ALYSON HANNIGAN

'Alyson Hannigan' (born March 24, 1974) is an American actress who plays Lily Aldrin in the CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother''. She is also known for her previous roles as Willow Rosenberg on the television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and flautist Michelle Flaherty in the ''American Pie'' film series.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Filmography

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Hannigan was born 'Alyson Lee Hannigan' in Washington, D.C. to Al Hannigan, a photographer, and Emilie Posner, a real estate agent.^[1] Hannigan is Jewish on her mother's side,^[2] and also has Irish ancestry.^[3] Her parents divorced a year after her birth and she was raised mostly by her mother in Atlanta.
Although Hannigan had appeared in an industrial film for "Active Parenting" as a baby, as well as starred in a commercial for the "Duncan Hines cookie mix" in 1978, it wasn't until she moved to Los Angeles, California in 1985 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.

Career

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. Throughout most of the early 1990s, she appeared in commercials and supporting roles on television shows, including ''Picket Fences'', ''Roseanne'' and ''Touched by an Angel''.
In 1997, Hannigan was cast to play Willow Rosenberg, Buffy's best friend, on the television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. The show became a big 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 $250,000 salary for each episode. She also had a guest spot on the ''Buffy'' spin-off, ''Angel'', portraying 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 she 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, ''Date Movie'', in which Hannigan stars as Julia Jones, a parody on romantic comedy heroines, was released in theatres. Hannigan recently presented a Grammy at the 2007 Grammy Awards.
Hannigan is also the subject of song by the band wax.on wax.off, in which the lead singer delivers a tribute to the actress by referencing her roles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the American Pie movies. (One line goes: "Alyson, oh Alyson, why don't you join my band? You could play the flute like this one time at band camp...") The song appears on the band's album "A Lecture on Geek Mythology".

Personal life

She married actor Alexis Denisof (who played Wesley Wyndam-Pryce in the ''Buffy''/''Angel'' franchise) at Two Bunch Palms Resort in Desert Hot Springs, California on October 11, 2003. They bought a home together in Santa Monica, California. When Hannigan first asked out Denisof on the set of ''Buffy'', he declined saying that he did not date co-workers. The two were friends for over a year before they began dating. During that time Hannigan tried to fix up Denisof with her best friend, who told Hannigan after meeting him, "Oh, he's perfect for you!"

Filmography

Year	Title	Role
1988	''My Stepmother Is an Alien''	Jessie Mills
1997-2003	''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''	Willow Rosenberg
1998	''Dead Man on Campus''	Lucy
1999	''American Pie''	Michelle Flaherty
2001	''American Pie 2''	Michelle Flaherty
2003	''American Wedding''	Michelle Flaherty-Levinstein
2005	''Veronica Mars'' (TV series)	Trina Echolls
(2005-)	''How I Met Your Mother'' (TV series)	Lily Aldrin
2006	''Date Movie''	Julia Jones

References

1. http://atlanta.jewish.com/modules.php?name=Lifecycles&op=EventType&eventTypeID=5&page=2
2. the Jewish News Weekly
3. Alyson Hannigan Interview Garth Pearce

External links

★

★

★ The Indy Channel interview (February 15 2006)

★ Sun Times interview (July 21 2005)