Click Here

Michelle Trachtenberg

Person Score

 
9.0 Superb
427 votes

Your Score

Michelle Trachtenberg Picture

Biography

Recent Role:
Georgina Sparks / Gossip Girl on Gossip Girl
Gender:
Female
Born:
10-11-1985
Birthplace:
New York, New York, USA
Birth Name:
Michelle Christine Trachtenberg
AKA:
Michelle Trachenberg, Michele Tractenburg

Michelle has been acting since she was very young and is perhaps best known for playing the role of Dawn in the TV seriesBuffy the Vampire Slayer.

For several years, Trachtenberg has been an active spokesperson for Recording Artists, Athletes, and Actors Against Drunk Driving (RADD), Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), The Starlight Foundation and many other causes. Her contributions to the fight against drugs earned her the prestigious responsibility of representing the

More youth of America at CNN's headquarters in Atlanta, where she helped President Clinton launch "The Coalition for a Drug Free America" campaign.

In her spare time, Trachtenberg enjoys yoga, swimming, bicycling, ice-skating, crafts, writing short stories and spending time with her family and friends and her two cats.


After the end of Buffy, Michelle continued to act in films and tv. Her greatest success since that time has been the Disney filmIce Princess (2005) and a role on the seriesGossip Girl.

From the Forums

More Topics
More Topics

Michelle Trachtenberg News

More
  •  
    10 Perfect
    She is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hide show

    Michelle Trachtenberg (who has the hardest last name to spell which I will mention later in the review) is one of my favourite actresses who is young, or was when she was in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Michelle in Buffy has such enthusiasm that if you didn't find her cute and loveable then you have no heart at all! She is so sweet and looks very fragile in Season 5. But as the seasons get further we realise that Michelle (Dawn) is much stronger than we anticipated. Especially in season 7 when she thinks that she is a Potential and attempts to fight off a vampire all by herself.

    Michelle also starred as Penny in Inspector Gadget, the loveable neice of Inspector Gadget. This wasn't her best acting role but without her as Penny it would be a little bit boring and people would miss the enthusiasm (which I mentioned in the Buffy paragraph.)

    Truth Or Scare, another thing that she was apart of, was a TV programme that I only saw one episode of but one of my friends said that Michelle was creepy, which added to the creepiness of the series. I also saw her on the cover of the Eurotrip DVD, I haven't seem the film but because I'm only 12 I don't think I'll be watching it any time soon. In the film she plays fraternity twin Jenny, who is the twin sister of Jamie.

    Michelle was the star in disney film, the Ice Princess, which is about ice-skating (which I like.) The film is about science whiz Casey who gives up her future academic to fulfill her life long dream of becoming a professional figure skater. In November of 2006 she starred in the sixth season of the Emmy-nominated crime drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent in the episode "Weeping Willow." She played the character of Willow, a kidnapped video blogger based on lonelygirl15. It's not just TV programmes and films that Michelle has starred in, she was in the music video for Fall Out Boy's song "This Ain't A Scheme, It's An Arms Race" along with Buffy The Vampire Slayer co-star Seth Green. Michelle was the voice of Tika Waylan in the animated film Dragonlace: Dragons of Autumn Twilight.

    The film 17 Again, which has just came out in the UK, has Michelle in it as daughter Maggie O'Donnel. I have seen adverts for this film and it looks quite good. I mentioned at the beginning of this review that Michelle has one of the hardest last names to spell, I'm not even sure if I have it right now but I think it's spelt Trachtenburg, gosh that name is worse to spell than Agyness Dean! (Did I get Agyness Dean right?)

    Do you agree?
     
    Report Abuse
  •  
    9.1 Superb
    I didn't watch Buffy but I did watch Ice Princess. hide show

    Most people know her from the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer which I never ever saw and never will because it's creepy. Michelle Trachtenburg isn't the worst actor but she isn't the worst either. I think that she plays the same type of charachter way to much and is over rated on her looks. She always plays the girl who rather weird or is into a type of sport and people don't believe in her and then she over comes it with a help of some handsome guy. I like her but I don't think her career is going to last that long.

    Do you agree?
     
    Report Abuse
  •  
    10 Perfect
    She played Dawn on Buffy. hide show

    I know a lot of people hate on her character on Buffy, but I really liked Dawn and I think that she played the spoiled childish role of Dawn as well as possible. She also gave depth to the character during a lot of the episodes during the fifth season. Because of her young looks I feel like she is often put in roles like the one in Ice Princess that don't push her as far as she is capable of going. With that in mind we all remember her from Harriet the Spy which was a classic from the youth. To see her moving on now to more mature roles like in The Dive from Clausen's Pier and her new character on Gossip Girl is great.
    She is also very pretty and I love her look. I hope to see her in a lot of things in the future.

