By Bianca Sierra
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Michelle Christine Trachtenberg (October 11, 1985 – February 26, 2025) was an American actress. After beginning her career in TV commercials at age three, she made her television debut in her first credited role on the Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete & Pete (1994–1996). As a child actress, Trachtenberg starred in multiple Nickelodeon productions. In 1997, she won a Young Artist Award for her performance as Maggie in CBS’s Meego. In her late teens and early 20s, Trachtenberg rose to prominence in the cult classic EuroTrip (2004) and as Georgina Sparks on the CW TV show Gossip Girl, which aired from 2007 to 2012.
Trachtenberg found further success on the WB/UPN supernatural drama television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2000–2003) as Dawn Summers, the younger sister of the show’s eponymous protagonist, a role which won her another Young Artist Award and earned her three Saturn Award nominations. She was also nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for her role as the host of the Discovery Kids series Truth or Scare (2001–2003). During the mid-2000s, she had a starring role in the film Ice Princess (2005) and supporting roles in the films Mysterious Skin (2004) and Black Christmas (2006). She also starred on the NBC television series Mercy (2009–2010) as Chloe Payne.
In the 2010s, Trachtenberg starred in several television films, including Killing Kennedy (2013) and Sister Cities (2015), and in the science fiction film The Scribbler (2014). She provided the lead voice of Judy in the Facebook Watch adult animated web series Human Kind Of (2018) and executive produced the teen drama web series Guidance (2015–2017) and the Tubi true crime television series Meet, Marry, Murder (2021).
Trachtenberg was found unconscious by her mother in her New York City apartment at 8 a.m. on February 26, 2025, at the age of 39. The NYPD confirmed that she had been unresponsive and EMS pronounced her dead on arrival.
Trachtenberg, who denied any health problems at the time in a 2024 social media post responding to speculation about weight loss and appearing jaundiced, underwent a liver transplant shortly before her death, and sources who reported the death to ABC News speculated that her body may have rejected the transplant.
