Sarah Michelle Gellar

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is back in action, this time in a big new crime drama called The Air I Breathe. “It’s really about emotions,” said the diminutive (5-foot-3) Emmy Award-winning Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays a pop star entangled with mobsters alongside Forest Whitaker, Brendan Fraser, Andy Garcia, Julie Delpy and Kevin Bacon.

“I’ve seen a close-to-final cut,” Sarah said, “and my gut reaction is tough to say or to be objective about. But, oh, what a cast!”

Sarah broke into showbiz at age 4, when a talent agent saw her eating in a restaurant and cast her in a TV movie. By 1993, the kid was playing Susan Lucci’s daughter, the unscrupulous Kendall Hart, on All My Children and after two years earned an Emmy.

“That show was one of the great experiences of my life,” said Sarah. This despite reports that there was friction between her and Lucci on the set.

I asked if Sarah considered herself high-maintenance or a diva. “Not at all,” she said. “I’m a crew type.”

While still very young, Sarah studied martial arts, boxing and gymnastics, which came in handy when she began “slaying vampires” as a teenage superhero on Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1997. The popular fantasy series ran for six years and garnered Gellar various awards and Golden Globe nominations. So what really happened at the end of Buffy and its spinoff, Angel? Did Sarah just bail out on them?

“No, I don’t think you turn your back on anything,” said Sarah. “I was just simply physically unavailable to continue doing the roles” because of new projects she was being offered at the time. Fans had hopes for a feature film to be spun off of Buffy, but they were dashed when Sarah insisted on reading scripts before committing.

Meanwhile, she continued to carve out a career with hit flicks such as I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions, Scream 2, Scooby-Doo and The Grudge.

The actress turned 30 last April and, reflecting, said, “That was a traumatic year.” But now Sarah is more upbeat. “I think 30 is really, really young, but I have accomplished a few things.”

So what’s next for the young TV icon? What’s her dream? “To get back onstage,” Sarah said wistfully, referring to past off-Broadway work she has done. “Broadway is truly my first wish.”

Brady’s Bits

I asked Sarah to straighten me out about her name these days. She’s still “Gellar” professionally but “Prinze” in private life after five years of marriage to actor Freddie Prinze Jr., with whom she’s also worked in a couple of films. “My friends know me as Prinze,” she told me, “but I’ll answer to just about anything. Sometimes people mistake me for Sarah Jessica Parker, and I answer to that too.” Gellar/Prinze did, however, knock down a couple of phony press reports about her: When I asked if she’s really a close friend of Britney Spears, Sarah laughed. “No,” the actress told me. “We’ve only met a few times.”

Personal

Born April 14, 1977, in New York, N.Y. Married to Freddie Prinze Jr. since 2002.

Why You Know Her

She became a cult icon as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and starred in hit films such as I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions and The Grudge.

What You Don’t Know

At age 4, she made a Burger King commercial and was sued by rival McDonald’s. It was one of the first U.S. ads to directly name and draw comparisons to a competitor. Ironically, McDonald’s later sponsored Buffy.