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Quick Facts
- NAME: Alyson Hannigan
- OCCUPATION: Film Actress, Television Actress
- BIRTH DATE: March 24, 1974 (Age: 39)
- EDUCATION: Northside School of Performing Arts, North Hollywood High School, California State University, Northridge
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Washington, D.C.
- Full Name: Alyson Lee Hannigan
- AKA: Alyson Hannigan
- ZODIAC SIGN: Aries
Best Known For
Alyson Hannigan got her start by starring on the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, followed by a recurring role in the American Pie movie trilogy. Since 2005, she has starred on TV's How I Met Your Mother.
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Play NowAlyson Hannigan. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 09:23, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/alyson-hannigan-17149162.
Alyson Hannigan. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/alyson-hannigan-17149162 [Accessed 23 May 2013].
"Alyson Hannigan." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 23 2013, 09:23 http://www.biography.com/people/alyson-hannigan-17149162.
"Alyson Hannigan," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/alyson-hannigan-17149162 [accessed May 23, 2013].
"Alyson Hannigan," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/alyson-hannigan-17149162 (accessed May 23, 2013).
Alyson Hannigan [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 23] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/alyson-hannigan-17149162.
Alyson Hannigan, http://www.biography.com/people/alyson-hannigan-17149162 (last visited May 23, 2013).
Alyson Hannigan. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/alyson-hannigan-17149162. Accessed May 23, 2013.
Synopsis
Alyson Hannigan was born on March 24, 1974, in Washington, D.C. In 1988, she made her film debut in My Stepmother is an Alien. Upon completing her studies in 1997, she landed her breakthrough role in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Around the same time, she also achieved stardom on the big screen with the 1999 film American Pie. She also appeared in the film's two sequels.
Early Life
Alyson Lee Hannigan was born on March 24, 1974, in Washington, D.C. Of mixed Irish and Jewish descent, Hannigan's father, Albert, was an overnight truck driver, and her mother, Emilie, was a real estate agent. Her parents divorced when she was only two years old, and Hannigan and her mother moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Hannigan got her start in show business at a very young age, appearing in her first film—an instructional video for new parents called Active Parenting—before her first birthday.
While still a toddler, Hannigan appeared in dozens of print advertisements and developed a love for posing before the camera. "Whenever they needed a baby, they would put me in front of the camera, and I loved it," she says. Hannigan then moved into commercial acting. At the age of four, she appeared in her first commercial for Duncan Hines, and she later appeared in national TV commercials for Oreos and McDonald's as well.
Hannigan attended the Northside School of the Performing Arts in Atlanta, where she played clarinet in the band and also featured for the soccer team. At the age of 11, she and her mother moved to Los Angeles so she could pursue her budding acting career more seriously. Three years later, in 1988, a 14-year-old Hannigan made her film debut in the sci-fi comedy My Stepmother is an Alien.
For the next two years, Hannigan had a small but recurring role on the ABC fantasy sitcom Free Spirit. Still, at this point in her career parts were hard to come by, and Hannigan worked at a video store and as a babysitter to supplement her acting work. For a time she babysat the real-life daughters of Bob Saget, the legendary comedian and TV dad who would become her future costar on How I Met Your Mother. Hannigan graduated from North Hollywood High School in 1992 and enrolled at California State University, Northridge to study psychology. While taking classes at Northridge, Hannigan also continued to act, appearing in TV series such as Almost Home (1993) and Touched by an Angel (1994).
Breakthrough Role: 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'
Upon completing her studies in 1997, Alyson Hannigan retuned to acting full time and landed her breakthrough role on the long-running and enormously popular TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The show follows Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar), a teenage girl with superpowers that allow her to fight off vampires and other demons. Hannigan played Willow Rosenberg, Buffy's quirky and complicated best friend, who is revealed to be a lesbian in later seasons. The show's creator, Joss Whedon, did not initially want to cast Hannigan in the role.
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