Best Known As: Willow on TV's Buffy The Vampire Slayer
An actor since childhood, Alyson Hannigan is known to TV viewers as Willow Rosenberg, one of the monster-fighting sidekicks from the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar). Hannigan got her start at an early age, working on TV commercials in Atlanta, Georgia. When she was 11 she relocated to Los Angeles and found work guest-starring in several television comedies before landing the role of Willow. Hannigan has appeared in feature films also, most notably American Pie (1999), American Pie 2 (2001) and American Wedding (2003). She returned to television in the series, How I Met Your Mother in 2005, and had a recurring guest role on the teen drama Veronica Mars in 2006.
In 2003 Hannigan married actor Alexis Denisof, a co-star of Buffy and its spin-off series, Angel.
Career Highlights: American Pie, How I Met Your Mother: Season 02, How I Met Your Mother: Season 01
First Major Screen Credit: My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988)
Biography
With the unconventional good looks and quirky persona that shout Leading Character Actress, Alyson Hannigan made a name for herself on the WB series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As Buffy's confidant Willow Rosenberg, the actress endeared herself to a legion of fans and then won over film audiences everywhere with her scene-stealing turn as geeky flutist Michelle in the 1999 summer smash American Pie.
Born March 24, 1974, in Washington, D.C., Hannigan became a TV commercial veteran following her family's move to Atlanta. From the age of four, Hannigan appeared in a steady stream of commercials, including ones for Oreo and McDonald's. At the age of 11, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film and television. She made her big-screen debut in the 1988 film My Stepmother Is an Alien, as Dan Aykroyd's daughter. The following year, she won a regular spot on the short-lived sitcom Free Spirit and acted in a variety of television miniseries and sitcoms (including Roseanne and Picket Fences) until 1997, when she won the part of Willow on Buffy.
The show proved to be an unexpected success among critics and viewers alike, and paved the way for Hannigan to appear opposite Tom Everett Scott in the 1998 comedy Dead Man on Campus. American Pie followed the next year, giving Hannigan wider recognition and making her an unintentional poster child for band camps everywhere. A small stint in the Jason Biggs/Freddie Prinze Jr. flop Boys and Girls (2000) did little to further her career, but thanks to a beefed-up part from writer Adam Herz, Hannigan found herself revisiting the sexually advanced but socially backward Michelle in 2001's high-profile sequel American Pie 2. Though critics were mixed on the franchise's sophomore offering, they praised Hannigan's ability to fully flesh out a character who essentially served as an elaborate punch line in the first film. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Hannigan was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Emilie Posner, a real estate agent, and Al Hannigan, a truck driver.[1] Hannigan is Jewish on her mother's side and also has Irish ancestry.[2][3] Her parents divorced a year after her birth and she was raised mostly by her mother in Atlanta.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
Hannigan outside the stage door after When Harry Met Sally... in London, in May 2004.
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. Throughout most of the early-1990s, she appeared in commercials.[citation needed]
In 1997, 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.[7]
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 sitcomThe Goode Family in 2009.[8]
Alyson 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.[9]
