Before They Were Stars (2-for-1 Special): Sarah Michelle Gellar and Mira Sorvino on “Swan’s Crossing”

After working steadily as a child actress throughout the 1980s, Sarah Michelle Gellar garnered her first starring role when she was 15 years old on a teen soap opera called Swan’s Crossing, which aired for thirteen weeks in syndication during the summer of 1992. Soon-to-be Academy Award winner (though you’d never guess it from this show) Mira Sorvino also happened to make her official acting debut by guest-starring on six episodes of Swan’s Crossing. Both of them are featured in this clip and from what I’ve seen of this show, it’s not hard to understand why Swan’s Crossing didn’t last very long. The acting and the dialogue are hilariously bad and the melodramatic tone of the show is just flat-out bizarre at times, but, hey, who knew it would help jumpstart two successful careers?