Former child star and beloved millennial actor Michelle Trachtenberg, best known for her work on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Gossip Girl,” was found dead at her New York City home, police said Wednesday.
She was 39.
Police responded to a 911 call shortly after 8 a.m. at 1 Columbus Place, where “officers observed a 39-year-old female unconscious and unresponsive,” according to an NYPD statement.
Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. There is no foul play suspected and the New York Medical Examiner is investigating the cause of death, police said.
Trachtenberg appeared in 66 episodes of “Buffy” playing Dawn Summers, the younger sister of the title character played by Sarah Michelle Gellar between 2000 and 2003.
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Trachtenberg said she was always grateful for that role, writing to Gellar via social media in 2019: “You slayed too much to ever be anyone but Buffy. I’m happy to have been the chosen sister to your iconic role.”
The actor was also a fan favorite on 28 episodes of “Gossip Girl,” between 2008 and 2012, playing Georgina Sparks, a complicated frenemy to virtually all the show’s characters.
The conniving, manipulative Sparks stood in stark contrast to the role many younger millennials and older Gen Z movie fans know Trachtenberg for, from the 2005 movie “Ice Princess.”
In that teen classic, Trachtenberg played likable math prodigy Casey Carlyle, who uses her smarts to become an aspiring figure skater.
But her first big break into Hollywood came in 1996, starring in the big screen adaptation of “Harriet the Spy.”
Trachtenberg took to social media in recent months to tell fans she was OK despite concerns that she appeared frail.
She sarcastically responded to one commenter: “Did you lose a calendar and not realize I’m not 14. I’m 38.”
Rebecca Cohen and Matt Lavietes contributed.
