Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, premiered on The WB on March 10, 1997. It moved to UPN in 2001 and ended on May 20, 2003, after seven seasons and 144 episodes. The young actors who fought vampires in Sunnydale went on to lead long-running sitcoms and crime dramas, host TV shows, write novels and build an Emmy-winning animation business. Here is how some of the show's best-known faces started out, and what they did in the years after the final episode.
Seth Green
Seth Green played Daniel "Oz" Osbourne, a teenage guitarist and Willow Rosenberg's boyfriend, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer from 1997 to 2000. Since 1999 he has voiced Chris Griffin on Fox's animated comedy Family Guy. With Matthew Senreich, he created the sketch series Robot Chicken, which premiered on Adult Swim on February 20, 2005. Green has created, directed, written and produced the show and its spinoffs, and Wikipedia credits him with three Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2019 he wrote, directed and starred in the comedy-drama film Changeland. His voice work in the 2020s includes Todo 360 in Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021) and Howard the Duck in Marvel's What If…? In 2022 he played Thunderbolt in the third season of Stargirl. He married Clare Grant on May 1, 2010.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar played the title role of Buffy Summers on Buffy the Vampire Slayer from 1997 to 2003. The part earned her a Golden Globe nomination and a Saturn Award. Before the series, she had won a Daytime Emmy in 1995 for playing Kendall Hart on All My Children. After Buffy, she starred in the film Scooby-Doo (2002), the drama Ringer (2011–2012) and the comedy The Crazy Ones (2013–2014). In 2021 she voiced a role in Masters of the Universe: Revelation. She starred in Wolf Pack in 2023 and joined Dexter: Original Sin, which ran from 2024 to 2025. Away from acting, she co-founded the baking company Foodstirs, which operated from 2015 to 2022. Gellar married actor Freddie Prinze Jr. in 2002.
Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Hannigan had her breakout role as Willow Rosenberg, the shy student who becomes a powerful witch, and appeared in all 144 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer between 1997 and 2003. In 1999 she played Michelle Flaherty in the comedy American Pie, a role she returned to in the franchise through 2012. From 2005 to 2014 she starred as Lily Aldrin on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. She hosted the magic competition Penn & Teller: Fool Us from 2016 to 2023. She also played Ann Possible in the 2019 TV movie Kim Possible and voiced Claire Nancy in the animated series Fancy Nancy from 2018 to 2022. In 2023 she competed on season 32 of Dancing with the Stars and finished fifth.
David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz played Angel, the vampire with a soul, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He was a regular on the show from 1997 to 1999, then led its spinoff Angel from 1999 to 2004 and also directed an episode of that series. From 2005 to 2017 he starred as FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth on the Fox crime drama Bones. Starting in the fourth season, he directed at least one episode every season. He then played Jason Hayes on the military drama SEAL Team from 2017 to 2024 and served as a director and executive producer on the show. Across those three series he spent most of three decades as the lead of a weekly network drama, with streaming episodes added near the end.
James Marsters
James Marsters joined Buffy the Vampire Slayer in its second season as the punk vampire Spike. He became a main cast member from season four through the 1997–2003 run. He then took Spike to the spinoff Angel as a series regular in its fifth and final season. On Smallville he played Dr. Milton Fine, the Superman villain Brainiac, in eight episodes of the fifth season. In 2008 he guest-starred on Torchwood as the time traveler Captain John Hart. He later played Victor Stein in Marvel's Runaways. He is also a musician. He was lead singer of the rock band Ghost of the Robot, whose debut album, Mad Brilliant, came out on February 2, 2003. He has narrated the audiobooks for The Dresden Files.
Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Carpenter played Cordelia Chase, Sunnydale High's sharp-tongued queen bee, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer from 1997 to 1999. She then played the same character for four seasons on the spinoff Angel, which ran from 1999 to 2004. From 2005 to 2006 she had a recurring role as Kendall Casablancas on Veronica Mars. In 2006 she starred in the Lifetime movies Flirting with Danger and Cheaters' Club. She joined Sylvester Stallone's action film The Expendables as Lacy in 2010 and returned for The Expendables 2 in 2012. She has continued to make TV movies. In 2025 she announced a new rewatch podcast that revisits her past work.
Emma Caulfield
Emma Caulfield, also credited as Emma Caulfield Ford, played Sarah Proctor, a role she reprised in the spinoff Agatha All Along in 2024. Before Buffy, she played Susan Keats on Beverly Hills, 90210 from 1995 to 1996. On Buffy the Vampire Slayer she played Anya Jenkins, a former vengeance demon, appearing in 81 episodes between 1998 and 2003. She later starred in the horror film Darkness Falls (2003) and appeared on Life Unexpected from 2010 to 2011. She played the Blind Witch on Once Upon a Time in 2012 and 2016. In 2021 she reached a new generation of viewers on Disney+ in Marvel's WandaVision, where her character was introduced to viewers as the neighbor "Dottie Jones."
Amber Benson
Amber Benson played Tara Maclay, the gentle witch who became Willow's girlfriend, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer from 1999 to 2002. She stayed with the series until her character's exit in season six. While she was on the show, she directed, produced, edited and acted in her own digital feature film, Chance (2002), which co-starred James Marsters. She later built a second career as a novelist. Her Calliope Reaper-Jones series began with Death's Daughter, published by Ace Books in 2009. It continued with Cat's Claw (2010), Serpent's Storm (2011), How to Be Death (2012) and The Golden Age of Death (2013).
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer_(TV_series)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Green
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_Chicken
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seth_Green_cropped.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seth_Green_(19480616528)_(cropped).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Michelle_Gellar
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sarah_Michelle_Gellar_2007_(Cropped).jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sarah_Michelle_Gellar_(54305143551)_(cropped).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alyson_Hannigan
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alyson_Hannigan.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alyson_Hannigan_May_2015.jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Boreanaz
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Boreanaz_May_2004_smiling.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Boreanaz.png
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Marsters
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Marsters.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Marsters_(54502208973).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charisma_Carpenter
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charisma_Carpenter_on_Veronica_Mars_panel_2005.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WFTH_1_GEEK_N_CHEESE_CONVENTIONS_PANEL_CHARISMA_CARPENTER_LUGULU_(1).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Caulfield_Ford
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emma_Caulfield_at_Tampa_Slayercon_w_mic.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emma_Caulfield_Ford.jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Benson
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amber_Benson.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Toronto_2015_-_Amber_Benson_(16743524060).jpg
