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Articles
buffy's fangtastic ride Girlfriend Magazine (Australia) May 2000
Over the past year, Sarah Michelle Gellar has been making her mark on
Maybelline, magazines and the movies. And with her character Buffy now entering college and leaving her Angel past behind, her future's even brighter. Long may she kick butt! By Felicity Percival
Sarah Michelle Gellar once had her heart broken. A tiny tattoo on her ankle symbolises the plain: a dagger hanging over a heart. "I got that after the demise of a relationship, I just wanted to mark it."
Over the past few years, however, Sarah, 23, has been making a mark of a different kind. She is a superstar, and in the last year she has shot to fame for reasons aside from
Buffy. With an advertising campaign for Maybelline, hundreds of websites devoted to her, magazine covers, books, and awards, one would think Sarah immune from suffering from a broken heart. Just look at her life, she could have any guy she wants!
Trying to discover the man who now holds Sarah's heart keeps the gossip columns on fire - Freddie, David, or Jerry? While she has been snapped walking up the red carpet with both Freddie Prinze Jr and Jerry O'Connell, she maintains they are both just friends. She went to high school with Jerry, and is a very good friend of Freddie. Says Sarah: The odds are that you will not see me at one of those events with someone I am romantically interested in, which is why I'll go with Jerry of Freddie."
What about the recent rumours regarding Sarah and David Boreanaz being more than just good friends? It was reported the two former co-stars were doing the couple thang around Hollywood's hippest nightspots, and looking longingly into each other's eyes over tune sandwiches (now that's romantic!). Sarah took no time in slaying this
rumour. In a recent interview with America's TV Guide she laughed off the apparent sightings. "It's a complete fallacy," she said. "I brushed that one off. They probably didn't call me for quotes because [the article] was so horribly inaccurate. It claimed David and I were together at a Christmas party, when he was home in Philadelphia and I was in Australia, and how we were seen eating at health-food restaurants."
David says Sarah is just a very close friend. "She knows all these little things," he says. "She could bend your ear for hours."
Mingling with Hollywood's hottest spunks if nothing new for this blonde-haired beauty. She's been in showbiz for years. At age four she was on the set of her first film An Invasion Of Privacy. By the time she was 12 she was hosting the tv talk show Girl Talk and starring in the off-Broadway show The Widow Claire. At 14 she won the lead in the tv mini series A Woman Named Jackie and by the age of 15 had appeared in over 100 commercials and various other movies and tv shows. At 16, she starred in the successful US soap All My Children, winning an Emmy for her performance by the age of 18. She won the role of Buffy at 19. Her teenage years were behind her and her star was on the rise.
Then came the slasher flicks Scream 2 and I Know What You Did Last Summer, followed by a small appearance in She's All That, the lead role in Simply Irresistible and her portrayal of the sultry and sexy Kathryn in Cruel Intentions.
However, it was Buffy that propelled Sarah to the top. Since 1997, when the show first aired, Buffy Summers has grown from a scream teen to a responsible adult while kicking some serious demon butt! Says Sarah about her character: "She has grown so much, aside from the hair colours [laughs], she's become an adult. You know when she first came she was scared, she didn't think she could handle things, and by the end of the season
last year, she was saying things like, 'I'm Buffy - I can do this, I'm going to save this prom."
Compared to your average 23 year old, Sarah has plenty of responsibility resting on her shoulders, which was highlighted last year by the Columbine High Schooo massacre. In the US, they postponed the Buffy finale because of the tragedy. "I do believe that we do have
responsibilities in entertainment, but I do believe that it is our job also, to entertain," said Sarah, at a recent press conference in America. "And it is not necessarily our responsibility to teach children their lessons. And children need to know right from wrong."
Sarah is strongly opposed to people blaming Buffy for the havoc some teens cause. She says her show should be an inspiration to women rather than a target for criticism. "When Buffy and Angel slept together, there was an uproar because we didn't show condoms on the night table. Oh come on, this is a 16-year-old girl having sex with a 244-year-old vampire! He shoots blanks. Lessons are to be learned from parents and teachers. Not television!"
