Celebrity crush: Michelle Trachtenberg

Down to just three "breakout" posts now -- taking celebrities who were originally profiled as part of multi-person entries and putting them in their own individual write-ups. Of the three remaining, this one's the most prolific. Amazon and iTunes links follow. Any affiliate payments earned from your purchase or rental will help pay the hosting fees for my podcasts, so please consider clicking.

Name: Michelle Trachtenberg (images -- some NSFW | Web site | Twitter)
Hometown: New York City, according to her Wikipedia entry.
Best Known For: Michelle found fame early as a child actress, starring in the film Harriet the Spy, then as a teenager on Buffy the Vampire Slayer as little sister Dawn. (She and series star Sarah Michelle Gellar had previously worked together on the daytime soap All My Children.)

I usually don't link to works from before an actress turned 18, but in this case, I'm making an exception because 1.) the performance wasn't sexually tinged in any significant way, and 2.) the celebrity entry for Amber Benson has already offered some of those episodes for sale, and a probable future entry for Alyson Hannigan would list the rest, anyway.

She's been in a few movies of varying quality as an adult, but the most noteworthy roles have been on television. She co-starred on the short-lived NBC medical drama Mercy, appeared in several episodes of Six Feet Under, and has appeared in every season of Gossip Girl as recurring bad girl Georgina Sparks.

She's also done a fair bit of voice work. Wikipedia notes that she's working with Gossip Girl executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage on a pilot for fall 2011, in which she'd also executive produce in addition to starring. (Ignore bad grammar in previous sentence. You get the point.)

Film roles include The Ice Princess (with fellow celebrity crush Hayden Panettiere) and an animated Dragonlancemovie that also featured the voice talents of Kiefer Sutherland.

As a rookie nurse on Mercy.

Humble Beginnings: Starting with a childhood appearance on Law and Order, she appeared on various Nickelodeon kids programs and appeared on All My Children from 1993-96. Movie roles as a child included Inspector Gadget and Harriet the Spy, and she guest-starred on Space Cases, which starred fellow celebrity crush Jewel Staite as a teen.
The Courteney Cox Factor: Trachtenberg appeared in the video for "Tired of Being Sorry," by Balthazar Getty's band Ringside -- as did fellow celebrity crush Erika Christensen. Additionally, she's been in videos by Fall Out Boy and Trapt. And Ye Olde Podcaster has actually not heard a single one of these songs, and of the three, only had heard of Fall Out Boy before writing these posts. *shrug*

Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: She has great comedic timing, lots of pluck, but can also muster determination when necessary. And, let's be honest, she's not at all painful on the eyes.
Voice work: DC Showcase: Jonah Hex (Amazon | iTunes) * The Super Hero Squad Show, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Amazon | iTunes) * Robot Chicken, season 3: "Tapping a Hero" (Amazon | iTunes) * Robot Chicken, season 2: "Dragon Nuts" (Amazon | iTunes) * Robot Chicken, season 2: "Celebrity Rocket" (Amazon | iTunes)

Musical work: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: "Once More, With Feeling" (soundtrack) (Amazon | iTunes)
TV and Web series credits: Gossip Girl, season 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * The City, season 2: "The Belle of Elle" (Amazon | iTunes) * Gossip Girl, season 3 (Amazon | iTunes) * Mercy (Amazon | iTunes) * Gossip Girl, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Gossip Girl, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Law and Order: Criminal Intent, season 6: "Weeping Willow" (Amazon | iTunes) * Punk'd, season 7, episode 6 (Amazon | iTunes) * House, season 2: "Safe" (Amazon | iTunes) * Six Feet Under, season 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 7 (Amazon | iTunes) * Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 6 (Amazon | iTunes) * Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 5 (Amazon | iTunes)
Music videos: "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" by Fall Out Boy (Amazon | iTunes) * "Tired of Being Sorry" by Ringside (Amazon | iTunes) * "Echo" by Trapt (Amazon | iTunes)
Film and TV-movie credits: Take Me Home Tonight (Amazon | iTunes) * Teenage Paparazzo (Amazon | iTunes) * Cop Out (Amazon | iTunes) * 17 Again (Amazon | iTunes) * Against the Current (Amazon | iTunes) * The Circuit (Amazon | iTunes) * Black Christmas (2006) (Amazon | iTunes) * Beautiful Ohio (Amazon | iTunes) * The Dive from Clausen's Pier (Amazon | iTunes) * Ice Princess (Amazon | iTunes) * Mysterious Skin (Amazon | iTunes) * EuroTrip (Amazon | iTunes)