Alison Ann Sweeney (born September 19, 1976) is an American soap opera actress. She was born in Los Angeles, California.
Sweeney is best known for her portrayal of Samantha "Sami" Gene Brady on the American soap opera Days of Our Lives. In this role, she has earned four Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Fan Voted Daytime Emmy Award. She has been on Days since January 6, 1993. A teenage actress on the soap, she took fellow Days star Bryan Dattilo to her high school prom.
Her television debut was at age 5 in a Kodak advertisement.
In the 1990s, Sweeney struggled with her weight. She eventually was a dress size 12, not obese by medical standards, but still quite 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. Her appearance was notable for her panic at being in a "coffin" with large flatworms, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, and snakes.
On February 25, 2005, Sweeney gave birth to a son Benjamin Edward Sanov at 10:30 AM.
Sweeney currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband David Sanov, a California highway patrolman, who once appeared on Days of Our Lives in the role of a police officer.
She now hosts the fifth season of The Biggest Loser. Sweeney replaced Caroline Rhea in the fourth season. She has appeared in other NBC shows such as Friends and Las Vegas.
Alison Sweeney won the Viewers Choice award for Favorite Villain at the 29th Annual Daytime Emmies.
She was the champion of the "Daytime Stars" edition of "Weakest Link" (2001), after competing against fellow "Days of Our Lives" (1965) and "Passions" (1999) stars.
Took "Days of Our Lives" (1965) co-star Bryan Dattilo to her senior prom.
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.)
She loves being recognized by fans for her "Tales from the Darkside" (1984) episodes. Actually, she played a different character (both were named "Karen") in each episode.
Speaks Spanish fluently.
The second of three children, Alison has an older brother and a younger one.
She and her husband David welcomed their first child, a son, Benjamin Edward on February 25, 2005 at 10:30am. The baby weighed in at seven pounds.
Was an evening undergraduate at UCLA, where she took business classes after work.
Her son Ben doubles as a physical training-partner...sort of. Every morning, she first does push-ups with the baby lying under her...letting her long mane dangle over him. Then Ali does sit-ups with Ben lying on her chest for resistance. After that, she lifts and lowers him overhead to work her triceps. Ali credits Ben with being a terrific motivation.
In addition to swimming and kick-boxing, which her TV-sister Christie Clark also enjoys, Alison loves gymnastics and can do a mean back-handspring.
