Alyson Hannigan

Nine seasons as Lily Aldrin on How I Met Your Mother, years hosting Penn & Teller: Fool Us, and a 2026 Kevin James comedy.

After the show

Hannigan finished Buffy in 2003 and that summer returned as Michelle in American Wedding, the third American Pie film. In 2005 she began playing Lily Aldrin on CBS’s How I Met Your Mother, a role she held for all nine seasons and 206 episodes through 2014. Along the way she appeared in Date Movie (2006) and reunited with the American Pie cast for American Reunion (2012).

She also kept a steady voice and guest career, with parts on The Simpsons, Robot Chicken, American Dad! and Sofia the First, and she voiced Claire Clancy on Disney Junior’s Fancy Nancy (2018 to 2022).

In March 2016 The CW named her host of Penn & Teller: Fool Us, starting with its third season. She hosted the magic competition for several seasons before Brooke Burke took over for season 10. Other work from this period includes the horror comedy You Might Be the Killer (2018), Disney Channel’s Kim Possible movie (2019), the Disney+ film Flora & Ulysses (2021), and hosting Food Network’s Outrageous Pumpkins and Girl Scout Cookie Championship.

Lately

In fall 2023 Hannigan competed on season 32 of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars with partner Sasha Farber. The pair reached the December 2023 finale and finished fifth. The same year she guest-starred on Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. and appeared in the Comedy Central film Office Race, and in 2024 she competed on Beat Bobby Flay.

In February 2026 Angel Studios released Solo Mio, a romantic comedy co-written by and starring Kevin James, with Hannigan in a supporting role alongside Kim Coates and Jonathan Roumie. It was the studio’s first romantic comedy.

Off screen

Hannigan married her Buffy and Angel co-star Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce) in October 2003. The couple have two daughters.