‘Buffy’ and ‘Gossip Girl’ actor Michelle Trachtenberg dies, aged 39

Michelle Trachtenberg, the actor known for her roles in Gossip Girl and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, has died at the age of 39.

The news was reported by the New York Post on Wednesday (February 26), with police confirming she had been found in her New York City apartment. No cause of death has been disclosed.

Trachtenberg gained her major breakthrough as a teenager as Dawn Summers, the younger sister of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy in the cult WB series Buffy The Vampire Slayer. She joined in season five in 2000 and remained on the show until its conclusion with season seven in 2003, with the role earning her a Teen Choice Award nomination in 2001.

She found another wave of adoration later in the 2010s when she portrayed Georgina Sparks on The CW’s teen drama Gossip Girl. Her character was a former friend of Blake Lively’s Serena van der Woodsen and a scheming Manhattan socialite who would routinely find herself clashing with Serena and Leighton Meester’s Blair Waldorf.

Born in New York on October 11, 1985, Trachtenberg was acting from a very young age, picking up work in adverts at the age of three. Her early TV credits included Nickelodeon’s The Adventures Of Pete & Pete and the lead role in the 1996 film Harriet The Spy, the adaptation of the beloved coming-of-age comedy novel.

She went on to star in projects such as 2004 raunchy sex comedy Eurotrip, the 2005 Disney film Ice Princess and the 2009 teen fantasy 17 Again, alongside Zac Efron and the late Matthew Perry.

In more recent years, she made appearances on major TV series including House, NCIS: Los Angeles and Weeds. She also made a notable appearance in the music video for Fall Out Boy’s ‘This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race’ in 2006 and revived her role as Georgina Sparks in the 2022 reboot of Gossip Girl.

ABC News have reported that Trachtenberg had recently undergone liver transplant surgery, but it is unknown if that is connected to her death.

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