause she's a terrific actress who knows exactly how to play that funny/scary, serious/tongue-in-cheek thing that her hit TV show depends on. And how excellent was Sarah in slasher/thriller opuses I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2? Answer (translated into English): Ever so! And on the Rolling Stone cover? (In Italian): Rad- issimo! Sarah's 20. She's a smart New York girl, graduating two years early, with honors, from the Professional Children's School, the same high school that her Scream 2 co-star Jerry O'Connell attended. (He was a bit older, though, she says, so they didn't exactly hang together.) Sarah's done some modeling- -a little bit here and there, catalogs, stuff like that-- but she's been acting since she was four, when her first professional gig was in a movie of the week starring Valerie Harper, Jerry Orbach, and Carol Kane.

Q: How did you get that first acting job?
...SARAH: "I was eating in a restaurant, on a play date with some friends and their parents, and some woman came up to me and said, 'Do you want to be on TV?' This was prior to every television and talk show that asked, 'Should your child be a celebrity?' Anyway, I said, 'Yes, my name is Sarah Gellar,' and gave my whole address and telephone number. I had just learned it, and I was very proud of being able to do it. A week later she called my mom, who had no idea what this woman was talking about. She basically hung up on her. The woman kept calling and my mom was like, 'Maybe this is real.' So we took the meeting, and a week later I booked my first movie.
Q: How did you get Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
...SARAH: "A lot of money exchanged hands [laughs]. No. Very basic, actually, I heard about the audition, and I first thought, 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer, mid-season replacement on the WB, I'm not sure about this.' Then they said [writer/director] Joss Whedon was doing it, and I'm a huge fan. And then they sent me the script and I went, 'Wow, this is interesting.' It wasn't great at that point-- it wasn't what it is now-- but there was something there. We met and talked, and Joss said, 'You're really good, but you're not Buffy. You're Cordelia. So do you want to come in and test as Cordelia?' And I went, 'No. You know what? I really don't want to.' Then I thought about it and was like, 'It's really a cool show, maybe I should.' So I tested and got Cordelia. But then I said, 'You know what? I don't want to do it. I want to be Buffy.' And Joss said, 'We don't think....' I had dark hair at the time. I said, 'Give me a chance.' So I came in and auditioned on a Saturday morning, on the really, really early casting call. I read for the casting director, and wound up reading, like, six more times, and testing four more times."
Q: Did you bleach your hair?
...SARAH: "For the character, yes."
Q: After you got the part?
...SARAH: "After I got the part. I wouldn't go so far as do it for an audition. I think that you need to have a vision. The only reason I did dye it was that they saw I could do it with the dark hair. Then I didn't mind. But I would never do it to prove something to somebody. I'm an actor. I can act the part."
Q: Do you like the blond hair?
...SARAH: "No. It's a hassle."
Q: Do blondes have more fun?
...SARAH: "I'm going to be a brunette this summer."
Q: So blondes don't have more fun?
...SARAH: "It is different, though. There's no question that people do respond to you differently. I always grew up in New York, and you do have a certain New York- ness to you. And then I moved to California and had the blonde hair, so I'm not sure if it's a combination of... I'm more quirky and open, or people just respond differently."
Q: Why do you think people like Buffy?
...SARAH: "She's cool. How's that for an intelligent answer? I think it's a combination of things. Joss Wheden-- he talks to teenagers, not at them, not down to them. He gives them the credit for being intelligent individuals. I think Buffy is a great role model for young girls. She is not the most popular, not the prettiest, not the smartest, but she's fine with that. And it's really important that young girls know that it's OK; you don't have to conform and be like everybody else in school. I think it's the combination of action, drama, horror, comedy--one of those has to appeal to you. And if not, then you're bored. And I think, as well, kids and adults can watch. I know that for a long time kids' programming was incredibly painful for adults. I know that I couldn't watch TGIF -- or you know, Family Matters. There aren't too many shows that, as an adult, I can watch. This is a show where adults can get the dark humor and the witty comments aimed at them, and the children can still watch it."
Q: Can you date now that you're such a well-known person?
...SARAH: "It's definitely difficult. It's difficult to meet people because you are who you are, and it automatically puts you in a different position. And it's difficult because of the time schedule. I haven't had a day off in months. On Buffy, to work 16- to 18-hour days is common. But don't pity me. I mean, please. This is what I want to do, this is what I love to do. And this is the sacrifice you make, and if you're not willing to make it, then you don't work, or you don't do the amount of work that I take on. No one told me to do Scream 2 and Buffy at the same time. That was something that I chose to do."
Q: Do you feel like you're missing anything?
...SARAH: "Yeah, but look at me. I'm in this great TV show, I'm in this great movie with these amazing people, and I get to travel all over, and..."
Q: At any point in your teens did you stop and say, "Do I want to continue?"
...SARAH: "Yes, absolutely. When I was 15, I started All My Children, and right before that was when I had to make a decision. That's when either you concentrate on school completely, or you have to go with working. That's the point in most teenagers' lives when you start thinking about what you want to do. That's when you start thinking, 'Do I want to concentrate on my English studies or my history? What college do I want to go to?' And that's when I decided that this was really something that I wanted to do, and I really took it more seriously at that point. It became more of a career, that I was making plans for, planning ahead."
Q: Because there are some child stars who, at a certain point, stop and realize that this isn't really what they want to doing with their lives.
...SARAH: "Absolutely. It's very important that you are able to make that decision by yourself, completely on your own, because it's nobody else's decision but your own. Working this constantly is also very new...only since I started Buffy. Before that, I did the soap and had weekends off. I didn't work every day of the week; I finished normal hours. It's only with the success of Buffy, and I Know What You Did, and Scream 2.... But look at Neve [Campbell, co-star of Scream 2]. Believe me, that girl works more hours than I do."
Q: You've moved to L.A. now?
....SARAH: "I'm living there right now."
Q: What do you like about it?
...SARAH: "The weather."
Q: Besides the weather?
...SARAH: "I like kind of the quality of life there right now. I don't plan to live there much longer. I'd like to move to Santa Barbara, or Arizona, or New Mexico, and maybe keep a small apartment in L.A., and one in New York, as well. There's definitely a more relaxed environment. I think people are really weather-affected. I noticed that the last time I was in New York I was raring to go, and then I got up and it was raining and yucky outside, and I kind of dredged out of bed. There's no question that when you see the sun shine, it does something to you."
Q: At what age were you on your own, away from family?
...SARAH: "I don't know. I mean, I still lived at home when I was in NY, but I did everything by myself. I went to All My Children by myself every day, I handled everything at that point. And then I moved to L.A. when I was 18."
Q: You mean you're on your own and you can't even vote yet?
...SARAH: "I can vote. I can't buy beer legally."
Q: Damn.
...SARAH: "Actually, it's pretty common. When you're 18 you go to college."
Q: But college is a kind of safe environment.
...SARAH: "You can get in more trouble in college than I could ever get into on my own."