Alyson Lee Hannigan

Alyson Leigh Hannigan, born March 24, 1974 was an American actress. She is most famous for her roles as Willow Rosenberg in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) as well as Lily Aldrin in the sitcom How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014) for which she won a People's Choice Award in 2009, and as Michelle Flaherty in the American Pie film series (1999-2012). Since 2016 Hannigan has hosted the tv show Penn and Teller: Penn & Teller: Fool Us. She also voice of Claire Clancy in the Disney Junior animated series Fancy Nancy (2018-present). Hannigan was born in Washington, D.C., the sole daughter of Emilie (Posner) Haas, a real-estate agent, and Alan Hannigan, a Teamsters trucker. Her father is Irish and her mother is Jewish. At age four, Hannigan began appearing in commercials. At the age of 11, Hannigan moved to Hollywood with her mother. While in Santa Barbara, her father began auditioning for agents. She went to California State University Northridge after high school. At the university, she was a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and received a psychology degree. Hannigan's debut film role was in My Stepmother Is an Alien in 1988. Seth Green was one of her co-stars. He later became her partner on Buffy. In 1989, her debut regular role on a TV show was when she was in the short-lived ABC sitcom Free Spirit. Hannigan was a teen when she babysat the kids of Bob Saget, her How I Met Your Mother co-star. In 1997, Hannigan was cast to play Willow Rosenberg, Buffy Summers Best Friend on the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.The show was a big success, and Hannigan received recognition afterward, appearing in several films aimed at teenaged audiences, including American Pie (1999), Boys and Girls (2000), American Pie 2 (2001), and American Wedding (2003).She also had an appearance on the Buffy spin-off, Angel, reprising her role as Willow in a handful of episodes.