Biography
Date of Birth
11 December 1985, New York City, New York, USA
Birth Name
Michelle Christine Trachtenberg
Height
5' 7½" (1.71 m)
Mini Biography
Trachtenberg grew up in Brooklyn and started her acting career young; she began appearing in commercials at the age of 3.
She continued to act and dance through her school years, making regular television appearances from the age of 10. She landed a recurring role in the kids' TV show The Adventures of Pete & Pete (1992) and starred in Harriet the Spy (1996), but it was her role as Buffy's sister Dawn from the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) that really brought her to worldwide attention, and all before she was 18 years old.
More high profile TV and movie work followed.
Trivia
She worked with Sarah Michelle Gellar on the long-running All My Children (1970) in the mid-'90s before Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) and they were good friends. Sarah was the one who recommended Michelle for the part of "Dawn".
Said the last line ever in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) series.
She helped President Bill Clinton launch The Coalition for a Drug Free America campaign.
Attended Notre Dame High School. She graduated with awards in Social Studies and Religion and was also named under the California Scholarship Federation.
Attended Bay Academy Junior High School in Brooklyn, New York.
Speaks Russian.
Was able to sneak a souvenir--a wooden stake--from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) set when the show ended.
Studied ballet as a child, which helped her perfect her skating abilities for Ice Princess (2005).
Is of German and Russian Jewish descent.
Participated in the golf tournament in Jamaica hosted by Carmen Electra.
Hobbies include swimming, ice skating, and writing poems.
Attended Isaac Asimov Public School 99 for elementary school.
Spent the summer of 2005 as a non-paid apprentice at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts.
Has separately played the daughter of both actors who played the young married couple Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo Wilder in Little House on the Prairie (1974). She played Melissa Gilbert's daughter in A Holiday for Love (1996) and played Dean Butler's daughter in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997).
Was submitted for Emmy consideration for her guest-starring role on House M.D. (2004).
Her grandparents live in Israel.
Ranked #86 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2007 list.
Also attended PS 188 throughout kindergarten. Was in the Gifted and Talented program where her teacher was Mrs. Gomez.
Voted #27 on the 2011 Maxim "Hot 100" list.
Good friends with fellow Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) star, Seth Green.
Grew up in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
Was a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) long before being cast as "Dawn Summers".
In 2012 she did a public service announcement against bullying. It was done in conjunction with the release of the film, Bully (2011).
She was the first choice of Catherine Hardwicke (director of Twilight (2008)) to play the role of "Bella Swan". However, she wasn't able to take the role due to scheduling conflicts.
Michelle was in a Kohl's commercial with Hilary Duff.
Michelle collects Barbies and has over 50 of them.
Played the main female role in U.S. band Trapt's "Echo" music video clip in 2004.
Filming Black Christmas (2006), in Vancouver, Canada. [February 2006]
Filming the Disney movie Ice Princess (2005) in Toronto, Canada. [April 2004]
Trademarks:
Pale skin
Ice blue eyes.
Quotes
[on being involved in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) spin-off] I didn't see myself continuing as Dawn because I like to have diversity in my roles. A lot of people are like, "Oh my God! Little Dawn grew up!" And as much as I love you guys, suck it up.
[on why she chose not to continue her role as Dawn Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)] I felt like every year, my character got younger as I got older. The scripts even had me speaking grammatically incorrectly. So I had to do something else. Besides, the show is over. If you miss it, get the DVDs.
[on the future of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)] I'm sure that in some way, shape or form, "Buffy" will be continued or the story, through the fans, because we do have such devoted fans and that's always been very sweet.
My confidence comes from me, Michelle, as a person. I don't necessarily believe that I will act and be a lead forever, but I want to continue to act for a long time. I love to do what I do.
[what her dream job would be] A fashion editor at "Vogue", that would be awesome.
Anything you throw at me, I'll try to tackle.
I adore London and Paris, and I hope to live in London for a period of time when I'm older.
I love tennis. I tried gymnastics at one point, but my tush got a whole lot of black and blue so that wasn't fun.
[what she does to "instantly feel sexy"] Show off my décolletage.
[her favorite designers] I love Rag & Bone. They're pretty fantastic. Marc Jacobs has been a friend of mine for years, and I adore him. I like Chloe. I like a lot of younger designers.
[asked if she had any "red-carpet" regrets] I think I did a head-to-toe leopard ensemble once, when I was 10. I think animal print should be taken in moderation. A shoe or a scarf is fine.
[asked if it's easier to be unrecognized in New York City] I think it's much harder in New York. There are paparazzi on bicycles, which is a new thing. You can't really speed away in your car. Especially with Gossip Girl (2007) being such a New York-based show, it's harder. I tried my hand at going to Bed, Bath & Beyond the other day, which I love, and that was a little bit of a catastrophe. I caused a little bit of a scene. That would be the only time that I'm a little shy.
[her favorite places in New York city] I'm a downtown girl. I would love to give you restaurants, but then you'd know about them and we couldn't go there anymore. Leighton Meester and I like to go to hole-in-the-walls that no one would ever expect us to go to, and no one cares that we're in there. We do that often.
{asked if life is like Gossip Girl (2007)] I think life is like high school. I don't necessarily know that it pertains to "Gossip Girl" because that is obviously an extreme fabrication of the most glorious life. But I do think that life, in general, is definitely like high school and you never get out of it. You just have to stay strong.
[how to deal with embarrassment] . . . laughter is the best thing. It's not about seeking revenge on that person. It's not letting them get away with it and not letting them get their high off of seeing you miserable. Laugh with them.
[how she deals with stress] I'm the last person to ask about dealing with stress. I'm always the biggest stress ball. But I don't stop moving and I never let my Blackberry leave my hand, so I'm getting a lot of thumb exercise. It's great.
[the differences between the character Dawn on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) and the character Chloe on Mercy (2009) and on playing young and/or naive characters] I've been drinking from the fountain of youth, so my face remains the same. Actually, one of our very first days of shooting, Gail Berman, who I have known for almost 10 years now, from [Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)], said that if we put a split screen of my face from the first episode of "Buffy" up next to the "Mercy" pilot, it's the same. I might have just gotten paler. I don't go out in the sun . . . I think there's a huge difference between the two characters, in the sense that Chloe is an adult. She's not a child, by any means. She went through nursing school. She has her masters degree. She has all of the credentials. She is a nurse and an adult, in every sense of those words. For me, I'm not shy or quiet. It's interesting for me to play someone who is such the opposite from myself because it's more challenging to keep that realistic . . . I also think that so many young women in the world are scared of the circumstances that they're in and are very insecure about different experiences that they may have, and I love being that character for women to say, "Yes, Chloe is scared. She's worried that she is literally going to kill someone, but there's optimism there. She can do it. So, I don't think of her as a child, or as annoying or whiny. I think she's just open to the world and looking to her colleagues to steer her. She has such great respect and admiration because they know what they're doing. So, between the three of us and the different personalities that we have, we're going to cater to every single woman watching the show, or that's what we hope.
[on her character "Georgina Sparks" on Gossip Girl (2007)] It's super fun to play the bad girl. I love bringing out the inner nasty . . . Every woman secretly has an inner bitch deep down inside--including myself. But with the scenarios that Georgina is in and the lines from the script, the evil naturally comes out and flows really well for me . . . I don't take the nastiness off-set, but sometimes when the paparazzi get in my face, Georgina comes out.
