Wonder Woman of the Week: Sarah Michelle Gellar

My past self would hate me if I did not make one person a WWoW. Growing up, I would often watch TV shows my older siblings watched. I would spend Saturday mornings watching Gargoyles, Batman: The Animated Series, and Pinky and the Brain. There was one show however, that is probably most responsible for making Wonder Woman my favorite superhero. The show featured a powerful woman fighting evil, was written by the most feminist man in Hollywood, and did not end in the death of the heroine (I’m looking at you Xena: Warrior Princess!!!). The Wonder Woman of the Week is Buffy Summers herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Sarah Michelle Gellar was born in 1977 in New York City. She attended school with others who would become big names in 1990’s TV and film- Tara Reid, Jerry O’Connell, etc. She was a competitive figure skater and was even ranked the third best skater in New York State. In 1983, Gellar earned a roll in the TV movie An Invasion of Privacy. Later, she appeared in The Widow Claire, Swans Crossing, and All My Children. Her “potential” however had not yet reached its peak. In 1997, Gellar appeared in the films I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2. The horror genre was calling, and in the same year, Gellar “slay-ed” (Last pun, I swear.) the competition for the role that would define her career. [1]

Working with acclaimed TV and movie director/writer/badass Joss Whedon, Sarah Michelle Gellar completed a total of seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The role defined her career. Her character Buffy was a young woman who uses super-human powers to fight monsters. In 2002, Gellar married Freddie Prinze Jr. In 2004, she returned to the horror genre for The Grudge which earned over $70 million in two weeks. Like in Buffy, Gellar was not the wife or girlfriend, or even the blonde bombshell who dies in the opening scene. She was the lead role. [2] After Gellar and her husband had two kids, the couple retreated to a more private life. Gellar attempted a role with the WB (now CW) once again with Ringer and made guest appearances on the soap opera that helped launch her career before Buffy, but ultimately retreated into her “happily ever after” life with her family. [2]

Sarah Michelle Gellar did not live the controversial life other powerful women often live. She was not faced with seemingly impossible obstacles. Like the Roman hero Cincinnatus, Gellar served at a role model for girls and boys as a hero who fought evil. Like Lynda Carter; Gellar suited up, played a powerful heroine, and inspired millions. I may have watched Animaniacs! and Superman growing up, but it Buffy the Vampire Slayer was my favorite show as a kid. When I think about how Wonder Woman became my favorite superhero, I can only imagine that it all started with Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Sarah Michelle Gellar. (2015). Biography.com. Retrieved 3 June 2015. http://www.biography.com/people/sarah-michelle-gellar-9542504#personal-life

Wang, Julia. Sarah Michelle Gellar. (2015). People.com. Retrieved 3 June 2015. http://www.people.com/people/sarah_michelle_gellar/biography/