Today marks 20 years since Buffy, Angel, Xander, Willow aka the Scooby Gang came into our lives - complete with teenage angst and the pressure of having to save Sunnydale from vampires and demons. But how have the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed? Did they go on to fame and fortune or did they peak when they starred on Joss Whedon's hit TV show? We reveal all...
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Buffy Anne SummersShe was the kick-ass female who was born with a very special power - to fight vampires. Things got a bit tricky when she fell in love with one of them, though. Yep, she fell hard for Angel (more on him, later) and then it all got even trickier when she had sexy times with another one called Spike. Buffy had lots of dramas to contend with; her best friend was a witch, another one fancied her, she discovered a long-lost sister, a nightmare roommate, a doppelgänger, and don't get us started on the time when she lost her voice. Or the time when she died. Twice.
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Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah has kept in the limelight; featuring in TV show, The Crazy Ones, with the late Robin Williams, and the animated series Star Wars Rebels for season two, playing a character known as the Seventh Sister. She is making a highly anticipated return to TV though - she signed on to the TV reboot of Cruel Intentions and will bring back her character Kathryn Merteuil. How do we know that she's ready for action? She has brought back the dark hair. As well as acting, in 2015, Gellar co-founded Foodstirs, a foodcrafting brand and e-commerce startup selling baking kits for kids and has a very popular instagram. But what about her personal life...
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Her real-life romance
In her personal life, after Sarah Michelle Gellar hung up her stake, she played mum to Charlotte and Rocky, and wifey to Freddie Prinze Jr. The pair met on the set of I Know What You Did Last Summer in 1997, but didn’t start dating until 2002. They married in Mexico on 1 September 2002, and continue to be one of the cutest celebrity couples on Instagram.
He stays at home with the kids, but plans on bringing out a cook book. "Cooking has always been a huge part of my life - my mom encouraged me to explore the world through food and when I became a dad, I knew that I would do the same with my own kids," Freddie said.
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Angelus
Angel was the brooding sexy vampire Buffy fell in love with. Their relationship was a roller coaster of emotions; mainly because they couldn’t be a proper couple what with him not being able to hang out in the sunlight. Not ideal really, is it? They also couldn’t have sex because that turned him into an evil vampire. It was all so very complicated to be honest. It also didn't help that he had some old enemies who really wanted to kill his GF. Angel left Sunnydale for Buffy’s own good - thus leaving her (and us at home) devastated.
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David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz may have left Sunnydale but that didn't put an end to his time in the spotlight. He went on to star in a spin-off TV show called, wait for it, Angel. Yep, don't you love how creative the TV bosses were? The brooding vampire headed off to LA and the best bits were when Buffy made a cameo. After the end of Angel in 2004, David took on another TV role - not playing a vampire. This time he was FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth on the TV show, Bones. David’s Bones co-star is Emily Deschanel, Zooey Deschanel's sister. It’s worth noting that David appeared in the music video for singer Dido's hit single White Flag back in 2003. Random, eh?
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His real-life leading lady
His personal life is almost as dramatic as his scripts - in 2001 David married actress Jaime Bergman and they have a son Jaden, and a daughter Bella. However David’s marriage came under scrutiny when he admitted to having an extramarital affair with Rachel Uchitel, one of the same women with whom Tiger Woods was alleged to have cheated on his wife. Shortly afterwards, the text messages emerged on the Internet showing that indeed the affair was sexual in nature. At the time of Boreanaz's affair, his wife was pregnant, but she forgave him.
Now, he helps his wife and her friend with their nail polish line, Chrome Girl. Sure. Hook us up with a mani-pedi will ya, Dave?
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Willow Rosenberg
Willow was Buffy's geeky best friend who by the end of Season 4 was a powerful witch. At the beginning you really wanted Willow to get it together with Xander but he was secretly in love with Buffy. Told you there was a lot of teenage angst. Willow and Xander did end up hooking up but that was a nightmare because they were both dating other people. At the time, Willow was dating Oz (Seth Green) a teenage werewolf. We thought they were the cutest couple, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Later, Willow fell in love with a fellow witch named Tara Maclay. They became one of the first lesbian couples on US television and one of the most positive relationships of the series.
