Michelle Trachtenberg

Michelle Christine Trachtenberg (b. October 11, 1985) is an American television and movie actress best known for her role as Dawn Summers in the television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Born in New York City to Russian-Jewish immigrants, and raised in Sheepshead Bay, she had her first television appearance in 1988 in a commercial for Wisk Detergent. She went on to feature in over 100 more commercials. Her first credited role came in 1993. She played Nona F. Mecklenberg in The Adventures of Pete & Pete from 1994 until 1996. During the same period she played the second Lily Montgomery in All My Children. It was on All My Children that Trachtenberg first worked with future Buffy co-star, Sarah Michelle Gellar. Trachtenberg's film career began in 1996 with the lead role in Harriet the Spy. She then returned to television for Meego, for which she won a Young Artist Award. She returned to film in 1999 for Inspector Gadget, as the gadget-master's niece, Penny. She also starred in the film Can't Be Heaven. In the summer of 2000, Trachtenberg took up the role of Dawn Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She remained in the role until the show ended in 2003. Since Buffy, she has returned to film, with the recent Eurotrip, co-starring Scott Mechlowicz and Travis Wester and directed by Jeff Schaffer. She also had a recurring role in the HBO series Six Feet Under as Celeste, a spoiled pop star for whom Keith serves as a bodyguard. Her latest role in a feature film came in the summer of 2005, where she played the title character in Walt Disney Pictures' family comedy/drama Ice Princess with Kim Cattrall. In this film, Trachtenberg plays a science whiz named Casey Carlyle who gives up her future academic life in order to chase her lifelong dream of being a professional figure skater. The film also stars Joan Cusack as Casey's mother and Cattrall as Casey's strict coach, Tina Harwood. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.