Dawn Patrol

Big Hit - September 2001

Buffy cutie Michelle Trachtenberg has had an amazing year. To celebrate her first full season of being the Buffster's little sister Dawn, she gave big hit a look around her trailer and what she got up to on the set this year!

Michelle Trachtenberg arrived as Buffy's sister, Dawn Summers on our TV screens earlier this year. There was no explanation at the time as to why Buffy hadn't had a little sister in the past four seasons of the show... she was just there! Hey, we're not complaining, we love the gal!

"The first two or three episodes, the [fans were] like, 'Who is she, buddy?'" laughs Michelle. "And I was like, 'Well, mister and missus, if you [watched] the show for the past two years, you know that Dawn has been hinted about!'" Faith (the other kick-ass slayer) previously hinted about a "little sister" in one of Buffy's dreams and Tara had told The Scooby Gang, during the dream sequence in Restless to be "back before dawn." That's right, Buffy creator Joss Whedon had been dropping hints about the character Dawn for three seasons before she arrived and he didn't even know which actress would play the part!

When Michelle's pal Sarah Michelle Gellar (can you believe that even before she was on Buffy she had cool friends like SMG?!) invited her on the set, she jumped at the chance because she had been a mega-fan of the show since it began. She met with joss and eventually scored the role of Dawn. "Joss has often told me that I am one of the only season regulars that they have on the show that really knows their Buffy," says Michelle. "I mean, every part of it. You can ask me a trivia question from season one to four, obviously including five, and I'll know the answer and give you the background," she continues. "I really loved Hush and when Buffy and Faith switched places [This Year's Girl/Who Are You]. I like the season finale at the end of season four [Restless], which is actually where my character, Dawn is referred to by name. I love playing Dawn, I love everything about her," she exclaims. "I love meeting the actual cast, seeing what happens behind the scenes. I love having my own room! I mean, I have my own in real life, but I love having Dawn's room and the whole thing."

Michelle also says that she gets very excited when she is given the script so she can learn her lines. "Seeing the shows and reading the scripts... as a fan, my heart must have popped out a million times. There are tears that mush up the words that I have to say on the pages, and it's quite exciting." When you ask her about hanging out with the rest of the cast, she has nothing but great things to say about them. "It's really fun. I've worked with Sarah before [on All My children] so I knew how wonderful she is - it's a close family and I was welcomed with open arms, it was really comforting. Sarah is such a wonderful person and she totally thought that I would be able to do great things with Dawn, so she definitely played a role in the support system, and it just all went from there. Sarah and I have worked to create that sisterly comfort that sisters have, they know what the other one is going to do, they can almost see their next move."

When she is not filming her scenes, Michelle can be found in her very own trailer... which is very, very tidy! While she's in her trailer she must do four hours of school work a day as well as learn her lines... and catch up with a few of her pals. "I am in high school. Yes, I have a teacher on the set who is with me all of the time, and so is my mum, and we do all of the subjects together. I've always been a good student. I hope to go to college one day and I want to go to a really great school. When I go to college I want to spend my third year in London, England, going to school there." And when they're not mucking around between takes, the cast sometimes help Michelle out with some school assignments. "Marc [Blucas] offered me his help in geometry [when he was on the show]," reports Michelle. "Alyson [Hannigan] is like, 'Hey, if you have any cool history stuff...' I really get a lot of support from the entire cast."

It's not all work and school though. Michelle says she's still a normal teenager. "I still see my friends. We go to the mall, the movies, we do the e-mail thing, listen to music. My friends will stop by [the set] and see what's going on, but they're not allowed to read any scripts and they can only stop by when the scenes that we're filming will not give anything away! I trust my friends, but they can accidentally slip! I do go online and when my friends are on I instant message, I do the whole thing, but I love eBay. It's really fun." Michelle loves reading in her spare time and says that Harry Potter is her fave. "I'm into the whole Harry Potter series. Sarah and Joss totally got me hooked on Harry Potter." She also loves to go bowling (with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr, if you don't mind!) and writing in her journal.

Well, it sounds as though Michelle is pretty darn happy with her life. "Come on, to be on your favourite show?" she says with that gigantic smile of hers. "To see all the behind-the-scenes stuff? It's really great. I'm like, 'Oh, that's how they make the vampires. Now stay away from me!'"