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Alyson Hannigan
We reckon it’s Alyson who’s had the busiest time since the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. She starred in the American Pie movies ("this one time, at band camp"). and returned to TV screens as Lily Aldrin on the hugely popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother.
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From off-screen to on-screen
In 2003, she married her Buffy co-star Alexis Denisof (Faith's watcher Wesley) at Two Bunch Palms Resort in Desert Hot Springs, California. The couple have two daughters, Satyana Marie Denisof and Keeva Jane Denisof. Interestingly, Hannigan and her husband are godparents to Joss Whedon's son, Arden.
It hasn’t all been happy times - in 2013, Hannigan was granted a temporary restraining order against a male stalker after he began sending her threatening and obsessive messages.
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Xander Harris
Every TV show needs a slightly geeky yet funny (and cute when he wanted to be) character. Apparently Xander was based on Whedon himself which is obviously why he gave Xander most of the funny lines. The trouble with Xander was that his love life always got him in trouble; at the beginning he fancied Buffy, and then he somehow managed to get with Queen Bee at the school, rich girl Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), then he had a brief fling with his best friend Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and then there was his long-term relationship with ex-demon Anya (Emma Caulfield). In Season Eight, the character's older-brother relationship with Buffy's little sister Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) also develops along romantic lines. For a bit of a dweeb, he definitely managed to pull the ladies. Unlike the others, Xander didn’t have a special power - or did he? Wink.
Interesting fact for you: Nicholas appeared in all but one of the 144 episodes of Buffy, and even shared the screen with his twin, Kelly Donovan, when his character was split in two in the fifth-season episode "The Replacement". -
Nicholas Brendon
Nicholas didn’t get much acting work after Buffy finished - though he has appeared on Criminal Minds - but since the show ended, he has sadly been fighting his inner demons.
Nicholas recently appeared on Dr Phil, after reaching out to the show for help and then stormed off set. Before he left, he told the chat show host: "When you wake up in jail and you're not sure why you're there, that's a very, very lonely feeling."
Nicholas has been arrested six times for incidents including allegedly choking his girlfriend, trashing a Florida hotel room, being found drunk on a beach, and smashing his fist through a window.
Nicholas pleaded guilty to his most recent misdemeanor charge. He is to complete drug and alcohol counselling and has been ordered to stay out of trouble for one year. -
His blink-and-you'd-miss-it wedding
In 2014, Nicholas got married in Las Vegas to his girlfriend Moonda Tee, but after five months, the pair called it quits.
"I am officially announcing that Nicholas and his wife, Moonda Tee, have parted ways," a rep for the actor wrote in a statement posted to the actor's Facebook page. "Nicholas expressed that Moonda is truly a 'beautiful person' and that he 'wishes her the best that life has to offer.'"
This was his second marriage, he previously wed actress Tressa DiFiglia from 2001 to 2006. -
Cordelia Chase
Cordelia, ah spoilt little rich girl Cordelia. She never really saw eye-to-eye with Buffy, and they fought like cat and dog but there was some love, there. Surprisingly Cordelia got together with Xander, who was obviously punching above his weight - which she never let him forget. The trouble was, Cordelia had big dreams of getting out of Sunnydale so off she went to the bright lights of Los Angeles...
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Charisma Carpenter
... Which is where she pumped into Buffy's ex, Angel. Yep, Charisma Carpenter joined David Boreanaz for his Buffy spin-off show, Angel. She stayed with the show until series four, but then returned for the 100th episode because she felt like the fans needed closure.
After, she had small parts in Charmed and Veronica Mars. More recently Charisma signed up to Chicago PD alongside Sophia Bush and Lady Gaga's man, Taylor Kinney.
