section_path: Career/1988–2005: Career beginnings and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
section_name: 1988–2005: Career beginnings and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
paragraph_text: 1988–2005: Career beginnings and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  
  Trachtenberg made her first television appearance at age three in a commercial for Wisk detergent. She would eventually play featured roles in more than 100 commercials. She made her television debut in an episode of the crime drama Law & Order, before gaining recognition on the Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete & Pete as Nona F. Mecklenberg. During the same period, she played Lily Montgomery on the soap opera All My Children.
  
  Trachtenberg's film career began in 1996 with the title role in Harriet the Spy, for which she had to leave The Adventures of Pete & Pete while its third season was running. She then starred in the short-lived television series Meego, which garnered her a Young Artist Award. She returned to film in 1999 for Inspector Gadget. She also starred in the film Can't Be Heaven. In 2000, she began playing Dawn Summers, the younger sister of the title character (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She also hosted the Discovery Kids series Truth or Scare from 2001 to 2003, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award.
  
  In 2004, after Buffy and Truth or Scare, Trachtenberg appeared in the music video for the Trapt song " Echo " and as Jenny in the teen comedy film EuroTrip. That same year, Trachtenberg played Wendy in Mysterious Skin, Gregg Araki 's film adaptation of Scott Heim 's novel. Wendy is the best friend of Neil (Joseph Gordon Levitt), a teenage hustler in small-town Kansas. The film debuted at the 2004 Venice Film Festival. She also had a recurring role in the HBO series Six Feet Under, as Celeste, a spoiled pop star.
  
  In March 2005, Trachtenberg starred in Walt Disney Pictures ' comedy sports drama film Ice Princess as Casey Carlyle, a science whiz, who is torn between a future in academia and her newfound dream of being a competitive figure skater.
  
  Trachtenberg made her first television appearance at age three in a commercial for Wisk detergent. She would eventually play featured roles in more than 100 commercials. She made her television debut in an episode of the crime drama Law & Order, before gaining recognition on the Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete & Pete as Nona F. Mecklenberg. During the same period, she played Lily Montgomery on the soap opera All My Children.
  
  Trachtenberg's film career began in 1996 with the title role in Harriet the Spy, for which she had to leave The Adventures of Pete & Pete while its third season was running. She then starred in the short-lived television series Meego, which garnered her a Young Artist Award. She returned to film in 1999 for Inspector Gadget. She also starred in the film Can't Be Heaven. In 2000, she began playing Dawn Summers, the younger sister of the title character (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She also hosted the Discovery Kids series Truth or Scare from 2001 to 2003, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award.
  
  In 2004, after Buffy and Truth or Scare, Trachtenberg appeared in the music video for the Trapt song " Echo " and as Jenny in the teen comedy film EuroTrip. That same year, Trachtenberg played Wendy in Mysterious Skin, Gregg Araki 's film adaptation of Scott Heim 's novel. Wendy is the best friend of Neil (Joseph Gordon Levitt), a teenage hustler in small-town Kansas. The film debuted at the 2004 Venice Film Festival. She also had a recurring role in the HBO series Six Feet Under, as Celeste, a spoiled pop star.
  
  In March 2005, Trachtenberg starred in Walt Disney Pictures ' comedy sports drama film Ice Princess as Casey Carlyle, a science whiz, who is torn between a future in academia and her newfound dream of being a competitive figure skater.