Sisters in Arms? by Ileane Rudolph

From TV GUIDE - August 12th, 2000

HER SIBLING SLAYS US, BUT WILL SHE? BUFFY'S SISTER IS VAMPING UNTIL HER BIG ENTRANCE

Like lots of teenage girls, Michelle Trachtenberg's "very favorite" show is WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Tuesdays, 8 PM). Unlike most 14-year-olds, she's a veteran actor ("Harriet the Spy") and a buddy of Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar. "We worked on All My Children at the same time," says Trachtenberg. "She was like my big sister." And now she will be: Gellar helped Trachtenberg get cast as Dawn, Buffy's (previously unmentioned) little sister, who lives with the slayer. "I wanted to bring on somebody at a different stage of life, going through that younger adolescent pain," says Buffy executive producer Joss Whedon. "Sarah said that I should read [Michelle] for Dawn. We already had our eye on [another actress], but when Michelle read, it was clear she was the one."

In her first interview since being cast, Trachtenberg says, "I've heard that [Dawn] has a crush on Xander"- a dangerous obsession since Xander's girlfriend, Anya, is, she says, " vengeance demon." (We hear that Dawn, whom Trachtenberg calls "a regular 14-year-old girl," has the decidedly irregular ability to channel demons and other evil beings.)

The New York-born Trachtenberg started acting in TV commercials at age 3 and has done regular stints on AMC and The Adventures of Pete & Pete. This fall she'll be heard as Dorothy in an all-star audio version of The Wizard of Oz.

Details about Dawn will unfold in the first five episodes of the season. Trachtenberg's mum on how this mysterious sister will appear at the end of the season premiere and whether she's a slayer like Buffy, saying coyly, "[You'll] have to watch to find out."