Alyson Hannigan

Alyson Hannigan
Hannigan at the May 2015 Phoenix Comicon
Born	Alyson Lee Hannigan (1974-03-24) March 24, 1974 (age 42) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Residence	Santa Monica, California
Other names	Alyson Denisof
Alma mater	California State University, Northridge
Occupation	Actress, television host
Years active	1986–present
Spouse(s)	Alexis Denisof (m. 2003)
Children	2

Alyson Lee Hannigan (born March 24, 1974) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Willow Rosenberg on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003), Lily Aldrin on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014), and Michelle Flaherty in the American Pie film series (1999–2012).

Hannigan was born in Washington, DC, the only child of Emilie (Posner) Haas, a real estate agent, and Al Hannigan, a truck driver. Her father is of Irish ancestry and her mother is Jewish. Her parents divorced when she was two, and she was raised mostly by her mother in Atlanta, Georgia.

At age four, Hannigan began appearing in commercials. She moved to Hollywood at age 11. 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, where she was a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority and earned a degree in psychology.

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 later joined 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. As a teenager, Hannigan babysat for the children of her future How I Met Your Mother costar, Bob Saget.