Hannigan in 2011, image via Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
Birth Name: Alyson Lee Hannigan
Place of Birth: Washington, D.C., U.S.
Date of Birth: March 24, 1974
Ethnicity:
*Irish (father)
*Ashkenazi Jewish (mother)
Alyson Hannigan is an American actress and television presenter. She is known for starring in the American Pie universe, and for her roles in the films Impure Thoughts, My Stepmother Is an Alien, Date Movie, You Might Be the Killer, and Flora & Ulysses, and on the shows Free Spirit, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, How I Met Your Mother, Penn & Teller: Fool Us, and Fancy Nancy. She has also been billed as Alyson Denisof.
She is the daughter of Emilie, a real estate agent, and Al Hannigan, a Teamsters truck driver. She has Irish ancestry on her father’s side. Her mother is Jewish; her family was from Poland and Russia. Alyson moved to Hollywood, California, as a young teen for her acting career. She is married to actor Alexis Denisof, with whom she has two children.
Alyson’s maternal grandfather was Jacob R. “Jack” Posner (the son of Samuel Posner and Goldie Grossfeld). Jacob was born in Maryland, to Jewish emigrants from Eastern Europe, either Russia or Poland, depending on the census.
Alyson’s maternal grandmother is Dorothy Mendel (the daughter of Hyman Noah “Herman” Mendel and Esther Pessie Freedman). Dorothy was born in Atlanta, to Jewish parents from the Russian Empire, with roots in Latvia and Lithuania. Hyman was the son of Abraham Mendel and Sara.
Sources: Genealogy of Alyson Hannigan (focusing on her mother’s side) – https://www.geni.com
Alyson’s maternal grandfather, Jacob R. “Jack” Posner, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Jacob R. “Jack” Posner on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Obituary of Alyson’s maternal grandfather, Jacob R. “Jack” Posner – http://articles.baltimoresun.com
Alyson’s maternal grandmother, Dorothy Mendel, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
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