    Do you agree?
     
    Report Abuse
  •  
    1 Abysmal
    Michelle Trachtenberg is a talentless, brainless, hopeless brat with nothing to offer humanity. hide show

    Here's how I'll preface this: I'm going to skewer this loser based on the retinal cancer I have developed from her stint on 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer'. I love that darn show. It's like an old love I sit down to catch up with every couple of years and re-discover what made me fall head over heels in the first place. The storytelling is engaging and brilliant and the cast is superb.

    When peeps ask me how I rate the Buffy Universe, I always say Season Two is the best followed by Season Five. Don't get me wrong, Season One, Three and Four are all fantastic journeys, but Two and Five just have so much at stake that the arc becomes irresistible. Now, at the conclusion of the Season opener for Five, we catch a glimpse of a little brown-haired tween in Buffy's bedroom who surprisingly turns out to be her sister, Dawn... a sister we never knew existed. I found this turn of events to be brilliant on the part of Whedon and company. What a wonderfully clever way to inject some new life into the series (though I never felt the life was faltering--but ratings showed otherwise). I never felt cheated, I never felt frustrated that it took a number of episodes to actually address why Dawn even existed on the show. ***Sidenote*** Dawn turns out to be a mystical energy that could destroy the fabrics of reality... and to hide the energy, some crusty monks made it into Michelle Trachtenberg. Here's where I have a problem. I love the idea, but I *Hate* the actress. I will never understand some folks' obsession with Michelle. After reading a few entries and checking out some Google searches I've found that a lot of dudes just want to do her (which I also don't get), and every woman who talks her up is under the age of 15. There is no excuse for her inability to act. Nothing will convince me that she's worthy of being a Hollywood actress. The only other onscreen stuff I've seen her in was a coathanger abortion called 'Black Christmas'. I hated her in that too, but was elated when she met a gruesome death. BTW: See the original film. It doesn't have Trachtenberg, and won't make you want to blow up your DVD player.

    But back to the Dawn-ster. Look, supporters of this character will say MT embodies the awkward, innocent, annoyingness of a teen. I get angst. I was a teenager, I grew up with two little brothers who became teenagers before my very eyes, but never did I want to sell their internal organs on the black market for gas money. Yes, Michelle poorly acts her way through semi-capturing a brat in their early teens... but what she also does in the process is act-out a character that you grow to absolutely loathe every time she's onscreen. It is possible to draw-out a chracter that has a lot of angst, pain, and confusion, but also keep them interesting and likeable. See: River Tam in 'Firefly' (and countless other films and shows).

    It all comes down to M.T. not being able to pull off any scene she's in *ever*. She's horrible. She's predictable. Her cry-baby demeanor is repulsive enough to make you crawl out of your skin and flush yourself down a toilet for sanctuary. I will say that she did coin one of the most unintentionally hilarious catchphrases in television history: "Get out! Get Out! Get Out!" Believe me when I say these words come out of her mouth at least four times in three seasons of television. Horrifying and excruciatingly hilarious at the same time.

    Recently I convinced my girlfriend to sit down and absorb seven seasons of 'Buffy' and five of 'Angel'. Granted, she loved it and is a Whedon-lifer now, but she almost lost it when Michelle Trachtenberg entered the fray. She really brings down the whole cast and show as a whole, and it's a shame. I find Season Seven to be 60% unwatchable already, but Trachtenberg almost managed to sink the entire ship all on her lack of acting chops. Stop denying it, folks. This actress is worthless.

    Do you agree?
     
    Report Abuse
  •  
    10 Perfect
    I am her biggest fan ever!!!! hide show

    I am Michelles biggest fan, I have never met anyone or seen anyone who is a bigger fan. She is so talented, I love her in Buffy, but move on she can do bigger and better things. Mitchy is growing up and you just got to face it that she was a little girl on buffy, but shes older (and may I say hot) and I respect her decisions, I havent seen one movie that shes been in that I didn't like, She is the best! Michelle don't ever change!

    HAPPY 22 MICHELLE 10/10/07 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    visit my fansite for her at www.michelletrachtenberg.wetpaint.com

    Do you agree?
     
    Report Abuse
 
Click Here

Top Contributors

What is a TV.com Contributor?