So who did Sarah learn her lessons from? After her parents divorced when she was young, Sarah was raised by her mother
Rosellen, whom she says is "the most amazing woman that I've ever met and probably will ever meet in my entire life". As for her father, Sarah thinks she may just have been put on the earth via immaculate conception. "You never know. My father, you can just, is not in the picture," she remarks.
While her mum taught her the lessons of life at home, Sarah struggled to fit in at school. "I was the outcast. I was a scholarship kid and I didn't have the clothing, or the houses or any of that stuff."
Life changed with Buffy, however, and Sarah's achievements have been pretty impressive since - not least the recent modelling contract she's scored with
Maybelline. With her flawless fresh face splashed over print adverts and
tv, Sarah's pretty chilled about the whole notion of being Maybelline's new spokeswoman. "It was just such an
honour, because every little girls wants to be a model," she told TV Guide. "I mean, I have a modelling contract! This is sooo surreal to me. I could just imagine what people are thinking: 'Who does this five foot two [158cm] actress thinks she is? She's no model!' "
Valentina Guazzoni,the Vice President/Domestic Management Supervisor for Gotham Inc, the New York advertising agency responsible for choosing Sarah for the Maybelline campaign, told Girlfriend she was looking for someone spunky who young women could relate to.
"I guess we wanted a personality that had a modern, contemporary image particularly among a younger audience, which she is very strong with," says
Valentina. "What drew us to pick her was not only that she was a beautiful woman, but also her personality as
Buffy. She's strong, aggressive, not a pushover. She's not just a pretty face. It's the personality of the character that we associate with Sarah's personality."
Although Sarah has already been signed with Maybelline for a year, it looks like this contract is about to be extended. "We are planning on using her to several brands," says
Valetina. "We have already shot a second commercial with her which is a mascara that has just started airing in the States. She's very pleasant. A very mature girl. She's very driven. Very hard working."
Aside from Maybelline, last year Sarah went to the Domonican Republic to work for Habitat For Humanity, where she helped rebuild homes for the locals. Whether it was pouring concrete or shovelling dry cement, Sarah was not miffed about getting a blister or two. Sarah told America's Teen People magazine that working for Habitat prompted her to re-evaluate certain areas in her own life. "There something nice about the hope that this gives you, the way everyone worked together," she said. "It restores your faith in humanity."
Sarah Michelle Gellar, meanwhile, certainly restores our faith in celebrities. She's a young woman who has followed her dream but still manages to live a normal life - going to the gym four or five times a week, vacationing at Queensland's tropical islands, hanging with her friends, partying (yes, she celebrated the start of the new century in Sydney at the Lord Mayor Frank Sator's Millennium Mask Party), shopping, watching movies and dealing with life and love.
But Sarah remains modest: "Buffy is the role model," says Sarah. "I haven't done anything, in all honesty, except maybe go after my dream."
FROM SOAP STAR TO SLAYER
TV has always been kind to Sarah Michelle Gellar and it looks like the silver screen is too!
1993
Talented as a young teen, Sarah won an Emmy for her role as Kendall Hart in All My Children.
1997
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sarah donned her combat boots in preparation to kick some butt on the tv screen.
1997
I Know What You Did Last Summer: Poor little Helen Shivers met her match with the 'hook' and died a painful death.
1997
Scream 2: Sarah joined Neve Campbell, but couldn't kick enough butt to save herself from the masked killer.
1999
Simply Irresistible: Sugar and spice and all things nice. Amanda cooked up magical meals to attract a babe!
1999
Cruel Intentions: A bitch at her best. As the sexy seductress named Kathryn, Sarah certainly made her mark with the boys!
1999
The Buffy event of the year - Angel leaves the woman he loves. Oh if only this gorgeous couple got married!
2000
Now at college and with a new lurve interest, things are looking up for Buffy in 2000.
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