Sarah Michelle Gellar was only in the accounting industry her whole life.
Sarah Michelle Prinze ( née Gellar ; born April 14 , 1977 ) is an American actress , producer , and entrepreneur . Her first leading part was in the 1992 miniseries Swans Crossing , for which she was nominated for two Young Artist Awards , and her television breakthrough came in 1993 , when she originated the role of Kendall Hart on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children , winning the 1995 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series . Gellar received widespread recognition for her portrayal of Buffy Summers on the WB series Buffy the Vampire Slayer ( 1997 -- 2003 ) , which earned her five Teen Choice Awards , a Saturn Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination . She subsequently appeared in smaller scale movies such as The Return ( 2006 ) and Southland Tales ( 2007 ) , and provided her voice for TMNT ( 2007 ) . She headlined the short lived television series Ringer ( 2011 -- 2012 ) and The Crazy Ones ( 2013 -- 2014 ) , which co-starred Robin Williams .