Alyson Hannigan

Alyson Hannigan (born March 24, 1974) is an American actress. She currently plays Lily Aldrin in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, but is also well known for her previous role as Willow Rosenberg on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She also played flutist Michelle Flaherty in the American Pie film series.

Alyson 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 and supporting roles on television shows, including Picket Fences, Roseanne and Touched by an Angel.

In 1997, Alyson 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 $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.

In early 2004, Alyson Hannigan made her West End debut, starring in a stage adaptation of When Harry Met Sally... at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, opposite Luke Perry. In 2005, Alyson Hannigan returned to starring in a regular television series, appearing in the hit comedy, How I Met Your Mother, as Lily, and also playing a recurring guest role on Veronica Mars as Trina Echolls.

Hannigan also starred as Julia Jones in Date Movie, a parody on romantic comedies.