Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gossip Girl Star Michelle Trachtenberg Passes Away

Michelle Trachtenberg, who stared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gossip Girl, and Harriet The Spy, has passed away. Deadlinr reports that Trachtenberg died on Wednesday at her apartment in New York City. While specifics around her passing have not been revealed, the report cites police sources as saying that Trachtenberg may have been experiencing complications from a liver transplant and that she is believed to have died of natural causes. She was 39 years old.

Trachtenberg will perhaps be best known to fans as Dawn, the little sister of the titular character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While that role was her big break, the actress worked extensively from a young age and transitioned from commercials into film and television roles. Born in New York City, Trachtenberg had her first television appearance in a detergent ad at the age of three and starred in over 100 commercials. Her first credited television role was in The Adventures of Pete & Pete, where she played Nona F. Mecklenberg from 1994 through 1996. She also played Lily Montgomery on All My Children, the same soap opera that featured her eventual TV big sister Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Trachtenberg starred in Harriet The Spy, her first leading film role, in 1996 and followed that up with the role of Penny in the Inspector Gadget film as well as Can’t Be Heaven, both of which released in 1999. It was soon after that she was cast as Dawn, Buffy’s sister created out of an extradimensional “key” in the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She played the role through the rest of the show’s run until 2003.

Following her time on Buffy, Trachtenberg starred in the comedy Eurotrip and the Gregg Araki-directed drama Mysterious Skin in 2004, and then Ice Princess in 2005. She played one of the sorority girls in the 2006 Black Christmas remake, voiced Tika Waylan in the animated Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight film, and had roles in the 2009 Zac Efron comedy 17 Again and Kevin Smith’s 2010 comedy Cop Out.

She also continued working regularly on TV with roles in Mercy, Weeds, and Gossip Girl, where she played Georgina Sparks (and reprised the role in the HBO revival), along with a variety of guest appearances on other shows. Her final role was a voice role in the 2024 documentary Spyral.

On behalf of 411, our condolences to the family, friends and fans of Ms. Trachtenberg. She will be missed.