We believe that Charisma is currently single. Back in 2009, she divorced her husband, Damian Hardy, after five years. They share physical and legal custody of their son, Donovan.
During the infamous 2007 Writer's Strike in Hollywood, the walk-out reportedly left Charisma unemployed, and therefore without the means to afford the attorneys’ fees in her divorce proceedings.
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Anya Jenkins
Anya was only intended to appear for two episodes on Buffy, but audiences responded so well to the character that Joss Whedon made the decision to add her to the main cast.
Even though her character was brought in to destroy Xander, she ended up falling in love with him (who didn't?!) They got engaged; but Xander told Anya that he didn't want to get married straight away. In 2003, Anya was killed in the battle which destroyed the Sunnydale Hellmouth.
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Emma Caulfield
In 2003, Caulfield landed her first lead role in the horror movie Darkness Falls, which debuted at number one in the U.S. box office.
Emma also produced and starred in the satire Bandwagon, playing a fictional version of herself. The movie was written and directed by close friend and fellow actress Karri Bowman. It screened at various festivals, although it was never picked up for distribution.In her romantic life, she was married to Cornelius Grobbelaar from 2006 to 2010, but is now reportedly single.
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Spike
Spike started off as a baddie on Buffy, and then somehow he turned into a love interest.
Spike had a reputation - mainly that he'd killed two vampire slayers; one at the end of the 1800s, the other in 1970s New York. During the second season of the series, Spike comes to Sunnydale hoping to kill a third slayer - Buffy - but somehow he and her forge an uneasy alliance. Naturally he then falls in love with Buffy and reacquires his soul to prove his love. He dies a hero in the show's series finale.
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James Marsters
When Spike left Buffy, he ended up going on Angel - of course he did. When he finished on that, he ditched the peroxide and moved on to Smallville (remember that show?). He played the alien supervillain Brainiac, and then the omnisexual time traveller Captain John Hart in British science-fiction show Torchwood, and terrorist Barnabas Greeley in Syfy's [/i]Caprica[/i]. He also hit the big screen when he appeared in a supporting role in the 2007 movie P.S. I Love You. He then returned to TV as a recurring character in the first season of the revival of Hawaii Five-0.
He's also a singer! Did you know that? He started off as a solo act but then he formed rock band Ghost of the Robot. Several of Ghost of the Robot's earlier songs were loosely based on the Buffy characters Buffy, Dawn and Faith. Sure. He tried the solo thing again but then reformed the band.
In his personal life, James divorced his wife Liane Davidson, with whom he has one son, Sullivan. He moved on with Patricia Rahman and they married in a private civil ceremony in Los Angeles. She appears to keep out of the spotlight.
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Dawn Summers
Gosh, wasn't Dawn annoying at the beginning? Dawn was Buffy's secret sister and when she turned up in series five, she was really just a mystical power of living energy, known as The Key.
In real life, Whedon says that he introduced Dawn to the series because he wanted to introduce a character with whom Buffy could have an intensely emotional non-romantic relationship.
After Dawn went from being A Key into an ordinary teenage human girl, we really wanted her to jog on. She was just so whiney. We warmed to her though - especially when Buffy and Dawn's mum, Joyce, died, and when she began to be nicer to Buffy.
It wasn't just us though, TV Guide included Dawn in list of The Most Loathed TV Characters, and Entertainment Weekly named her one of the "21 Most Annoying TV Characters Ever".
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Michelle Trachtenberg
XOXO Gossip Girl. Many of you will know Michelle from her role as Georgina in Gossip Girl - the one who gave Blair a run for her money in the bitch stakes. As well as having a recurring role in GG, Michelle also starred in the comedy film EuroTrip, and had a recurring role in the series Six Feet Under. In March 2005, she played the title character in Walt Disney Pictures' comedy drama Ice Princess.
Trachtenberg has also appeared in THREE music videos; the Fall Out Boy music video for This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race, the Joaquin Phoenix-directed music video for Tired of Being Sorry by Ringside, and the video for the Trapt song Echo.
