Michelle Trachtenberg Biography And Filmography:

A New York born child actor who got her big break in the starring role in the 1996 feature film "Harriet the Spy" (1996) with Rosie O'Donnell. Before her big-screen celebrity career took off, Michelle Trachtenberg had guest appearances in numerous television serials like "Law & Order", "Clarissa Explains It All" and "All My Children" with Susan Lucci, 

Michelle Trachtenberg has been acting since the age of five, when she broke into the business the way so many other child actors do - through television commercials. By the time she was eight, Trachtenberg was appearing regularly on the Nickelodeon television series "The Adventures of Pete & Pete" (1993), a delightfully quirky show that looks at the lives and adventures of two red headed brothers with the same name. In 1998, Trachtenberg had a supporting role in the direct-to-video film "Richie Rich's Christmas Wish" (1998) starring David Gallagher, a story about getting blamed for spoiling Christmas, and the richest kid in the world who wishes he'd never been born.

Trachtenberg's next high-profile role was in the family comedy "Inspector Gadget" (1999) starring Matthew Broderick, a remake of the hit television series; Matthew Broderick stars as Gadget, who suffers an accident at the beginning of the film and befriends Brenda, a robotic surgeon who repairs Gadget so that he can defeat the villain Claw. In the meantime, Gadget and Brenda fall in love.

Her celebrity profile was raised a bit in 2000, when she joined the ensemble cast of the popular cult series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in its last season on The WB (2000-01) playing Sarah Michelle Gellar's character until then unknown sister Dawn. When the series jumped ship to UPN in the fall of 2001, Trachtenberg went along, continuing to help her older sister in the fight against supernatural creatures. 

Next, she appeared in the teen sex comedy adventure “Eurotrip”, where dumped by his girlfriend, a high school grad decides to embark on an overseas adventure in Europe with his friends. Trachtenberg then starred in “Ice Princess” (2005) with Hayden Panettiere,  as a high school student who puts her Harvard ambitions on hold to pursue dreams of becoming a champion ice skater.

Michelle then returned to television in the dramatic "The Dive from Clausen's Pier" (2005) starring Will Estes, and had cameos on "Best Week Ever", "Six Feet Under", "House M.D." with Hugh Laurie, "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "Robot Chicken". Trachtenberg was then hired and cast in a supporting role in the dramatic comedy "Beautiful Ohio" (2006), starring William Hurt and directed by Chad Lowe, a story about a math genius, his relationship with his brother, and how an entire family comes of age during the early 1970s. 

She then co-starred in the horror thriller "Black Christmas" (2006), a remake of the 1974 horror movie "Black Christmas" (1974), about an escaped maniac who returns to his childhood home on Christmas Eve, which is now a sorority house, and begins to murder the sorority sisters one by one.

Michelle Trachtenberg finally got the role that got her the attention of the entire country when she co-starred alongside hip "High School Musical" young celebrity Zac Efron in the comedy "Seventeen Again" (2008), about a guy whose life didn't quite turn out how he wanted it to and wishes he could go back to high school and change it. He wakes up one day and is seventeen again and gets the chance to rewrite his life. Trachtenberg then worked with Kiefer Sutherland and Lucy Lawless in the animated family adventure movie "Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight" (2008), about a barbarian woman with a miraculous healing staff who gains the help of a group of  heroes as an army of dragons invades the land.

Trachtenberg then returned to series television with a four episode deal in "Gossip Girl" (2008), where privileged teenagers attend an elite private school in New York City, and based on the Alloy Entertainment's book series. Next was another television movie with "The Circuit" (2008), about the dynamics between a father and his estranged daughter that spills over to the race track where the two go head-to-head. 

Then it was back to the big-screen in the family comedy "Kids In America" (2008) starring Topher Grace, where we follow an aimless college grad who pursues his dream girl at a wild Labor Day weekend party. He, his twin sister and their best friend struggle with their burgeoning adulthood over the course of the night.

Michelle Trachtenberg was now on the radar screen of every Hollywood producer, as she had matured and grown into more adult roles, and showed she could carry a movie on her own. The actress wrapped her year in the dramatic "Against the Current" (2008) starring Joseph Fiennes, Justin Kirk and Mary Tyler Moore, about the story of a grieving man who sets out to swim the length of the Hudson River.