Demons, monsters, and vampires have tried in vain to kill Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The woman who played her on television, green-eyed actress Sarah Michelle Gellar (1977-), was born on this day in New York and appeared in her first commercial, for Burger King, at age four.

About her childhood, Gellar admitted, "I was always excluded from everything because I was different. That's difficult when you're a child. Junior high was my Buffy experience. I hated it. I was not popular to the extreme. I was the girl nobody liked, who was weird and quirky. I felt different and awkward."

Her teenage confidence was boosted by the two-year role of Erica Kane's evil daughter on the soap opera All My Children (1993-1995). "I figured for the rest of my life I was gonna be fighting this stereotype of the bad girl," Gellar explained. "And then, oddly enough, I found myself fighting the opposite stereotype."

In 1996, after auditioning many times for the role of a lifetime, Gellar signed to star in Joss Whedon's popular Buffy series where she saved the world from evil and kicked supernatural butt.

About her physically demanding role, the showbiz veteran said, "I do a combo of kickboxing, tae kwan do, basic street fighting, and gymnastics for the role."

The actress met husband (and Scooby Doo co-star) Freddie Prinze Jr. on the set of their horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). "Being sexy is being confident. It's important to know you don't have silicone breasts falling out and a thigh-high skirt. Sometimes you meet people and they think, 'Another cute little blonde actress.' That's not who I am," she said.

Seeing is believing.