Michelle Trachtenberg, star of ‘Buffy’ and ‘Gossip Girl,’ dies at 39

Michelle Trachtenberg, best known for her roles in Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has died at the age of 39.

According to police sources speaking to the New York Post, which first reported the tragic news, as well as ABC News, Trachtenberg’s death is not being treated as suspicious.

Police responded to a 999 call shortly after 8 a.m. on Wednesday at a luxury residential tower in the Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood. Officers arrived to find a 39-year-old woman unconscious and unresponsive, according to a statement from the NYPD.

Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. No foul play is suspected, and the New York Medical Examiner is investigating the cause of death. A cause has not yet been determined, and representatives for Trachtenberg did not respond to requests for comment from the Associated Press.

Sources indicate she had recently undergone a liver transplant and may have been experiencing complications.

Trachtenberg’s acting career began at the age of eight when she played Nona Mecklenberg on Nickelodeon’s The Adventures of Pete & Pete from 1994 to 1996. She later starred in the title roles of Harriet the Spy and Inspector Gadget, opposite Matthew Broderick.

“Michelle comes across as genuine because she truly is a genuine kid. Everyone can relate to her,” said Debby Beece, president of Nickelodeon Movies, in 1996.

In 2000, Trachtenberg joined the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, portraying Dawn Summers, the younger sister of the title character played by Sarah Michelle Gellar. She remained on the show until 2003.

In 2021, Trachtenberg expressed her gratitude to Gellar for speaking out against Buffy showrunner Joss Whedon following allegations of misconduct. “I am brave enough now as a 35-year-old woman to repost this,” she wrote on social media, referring to what she described as “his not appropriate behaviour” during her time as a teenage actor.

In 2001, Trachtenberg received a Daytime Emmy nomination for hosting Discovery’s Truth or Scare. She later took on recurring roles in Six Feet Under, Weeds, and Gossip Girl, where she played the gang’s scheming nemesis, Georgina Sparks.

Further cementing her status in millennial pop culture, Trachtenberg made a cameo in Fall Out Boy’s music video for This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race, appearing alongside Seth Green.

Her other notable credits included Ice Princess (2005), in which she portrayed a maths prodigy and aspiring figure skater, and the 2004 teen comedy EuroTrip. In 2009, she co-starred with Zac Efron and Leslie Mann in 17 Again.

In Killing Kennedy (2013), Trachtenberg played Marina Oswald, the wife of Lee Harvey Oswald, delivering around 80 per cent of her dialogue in Russian—a language she had learned from her mother as a child.

Her film credits also included supporting roles in Mysterious Skin (2004) and Black Christmas (2006). On television, she starred in NBC’s medical drama Mercy (2009–2010) alongside Taylor Schilling. More recently, she hosted the true-crime docuseries Meet, Marry, Murder on Tubi.

As of this writing, no memorial or funeral plans have been announced.