Which actress played the title role in the 1992 horror film Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Kristy Swanson played the title role in the 1992 horror comedy Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The film follows Buffy Summers, a popular high-school student who learns that she has been chosen to fight vampires. Swanson’s Buffy is written as a cheerleader whose everyday concerns gradually intersect with a supernatural duty, combining teen comedy with vampire action.

Joss Whedon wrote the screenplay, and Fran Rubel Kuzui directed the film. Whedon later created the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which premiered in 1997 with Sarah Michelle Gellar in the title role. The television series developed a different tone and much broader mythology.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is therefore a frequent answer to this question, but she played Buffy only in the television adaptation. Donald Sutherland played Buffy’s watcher, Merrick, while Luke Perry portrayed Pike, one of her allies.