Celeb Spotlight - Celeb Central - Entertainment

Celeb Spotlight - Celeb Central - Entertainment - Alloy

Sarah Michelle

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She slayed vampires for eight years on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she knows Tae Kwon Do, kickboxing, boxing and street fighting, and she can solve any mystery as long as she's got her pal Scooby by her side -- Sarah Michelle Gellar is one girl you don't want to mess with! So when she took a job inside a haunted Japanese house for her newest flick, The Grudge, SMG wasn't about to shy away from any spooky noises. We, on the other hand, wanted to crawl under our seats as we watched her defy danger on the big screen. The movie's gonna give you nightmares for months, but we're happy to say, when we met SMG the other day, she seemed totally unscathed. She told us everything, including what makes her heart pound -- 'cause even vampire slayers can get scared ... sometimes. By Sara Stillman

Birth Name: Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Nickname: Sassy.

Height: 5'3''.

Her Happy Hubby: SMG has been married to Freddie Prinze Jr. since September, 2002. They starred together in Scooby Doo and it's sequel.

Kiss 'n Tell: She kissed Selma Blair in Cruel Intentions and says that there was a "saliva trail!"

What Kind of Home Remedy is This?: While she was filming The Grudge, the freezing cold water gave her huge welts on her legs! Benadryl's not available in Tokyo so to make the swelling go down, they told her to wrap big garbage bags around her legs.

Permanent Marks: SMG has a bunch of tattoos: A Celtic symbol on her left hip; The Chinese symbol for integrity on her lower back; A heart and dagger on the inside of her right ankle.

Quite a Class Act: She went to high school with Tara Reid and Macaulay Culkin.

Fries With That?: When she was younger, she couldn't enter a McDonalds unless she was in disguise, because of truth in advertising -- she had done a commercial for the competition where she said "I only eat at Burger King!"

What made you choose to do this movie
When I left [Buffy the Vampire Slayer] it was the first time I could make my own decisions based on what I felt, not on a time schedule. The opportunity for me to travel abroad for three months, to be in Japan, to actually live there -- not just visit on a press tour -- and it was the first time that a Japanese film had been remade for an English speaking audience with the original Japanese director. You don't pass on that.

You kick butt in all your movies and in BTVS, but is there anything you're afraid of in real life?
I'm not really a fearful person. I like challenge; I look forward to it. But I don't like rats. I don't like roaches -- I don't like most things that New York City girls are afraid of. But I don't mind spiders or snakes.

What is it that draws you to horror films?
You know, women [still] can't open a comedy like Jim Carrey can. Women can't open a action film the way Tom Cruise can. But with this genre, women really shine. I think some actors can just be the girlfriend or the wife in a film, but I don't know, I think I would be so bored -- I'd go crazy!

How did being a TV icon affect your life?
I had a very normal upbringing, even though I was working. I don't know how these young girls, who have so much success before they're 18, do it now. You're just under a microscope. It's really difficult to win -- those are such difficult years. You�re still figuring yourself out and at the same time, everyone's watching you and judging you.

What kind of movies do you like to watch?
I like things that are innovative. I like things that are different. I like things that you haven't seen before. I like weird. I'm not a slapstick girl. I like Napoleon Dynamite and Donnie Darko. I like movies that sometime people hate, sometimes people love, but you still talk about it. To me, that's what movies are supposed to be. You know what I hate? When you go to a movie and you're like, 'Oh, that's good' and that's the end of it. I don't care if you talk about how much you hate it, at least it affected you in some way.

Catch Sara Michelle Gellar in The Grudge, in theaters October 22, 2004.