In her personal life, Michelle is currently dating rapper and actor, Scott Mescudi.
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Rupert Giles
What would the Scooby gang do without Giles, Buffy's watcher? Buffy might have been been the slayer, but this guy was the brains behind the operation. He always kept his cool and dished out the BEST life advice - even when it was ignored. Everyone needs a Giles in their life. He didn't have it all that easy - his girlfriend Jenny was killed (by Angel, when he was evil) and he slumped in to a deep depression. We didn't like sad Giles.
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Anthony Head
Head left the regular cast of Buffy during the show's sixth season and subsequently appeared several times as a guest star through the conclusion of the series. In many interviews at the time, Head said he left the show to spend more time with his family, having realised that he had spent most of the year outside Britain, which added up to more than half his youngest daughter's life.
His move to the UK didn't halt his career - he ended up on BBC's Manchild, a show centred around four friends approaching their fifties who try to recapture their fading youth and vitality while dealing with life as 'mature' men. He also starred in Silent Witness, Murder Investigation Team, and Spooks.
He also appeared in the fourth series of the British hit sitcom My Family. And how can we forget - he also featured as the Prime Minister in the popular BBC comedy sketch show Little Britain from 2003 to 2005.
As well as acting, he also provides voice-over work in the Nintendo Wii video game, Flip's Twisted World.
At Comic-Con in 2007, Joss Whedon said talks were almost completed for a 90-minute Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off, Ripper, as a BBC special, with both Head and the BBC on board. We're still waiting, guys...He now happily resides in the UK with his wife.
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Tara Maclay
Tara shook things up on Buffy - especially when she and Willow became lovers. The character first appeared in the season four episode "Hush" and remained with the series until season six when her character was killed off.
On the subject of her kissing scenes with Alyson, Amber said: "The lovely thing was the way that they eventually became lovers. What struck me about that moment was that it was really filmed for people who loved the story. It was not filmed for male consumption; it wasn’t two hot chicks making out."
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Amber Benson
Did you know that Amber Benson went to school with Joey Fatone from N'Sync!? Little fact for you, there.
Joss Whedon reportedly asked Amber to come back (evil), but Amber said no because she had a project with the BBC that she really wanted to do. We wonder if she kicked herself for not saying yes?In 2006, Benson released an independent feature film Lovers, Liars & Lunatics via her own production company, Benson Entertainment. The film was partly financed by the sale of the limited edition Tara action figure. The movie was produced by her mother, Diane.
In 2006, Benson also portrayed the "vegetarian" vampiress Lenore on the TV series Supernatural. Niche.
Tellingly, in a January 2015 Reddit AMA Amber said she was "an actress in a former life".
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Daniel "Oz" Osbourne
Wasn't Oz just really cool? He was though, wasn't he? He played in a band (Dingoes Ate My Baby) and he didn't get involved in any squabbles, he just got on with it. He had the whole being a werewolf thing to deal with though, so that stopped him from leading a normal life and at times you could tell it really got to him. When he and Willow got together it was perfect but then she started having feelings for fellow witch Tara and it turned out fellas weren't her bag anymore.
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Seth Green
Did you know Seth Green is the voice of Chris Griffin on Family Guy!? He is also the co-creator, co-producer, writer, director, and most frequent voice on the Emmy-winning sketch comedy TV series Robot Chicken. Randomly, he also starred in a Fall Out Boy video because he's mates with the band.
In 2009 he worked with one of his idols, Robin Williams, in comedy film Old Dogs, which also starred John Travolta.
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His model wife
Seth Green and Clare Grant have been married since 2010. Their romance came after a shared passion for comic books, television and fast food.
They first met in 2007 at the reopening of their favourite comic book store, Golden Apple Comics, where Green was on-hand to sign autographs and Grant was photographing the event.
A mutual friend passed Clare's phone number to Green, and the two had burgers and watched TV. The rest as they, is history.
