Where can I stream Michelle Trachtenberg’s ‘Harriet the Spy?’

Michelle Trachtenberg passed away at the age of 39, and fans are processing this tragic news and remembering her impressive career. In early 2025, fans saw photos of the actress on Instagram and wondered if she was alright, especially since she hasn’t appeared in many movies or TV shows recently .

Although she is famous for playing the conniving Georgina Sparks on Gossip Girl and Buffy’s younger sister Dawn Summers on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Trachtenberg is known to many (including this millennial) as Harriet M. Welsh, the young star of Harriet the Spy. Where can fans watch this 1996 movie, which is adapted from the book by Louise Fitzhugh, and remember this sweet actress?

Where is the Michelle Trachtenberg movie Harriet the Spy streaming?

Harriet the Spy is streaming on hoopla and plutotv, according to Justwatch.com. Fans can also rent the movie on AppleTV.

I can’t overstate how formative Harriet the Spy was when I was a kid. After watching Trachtenberg play the smart, ambitious, and confident main character who keeps a journal and pays a lot of attention to everyone in her life, I wanted to carry a notebook with me everywhere, too (and it had to be black and white, just like Harriet’s). Could I please be cool like Harriet and write all my thoughts down?

While it’s a cheesy ’90s movie in many ways, Trachtenberg’s Harriet the Spy asks some interesting questions about what being a writer means. There’s a fine line between spying on others and learning the power and art of observation. While it takes her a while to figure this out, she’s expressing herself, which is pretty cool. The movie also has a nice message about being kind to others, which, honestly, people of any age should remember. Who could forget mean girl Marion Hawthorne (Charlotte Sullivan) putting blue paint on Harriet during a particularly memorable art class scene? The movie touches on friendship, family, and growing up, and it has stayed with so many people for so many years.

I wasn’t the only one super invested in Trachtenberg’s Harriet the Spy character’s journey. In 2021, the actress told Entertainment Tonight that fans have said to her, “You inspired my life. You made me become a writer” and called the messages “beautiful things.” It was her first movie, and while she acted in other films such as 17 Again, Ice Princess, Black Christmas, and Mysterious Skin, Harriet the Spy definitely made her a star. In her ET interview, Trachtenberg also called O’Donnell her “biggest supporter,” which warms my heart.

Harriet the Spy also had an awesome cast including the adorable Gregory Smith as Harriet’s friend Sport, and Rosie O’Donnell as Harriet’s charming nanny, whom she calls Ole Golly. O’Donnell’s character gives some awesome advice, like when she says, “You’re an individual, and that makes people nervous. And it’s gonna keep making people nervous for the rest of your life.” Also, it’s not possible to ever hear the James Brown song “Get Up Offa That Thing” without remembering Harriet, Sport, and Janie Gibbs (Vanessa Lee Chester) playing a prank on their classmates and dancing at the end of the movie.

I’ll be rewatching Harriet the Spy in Trachtenberg’s memory and thinking about the inspiring Harriet who just wanted to be understood and the talented actress who is gone too soon.