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Michelle Trachtenberg
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| Michelle Trachtenberg | |
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 Michelle Trachtenberg, 2008 |
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| Born | Michelle Christine Trachtenberg October 11, 1985 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1991 – present |
Michelle Christine Trachtenberg (born October 11, 1985) is a Daytime Emmy and Saturn Award nominated American television and film actress. She is perhaps best known for playing Dawn Summers in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the show's final three seasons, Penny in the 1999 film adaption of Inspector Gadget, and Harriet M. Welch in Harriet the Spy. Trachtenberg also played Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl, and she has recently appeared in the movie 17 Again, as Maggie. She is currently one of the stars in the fall 2009 NBC drama Mercy.
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Early life
Trachtenberg was born in New York City, the younger of two daughters of Lana, a bank manager, and Michael Trachtenberg, a fiber-optics engineer.1 Her father is from Germany and her mother was born in Russia; Trachtenberg can speak Russian fluently.234 Her family is Jewish and Trachtenberg celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah;567 her grandparents live in Israel.8 Trachtenberg was raised, along with older sister Irene, in Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, where she attended P.S. 99 Elementary School and The Bay Academy for the Arts And Sciences Junior High School.9 She later attended Notre Dame with Katharine McPhee, Rachel Bilson, and Kirsten Dunst.
Career
Trachtenberg made her first television appearance at the age of three, in a commercial for Wisk Detergent.10 She went on to feature in over 100 more commercials.10 She appeared in her first credited role as Nona F. Mecklenberg in The Adventures of Pete & Pete from 1994 until 1996. During the same period she played Lily Montgomery in All My Children,11 in which she first worked with future Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar.7
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. She also hosted Truth or Scare from 2001 to 2003. After Buffy and Truth or Scare, she returned to film in the comedy movie EuroTrip, co-starring Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts 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 Charles served as a bodyguard.
In March 2005, Trachtenberg played the title character in Walt Disney Pictures' family comedy–drama Ice Princess with Kim Cattrall. In the film, Trachtenberg played a science whiz named Casey Carlyle who gives up her future academic life in order to pursue her newfound dream of being a professional figure skater.
In April 2006 Trachtenberg guest-starred in the episode of House, M.D., "Safe". She revealed on the December 22, 2006, episode of Late Night With Conan O'Brien that House is her favorite show, she is friends with one of the producers and she asked to be a guest star. Trachtenberg also said she has a crush on Hugh Laurie, and during the scene in the elevator in which House searches her genital area for a tick, Trachtenberg said she played a joke on Laurie by putting a note between her legs that read "I ♥ You".
In November 2006, Trachtenberg guest-starred in the sixth season of the Emmy-nominated crime drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In the episode "Weeping Willow", she played the role of Willow, a kidnapped video blogger based on lonelygirl15. Trachtenberg also made a cameo in the Fall Out Boy music video for "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" (with Buffy the Vampire Slayer costar Seth Green), Joaquin Phoenix-directed video "Tired of Being Sorry" for Balthazar Getty's band Ringside, and Trapt's video "Echo". In 2007, she was cast as the female lead in an ABC comedy pilot called The Hill, set in Washington, D.C.12 Trachtenberg provided the voice of Tika Waylan for Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, a direct-to-video animated movie based on the novel of the same name.13
Trachtenberg appeared on the CW hit show Gossip Girl as Georgina Sparks, who recently left rehab and brings back the dark past Serena van der Woodsen desperately wants to leave behind.14 She returned to the show for a multi-episode story arc towards the end of the second season.15 Trachtenberg will be appearing in at least three episodes of the third season16 Beginning in fall 2009, Trachtenberg is a cast member on the NBC drama Mercy.
