What's Next 2001

From Teen People - December 2000

Michelle Trachtenberg - actor

New Buffy cast member Michelle Trachtenberg, 15 (near right), has experience on the slaying field. Her very first foe: tough stains. At age three, she made her acting debut hawking Wisk laundry detergent. ("[The jingle] was 'Wisk, Wisk, Wisk / Tsk, tsk, tsk,'" she says.) At age eight, she graduated to a different brand of soap -- All My Children -- where she played an autistic child alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar. Sarah has since suggested Michelle to play Buffy's sister, Dawn. The show's creator, Joss Whedon, has high expectations. "She's on the brink of something, possibly in the way that Sarah was," he says. Sounds like the veteran of Harriet the Spy and Inspector Gadget will be following her new "sister" straight to the top. -- Ellen Lieberman

Style: Michelle works a sleek yet sexy look. Jacket, Filt Mart; at Tracey Ross (L.A.). Dress, Versus. Earrings, Claire's Accessories; $4 at Claire's Accessories. Boots, Casadel; at Diavolina (L.A.). Sheryl Nields; Michelle's hair by Louise Moon for Artistic Purehair/Luxe; Samantha's hair by Angie Phipps, Makeup by Debra Feruillo for artists by Timothy Priano; Styled by Charlene Roxborough.