The Slayer
Just after this award, Sarah left All My Children and headed west to California to star in a TV movie comedy, Beverly Hills Family Robinson.
She finished High School, graduating from the Professional Children's School two years early with a 4.0 grade point average.
In 1996, Sarah Michelle Gellar auditioned for a part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a spin-off TV series from Joss Whedon's original 1992 movie of the same name that starred Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry. She was offered the part of Cordelia. However, afraid of being typecast as the stereotypical bitch after playing the part of Kendal Hart Lang in All My Children for so long she was afraid that if she accepted the part of Cordelia she wouldn't get a chance to do anything else.
Starting to get second thoughts about turning the part down, Sarah was approached again a couple of weeks later. This time to audition for the part of Buffy. The rest, as they say, is history.
Sarah plays the sixteen-year-old Buffy Summers who is a typical teenager High School student by day and a typical vampire slayer by night. From an average movie, the TV show has taken the original concept and raised it to cult status within just one season. The quick wit, action and real-life issues dealt with by the show all go to make up an excellent, high-quality program.
Sarah as Buffy Summers gives teenagers a role model, girls want to be like her or want to be her friend and boys want to date her (what else?!). The show had a fabulous five season run on the WB network, giving a boost in ratings before being sold to Fox's UPN network for seasons 6 and 7.