Trachtenberg appeared in the 2009 movie 17 Again alongside Zac Efron, Sterling Knight and Matthew Perry.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Melissa | Lena | uncredited |
| 1996 | Harriet the Spy | Harriet M. Welsch | |
| 1996 | Christmas in My Hometown | Noelle Murphy | a.k.a. A Holiday for Love |
| 1998 | Richie Rich's Christmas Wish | Gloria | |
| 1999 | Inspector Gadget | Penny | |
| 2000 | A Father's Choice | Kelly McClain | |
| Can't Be Heaven | Julie | ||
| 2004 | EuroTrip | Jenny | |
| Mysterious Skin | Wendy | ||
| 2005 | Ice Princess | Casey Carlyle | |
| The Dive from Clausen's Pier | Carrie Beal | ||
| 2006 | Beautiful Ohio | Sandra | |
| Black Christmas | Melissa | ||
| 2007 | The Hill | Maggie Rogers | |
| 2008 | Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight | Tika | voice-only |
| The Circuit | Kylie Shines | ||
| 2009 | 17 Again | Maggie O'Donnell | |
| Young Americans | Kitchelle Storms | ||
| Against the Current | Suzanne | ||
| 2010 | A Couple of Dicks |
Television
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Clarissa Explains It All | Elsie Soaperstein | |
| 1993–1996 | All My Children | Lily Benton Montgomery #1 | |
| 1994–1996 | The Adventures of Pete & Pete | Nona F. Mecklenberg | recurring season 2, regular season 3. |
| 1996 | Dave's World | Angela | |
| Space Cases | Prankster #1 | ||
| 1997 | Meego | Maggie Parker | |
| 1998 | Guys Like Us | Katie | |
| 2000–2003 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Dawn Summers | 66 episodes |
| 2001–2003 | Truth or Scare | Herself | |
| 2004 | Best Week Ever | ||
| Six Feet Under | Celeste | 4 episodes | |
| 2006 | House M.D. | Melinda Bardach | Episode "Safe" |
| Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Lisa Willow Tyler | Episode "Weeping Willow" | |
| 2006–2007 | Robot Chicken | Dina Lohan/Woman/Wife/Cleaning Woman/Woman/Mugging Victim/Gummi-Bear | voice-only |
| 2008–2009 | Gossip Girl | Georgina Sparks | recurring; Season 1-3 (10 episodes) |
| 2009-present | Mercy | Chloe Payne | |
| The Super Hero Squad Show | Valkyrie | voice only |
References
- ^ Michelle Trachtenberg Biography (1985-)
- ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/entertainment/2004/02/25/2004-02-25__buffy_s__sis_on_trach.html
- ^ Michael J. Lee (2005-05-24). "Michelle Trachtenberg: Interview". radiofree.com. http://www.radiofree.com/profiles/michelle_trachtenberg/interview02.shtml. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
- ^ Michelle on Jimmy Kimmel
- ^ Stated on Chelsea Lately, May 7, 2009; can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKS7Ml-BWpI&feature=related
- ^ Chesterton, Lucy (2008-06-22). "SPOTLIGHT - Michelle Trachtenberg". Sunday Telegraph.
- ^ a b Kelly White (December 2000). "Under Michelle's spell". Girls' Life. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0IBX/is_3_7/ai_67718265/pg_2. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
- ^ "Interview with James Marsters and Michelle Trachtenberg". contactmusic.com. http://www.contactmusic.com/new/home.nsf/webpages/buffy4x01x04x04. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
- ^ Butler, Karen. "ON ’ICE’: Sheepshead Bay native talks of tough workouts for lead in ’Ice Princess’", The Brooklyn Paper, March 19, 2005. Accessed November 16, 2009. "When Michelle Trachtenberg was a young girl growing up in Sheepshead Bay, she dreamed of being a championship ice skater like her childhood idols, Michelle Kwan and Oksana Baiul."
- ^ a b Koltow, Barry (1996-07-11). "DEFINING WHERE `HARRIET' ENDS, MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG BEGINS". Los Angeles Daily News. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/DEFINING+WHERE+%60HARRIET'+ENDS,+MICHELLE+TRACHTENBERG+BEGINS.-a083952945. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
- ^ "Find And Fight For Your Dream". CBS News. 2005-03-18. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/18/earlyshow/leisure/celebspot/main681555.shtml. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
- ^ "Trachtenberg goes to Washington in ABC comedy". Reuters. 2007-03-08. http://www.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUSN0726414620070308. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
- ^ Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Gossip Girl casts Buffy alumna Michelle Trachtenberg - Ausiello Report | TVGuide.com
- ^ Michelle Trachtenberg to Return to Gossip Girl People.com, January 5, 2009
- ^ [1] E!Online, May 18, 2009
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Michelle Trachtenberg |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Michelle Trachtenberg |
- Michelle Trachtenberg at the Internet Movie Database
- Michelle Trachtenberg at TV.com
- Michelle Trachtenberg at MySpace
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