Michelle Trachtenberg, ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Star, Dies at 39
Michelle Trachtenberg, the veteran actress who started as a child performer with high profile roles like the title character in Harriet the Spy before finding success on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gossip Girl, has died. She was 39.
“It is with great sadness to confirm that Michelle Trachtenberg has passed away,” her rep confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday morning. “The family requests privacy for their loss. There are no further details at this time.” The New York Post was first to report the news of her death.
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Trachtenberg was born in New York as the daughter of Jewish immigrants. In a radio interview in 2005, she confirmed that she was fluent in Russian as her mother was born in Russia and it was the only way for her to communicate with her grandparents.
She starting acting as a toddler, booking a string of commercials from age 3 on. Her first gig was a spot for Wisk laundry detergent and she went on to promote Burger King, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and many others. Trachtenberg landed her first TV role in the most New York of ways by appearing in an episode of Law & Order in 1991. Described as a natural talent and a charismatic performer even at a young age — she once said she never took any acting classes as she preferred only to take direction from those behind the camera — Trachtenberg segued to more kid-friendly fare courtesy of Nickelodeon with a role on the Melissa Joan Hart-starrer Clarissa Explains it All and later with a 14-episode run on The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Then, like her future Buffy co-star Sarah Michelle Gellar, Trachtenberg worked on the New York soap All My Children. Her breakout turn as a child performer came also from Nickelodeon when she landed the title role in the 1996 feature film Harriet the Spy opposite veteran performers like Rosie O’Donnell, Eartha Kitt and J. Smith-Cameron. She was 10 years old at the time.
The family later moved to Brooklyn where she was raised with an older sister, Irene. At the age of 12, after her career started to take off propelled by the Nickelodeon work, Trachtenberg moved to Los Angeles to pursue more work though she stated that she remained “bicoastal for a little bit.”
“It was a little more sheltered,” she once said of her life in Brooklyn before moving to the West Coast. “What was a really big switch for me was going from a place where entertainment was prominent, but not surrounding, and in LA, I feel like you’re constantly surrounded by people in the entertainment business.”
The work kept coming through the late 1990s, and she landed a series regular role on 1997’s Meego opposite Bronson Pinchot, Ed Begley Jr., Jonathan Lipnicki and Will Estes followed by appearances in the films Inspector Gadget and Can’t Be Heaven. TV delivered yet another breakout moment as she was cast as Dawn Summers opposite Gellar in the beloved and cult classic Buffy. Summers, the younger sister of the title character, debuted in the first episode of the show’s fifth season, and she appeared in every episode of Buffy’s remaining three-season run.
“I had known Sarah since we worked together on All My Children. We worked together for about two and half years, and we had kept in touch through the years when she moved to Hollywood and began building her career from that point,” Trachtenberg told the BBC of joining Buffy. “I kept in touch with Sarah through the years, and because Buffy had become my real favorite show, I had always tried to think of ways for me to guest star on the show, and I heard about the call one day. Sarah was always very supportive.”
In addition to Gellar, Trachtenberg once talked about being close with peers like Scarlett Johansson, Thora Birch and Taryn Manning as they all grew up in the business around the same time. “Thora, Taryn and I have all been sort of looking for a movie that we can do together, because we do like each other,” she once said in an interview. “Thora, Scarlett Johansson and I all grew up in New York. Not necessarily being like best friends, but we always saw each other in auditions and everything. And now when I see the girls, there’s like a comfort there.”
She also found comfort in education. Though her career kept her busy while most teenagers would be in school, Trachtenberg remained focused on her studies. “I have to always have a teacher on set. Education’s very important to me. I believe that, god forbid, if this acting thing doesn’t work out for me, I have to have a solid background behind me, and I’ve been raised believing that education is very enriching and very important, and that’s the moral that I’ve applied to my life,” she said in the same interview. “I want to go to university one day, I want to got to college and I want to major in the behind-the-camera stuff. I want to learn how to make movies, because I already know what to do if I’m in a movie, and I want to know what to do if I’m trying to make one.”
Years later, she was accepted to USC but ended up deferring due to her busy acting schedule though she had planned to study film. “I would study the history of film, I’d study producing and directing and just the beauty of film,” she once said of her future plans.
But after Buffy wrapped its run in 2003, Trachtenberg kept busy with on camera work, starring in the cult classic comedy EuroTrip opposite Jacob Pitts, Scott Mechlowicz, Kristin Kreuk and Matt Damon (who had a cameo) in the film written and directed by Seinfeld alums Jeff Schaffer, Alec Berg and David Mandel.
Trachtenberg segued to more adult fare in Gregg Araki’s Mysterious Skin opposite Brady Corbet and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the beloved and critically acclaimed HBO series Six Feet Under. Her other credits include Robot Chicken, Guidance, Sleepy Hollow, NCIS: Los Angeles and Mercy.
She had another high-profile run on the small screen courtesy of Gossip Girl, playing manipulative socialite Georgina Sparks for 28 episodes. She reprised her role on the HBO Max reboot three years ago, which was her final Hollywood credit. She seemed to relish playing an evil character like Georgina. “It’s actually kind of easy because the words that they write are so fantastic. It’s kind of easy to be evil when you’re saying evil things. It’s definitely a lot more fun than playing the good girl. I love the reaction you get. I never understood why some actors don’t want to play villains or evil characters,” she told Seventeen.
Asked by the mag if there were any girls like Georgina when she went to school, Trachtenberg confirmed that there were. “In school, the girls were mean to me and the boys didn’t ask me out. I always dreaded going back to school because I knew I would have to face a lot of mean kids,” she said.
Years later, she elaborated on the bullying in an Instagram post, revealing that it was much worse than she originally let on. “The kids were cruel. There is no need to harp on the past. But I still have scars from being thrown down stairs and slammed into lockers head first,” she posted. “I write this to every child, teen, person, out there who is bullied. You are something. Do not put your value in someone else. Not letting them win, is your win.”
In recent months, Trachtenberg found herself speaking out against bullies online after she sparked concern among fans and followers on Instagram after posting a series of selfies. Followers questioned whether she was healthy due to her appearance while some accused her of having plastic surgery or being under the influence. Trachtenberg faced the critics and clapped back. “Fun fact. This is my face. Not malnutrition no problems. Why do you have to hate? Get a calendar,” she posted before later following it up with a second post. “I’ve received several comments recently about my appearance. I have never had plastic surgery I am happy and healthy. Check yourself haters.”
At the time, The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Trachtenberg for an interview about her life and career though the actress declined through a representative. She remained active on Instagram until a few days ago, spending much of the month of February posting throwback photos of red carpet appearances. THR has reached out to the New York Police Department and will update accordingly.
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