Alyson Hannigan

Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Hannigan, April 2003
Born	Alyson Lee Hannigan (1974-03-24) March 24, 1974 Washington, D.C., U.S.
Other names	Alyson Denisof
Occupation	actress
Years active	1986–present
Spouse(s)	Alexis Denisof (2003–present)

Alyson Lee Hannigan (born March 24, 1974) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Willow Rosenberg on the cult classic television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Michelle Flaherty in three American Pie films and Lily Aldrin on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother.

Early life

Hannigan was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Emilie Posner, a real estate agent, and Al Hannigan, a truck driver. Hannigan is of Irish descent on her father's side and Jewish on her mother's. Her parents divorced a year after her birth and she was raised mostly by her mother in Atlanta.

Career

Although Hannigan had appeared in an industrial film for "Active Parenting" as a baby, as well as having starred in a commercial for the Duncan Hines cookie mix in 1978, it was not until 1985, when she moved to Los Angeles, California, that she formally began her acting career. Living with her mother and attending North Hollywood High School, she successfully auditioned for agents while visiting her father in Santa Barbara. After attending North Hollywood High School she attended California State University, Northridge.

Hannigan's first major film role was in My Stepmother Is an Alien, a science fiction comedy released in 1988; one of her co-stars in the film was actor Seth Green, who would later join her in the regular cast of Buffy as her on-screen boyfriend. Then in 1989, her first regular role on a TV series came when she was cast in the short-lived ABC sitcom Free Spirit.

In 1997, at 23 Hannigan was cast to play Willow Rosenberg, Buffy's best friend, on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (replacing Riff Regan, who played Willow in the unaired 25-minute pilot). The show became a success, and Hannigan gained recognition, subsequently appearing in several notable films aimed at teenage audiences, including American Pie, American Pie 2, Boys and Girls, and American Wedding. By the time Buffy had ended in 2003, Hannigan was earning a US$250,000 salary for each episode. She also had a guest spot on the Buffy spin-off, Angel, reprising her role of Willow in a few episodes (including most notably " Orpheus", during the fourth season of Angel and the seventh season of Buffy), but none after Buffy finished production.

In early 2004, Hannigan made her West End debut, starring in a stage adaptation of When Harry Met Sally... at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, opposite Luke Perry.

In 2005, Hannigan returned to starring in a regular television series, appearing in the hit comedy, How I Met Your Mother, as Lily, and also playing a recurring guest role on Veronica Mars as Trina Echolls.

In February 2006, Hannigan starred as Julia Jones in Date Movie, a parody of romantic comedies. Alyson also was a guest star on the ABC animated sitcom The Goode Family in 2009.

Hannigan joined forces with Emily Deschanel, Jaime King, Minka Kelly, and Katharine McPhee in a video slumber party featured on FunnyorDie.com to promote regular breast cancer screenings for the organization Stand Up 2 Cancer.

Personal life

Hannigan has dated Ginger Fish of Marilyn Manson. She married actor Alexis Denisof (who played Wesley Wyndam-Pryce in the Buffy/Angel franchise and also appeared in How I Met Your Mother as Robin's co-anchor Sandy Rivers in the first and sixth season) at Two Bunch Palms Resort in Desert Hot Springs, California on October 11, 2003. They bought a house together in Santa Monica, California. Their daughter, Satyana Marie Denisof, was born at home six years later on March 24, 2009, Hannigan's 35th birthday.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1986	Impure Thoughts	Patty Stubbs	As Allison Hannigan
1988	My Stepmother Is an Alien	Jessie Mills
1991	Switched at Birth	Gina Twigg, Age 13–16	TV movie
1995	The Stranger Beside Me	Dana	TV movie
1996	A Case for Life	Iris	TV movie
	For My Daughter's Honour	Kelly	TV movie
1998	Dead Man on Campus	Lucy
1999	Hayley Wagner, Star	Jenna Jakes	TV movie
	American Pie	Michelle Flaherty
2000	Boys and Girls	Betty
2001	American Pie 2	Michelle Flaherty
	Beyond the City Limits	Lexi
2003	American Wedding	Michelle Flaherty
2004	Americana	Andrea	TV movie
2005	In the Game	Unknown	TV movie
2006	Date Movie	Julia Jones
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989–1990	Free Spirit	Jessie Harper	Regular (14 episodes)
1990	Roseanne	Jan	Episode: "Like, a New Job"
1993	Almost Home	Samantha	Episode: "The Dance" Episode: "Hot Ticket"
1994	Touched by an Angel	Cassie Peters	Episode: "Cassie's Choice"
1996	Picket Fences	Peggy Patterson	Episode: "To Forgive Is Devine"
1996	Friends for Life	Emma Daniels	Unaired TV Pilot
1999–2000	100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd	Gigi	Episode: "All Howls Eve" Episode: "The Return of Gigi"
2000	The Wild Thornberrys	Gerda	Episode: "Every Little Bit Alps"
1997–2003	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Willow Rosenberg	Regular (144 episodes)
2001–2003	Angel		Episode: "Disharmony" Episode: "There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb" Episode: "Orpheus"
2004	That '70s Show	Suzy Simpson	Episode: "Sally Simpson" Episode: "Won't Get Fooled Again"
	King of the Hill	Stacey Gibson	Episode: "Talking Shop"
2005	Veronica Mars	Trina Echolls	Episode: "Ruskie Business" Episode: "Hot Dogs" Episode: "My Mother, the Fiend"
2009	The Goode Family	Michelle	Episode: "Graffiti in Greenville"
2005–present	How I Met Your Mother	Lily Aldrin	Regular (114 episodes)
2010	The Simpsons	Substitute teachers daughter	Season 22: Episode 10: "Flaming Moe"