Alyson Hannigan (born March 24, 1974) is an American actress best known for starring as Lily Aldrin in the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” (2005-2015), for which she won two People’s Choice Awards, Willow Rosenberg in the television series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1997–2003), and Michelle Flaherty in the “American Pie” film series (1999–2012).
Early life and education
Hannigan was born on March 24, 1974 in Washington, D.C., the only child of Emilie (Posner) Haas, a real-estate agent, and Alan Hannigan, a Teamsters trucker. Her father is of Irish ancestry and her mother is Jewish.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 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.
Career
Hannigan got her start in television starring in the short-lived sitcom Free Spirit from 1989 to 1990, for which she earned a Young Artist Award nomination. After several minor roles in television films and other series, she appeared in her breakout role as teenage witch Willow Rosenberg in the supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, appearing in every episode from 1997 to 2003. Her role on the show was critically acclaimed and won her the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television and a Teen Choice Award.
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.
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.
Hannigan began her film career with supporting roles in the comedy films Impure Thoughts (1986) and My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988), getting a Young Artist Award nomination for the latter. In 1999, she began starring in the American Pie film series as Michelle Flaherty, the films’ primary love interest, appearing in every film in the series from 1999 to 2012. For her role in the series, she was nominated for three Teen Choice Awards and won a Young Hollywood Award.
From 2005 to 2014, she starred as Lily Aldrin in the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, for which she won two People’s Choice Awards. Hannigan has hosted the television show Penn & Teller: Fool Us since 2016 and provides the voice of Claire Clancy in the Disney Junior animated series Fancy Nancy (2018–2022).
She was also a guest star on the ABC animated sitcom The Goode Family in 2009.
Hannigan 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.
In 2012, Hannigan reprised the role of Michelle in American Reunion. Hannigan plays Ann Possible, Kim’s mother, in the Disney Channel original film Kim Possible, based on the animated series.
Personal life
Hannigan married her Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel co-star Alexis Denisof at Two Bunch Palms Resort in Desert Hot Springs, California, on October 11, 2003. The couple lives in Encino, Los Angeles with daughters Satyana Marie, born in March 2009, and Keeva Jane, born in May 2012. Their home was used as a set for This Is Us.
Net Worth
Alyson Hannigan is an American actress who has a net worth of $40 million.
In 2002, Alyson paid $1.96 million for a home in Santa Monica, California. She and her husband Alexis Denisof listed the home for sale in 2018 for $5.1 million. A few months later they sold the home for $4.9 million.
In 2015 they bought a much larger home in Brentwood for $8 million which for some reason they sold a year later for $8.156 million. At that same time they paid $8 million for a three-acre compound in the hills of Encino. In June of 2022 Alyson and Alexis listed their Encino home for a whopping $18 million:
