Who plays Willow Rosenberg?

Alyson Hannigan plays Willow Rosenberg in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Willow begins the series as a shy, highly intelligent Sunnydale High student and becomes one of Buffy’s closest friends and the Scooby Gang’s most powerful magical ally.

Hannigan played Willow throughout all 144 episodes of Buffy’s original television run from 1997 to 2003. Her performance tracks Willow’s transformation from a nervous computer expert into a confident witch whose abilities eventually become powerful enough to threaten both her friends and the world when she is consumed by dark magic.

Viewers sometimes confuse Hannigan with Amber Benson, who plays Tara Maclay, Willow’s romantic partner. Hannigan also reprised Willow in three episodes of the spin-off Angel. Outside the Buffy universe, she became widely known as Michelle Flaherty in the American Pie films and Lily Aldrin in How I Met Your Mother.