Alison Sweeney's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Days of our Lives Sami Brady The Biggest Loser Host Celebrity Cooking Showdown Alison Swee… Family Man Rosie Tobin Search Party Celebrity C… SoapTalk Alison Swee…

Main Movie Roles

BIOGRAPHY:

Alison Sweeney (born Alison Ann Sweeney; September 19, 1976) is an American dramatic actress and reality show host. Sweeney is best known for her portrayal of Samantha "Sami" Brady Hernandez on NBC's long running Days of our Lives, a role she has played under contract with the show since January 6, 1993. In this role, she has earned four Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Fan Voted Daytime Emmy Award. In 2007, she became the host of The Biggest Loser.

Career
Her television debut was at age five in a Kodak advertisement. A few years later, she was in an episode of Tales from the Darkside. The episode, titled I Can't Help Saying Goodbye, first aired on October 5, 1986. She played the part of a young girl named Karen who could sense when others were going to die shortly before their deaths. In 1988, she appeared on the short-lived ABC sitcom Family Man, and the following year, was cast as Christy McCray on A Brand New Life, a miniseries from future X-Files creator Chris Carter that aired within NBC's Magical World of Disney in October 1989. The miniseries, which co-starred Barbara Eden as Sweeney's mother and Don Murray as her new stepfather, was considered for pick-up as a stand alone series beyond its Disney tryout, but the regular series never materialized.


On January 22, 1993, Sweeney first appeared in the role of Samantha "Sami" Gene Brady in the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives—a show of which she was a fan. In the 1990s, Sweeney struggled with her weight. She eventually was a dress size 12, not obese by medical standards, but still larger than her television peers. She documented all the tabloid talk and personal anguish in her 2004 memoir, All The Days of My Life (So Far). In 2002, she appeared on a celebrity episode of the NBC reality game show Fear Factor. She has appeared in other NBC shows such as Friends and Las Vegas. In 2007, she joined the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon as a co-host for the live television broadcast. She returned to her co-hosting duties for the 2008, 2009, and 2010 telethons. In 2007, Sweeney took over hosting duties on The Biggest Loser, replacing Caroline Rhea since the fourth season. She was surprised but happy to be offered the role, where she is able to cheer on contestants and share their victories. Sweeney will be starring in (and is the executive producer of) TV Guide Network's upcoming show, Hollywood Moms' Club, which airs in November 2011.




TRIVIA:

• Gave birth to her second child, daughter named Megan Hope Sanov, on January 12, 2009.
• In addition to swimming and kick-boxing, which her TV-sister 'Christie Clark' (qv) also enjoys, Alison loves gymnastics and can do a mean back-handspring.
• She loves being recognized by fans for her _"Tales from the Darkside" (1984)_ (qv) episodes. Actually, she played a different character (both were named "Karen") in each episode.
• She was the champion of the "Daytime Stars" edition of _"Weakest Link" (2001)_ (qv), after competing against fellow _"Days of Our Lives" (1965)_ (qv) and _"Passions" (1999)_ (qv) stars.
• Alison Sweeney won the Viewers Choice award for Favorite Villain at the 29th Annual Daytime Emmies.
• Took _"Days of Our Lives" (1965)_ (qv) co-star 'Bryan Dattilo' (qv) to her senior prom.
• Speaks Spanish fluently.
• Growing up, the Sweeney siblings - Ryan, Alison and Sten - had a system for keeping each other "in line": The elder sibling(s) would tell the younger one that s/he (the younger sibling) had been left at the Sweeney home by gangsters; and that if the younger "sib" didn't behave, the elder "sib(s)" would take him/her back to prison. (And it worked, too.)