Michelle Trachtenberg

Michelle Christine Trachtenberg (born October 11, 1985) is an American actress.

Early Life
Trachtenberg was born in New York City, the younger of two daughters of Lana, a bank manager, and Michael Trachtenberg, a fiber optics engineer. Her father is from Germany and her mother was born in Russia; Michelle can speak Russian fluently. Michelle is of Jewish heritage, and celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah; her grandparents live in Israel. Michelle was raised, along with her older sister Irene, in Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, where she attended P.S. 99 Elementary School and The Bay Academy for the Arts and Sciences.

Career
Michelle made her first television appearance at the age of three, in a commercial for Wisk Detergent. She went on to feature in over one hundred more commercials. She appeared in her first credited role as Nona F. Mecklenberg in The Adventures of Pete & Pete from 1994 until 1996. During the same period she played Lily Montgomery in All My Children, in which she first worked with future Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Michelle's film career began in 1996 with the lead role in Harriet the Spy. During this time, she had a recurring role in season 2 of The Adventures of Pete & Pete, which later she became a regular. She then returned to television for Meego, for which she won a Young Artist Award. She returned to film in 1999 for Inspector Gadget, as the gadget master's niece, Penny. She also starred in the film Can't Be Heaven. In the summer of 2000, Trachtenberg took up the role of Dawn Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She remained in the role until the show ended in 2003. She also hosted the Discovery Kids series Truth of Scare from 2001 to 2003. After Buffy and Truth of Scare, she returned to film in the comedy film EuroTrip, co-starring Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts and Travis Wester, and directed by Jeff Schaffer. She also had a recurring role in the HBO series Six Feet Under as Celeste, a spoiled pop star for whom Keith Charles served as a bodyguard.

In March 2005, Michelle played the title character in Walt Disney Pictures' family comedy drama Ice Princess with Kim Cattrall, Joan Cusack and Hayden Panettiere. In the film, Trachtenberg played a science whiz named Casey Carlyle who gives up her future academic life in order to pursue her newfound dream of being a professional figure skater.

In April 2006 Trachtenberg guest starred in the episode of House, M.D., Safe. She revealed on the December 22, 2006, episode of Late Night With Conan O'Brien that House is her favourite show, she is friends with one of the producers and she asked to be a guest star. In November 2006, Trachtenberg guest starred in the sixth season of the Emmy nominated crime drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In the episode, she played the role of Willow, a kidnapped video blogger based on Lonelygirl15. Michelle also made a cameo in the Fall Out Boy music video for "This Ain't A Scene, It's an Arms Race", Joaquin Phoenix- directed video "Tired of Being Sorry" for Balthazar Getty's band Ringside, and Trapt's video Echo. In December 2006, Trachtenberg starred in Black Christmas, the remake of the 1974 slasher of the same name. In 2007, she was cast as the female lead in an ABC comedy pilot called The Hill, set in Washington, D.C. Trachtenberg provided the voice of Tika Waylan for Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, a direct to video animated movie based on the novel of the same name.

Trachtenberg appeared on The CW hit show Gossip Girl as Georgina Sparks, who recently left rehab and brings back the dark past Serena van der Woodsen desperately wants to leave behind. She returned to the show for a multi-episode story arc towards the end of the second season. Trachtenberg appeared in the season 3 finale and the season 4 premiere. In 2009, Trachtenberg was a cast member on the NBC drama Mercy, the series however was not renewed for a second season.

On June 9, 2011, Michelle guest starred on Love Bites as Jodie, who, after being unceremoniously dumped, decides, with a vengeance, to accept her ex's offer to be friends. She reprised the role on June 16, 2011, where Jodie augments her friend Annie's bust with so called chicken cutlets, which later embarassingly slip out. She finally reprised the role on July 21, 2011, in the series finale, where Jodie and her on-again boyfriend are tormented, to the point of homelessness, by bed bugs.

On June 28, 2011, it was announced Trachtenberg would guest star on Weeds during its seventh season. Her character Emma is a rival pot dealer who causes problems for Silas Botwin.

Trachtenberg returned to film with the 2009 picture 17 again alongside Zac Effron, Sterling Knight and Matthew Perry. She also had a small role in the comedy film Cop Out. In March 2011, she was the featured cover girl in Maxim.