Alison Brie Schermerhorn (born December 29, 1982) is an American actress, producer, and writer. Her accolades include a Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as nominations for four Critics' Choice Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.
Brie gained recognition for playing Trudy Campbell in the drama series Mad Men (2007–2015) and for her breakthrough role as Annie Edison in the sitcom Community (2009–2015). She then voiced Diane Nguyen in the animated comedy series BoJack Horseman (2014–2020) and garnered critical acclaim for portraying Ruth Wilder in the comedy drama series GLOW (2017–2019).
Brie has appeared in films such as Scream 4 (2011), The Five-Year Engagement (2012), The Lego Movie film series (2014–2019), Get Hard (2015), Sleeping with Other People (2015), How to Be Single (2016), The Post (2017), The Little Hours (2017), Promising Young Woman (2020), Happiest Season (2020), and Together (2025). She has also expanded into filmmaking, having written, produced, and starred in Horse Girl (2020), Spin Me Round (2022), and Somebody I Used to Know (2023).
Early life Alison Brie Schermerhorn was born on December 29, 1982, in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Her father is a musician and freelance entertainment reporter. Her mother works at Para los Niños ("For the Children"), a non-profit childcare agency.Staff Reports , California Municipal Finance Authority She has a sister named Lauren. Brie's mother is Jewish. Her father was raised Catholic, and has Dutch, English, and Scottish ancestry.'Schermerhorn' is a Dutch toponymic surname. While being raised by her divorced parents, she occasionally attended a "Christian-Hindu hybrid church" called the Self-Realization Fellowship with her father, while her mother "would always make sure we knew we were Jewish". She graduated from South Pasadena High School in 2001. The summer between high school and college, she worked as a clown named Sunny at children's birthday parties.
She graduated from the California Institute of the Arts with a bachelor's degree in theater in 2005. Her studies included a year at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.
Career 2000s and 2010s
Brie began acting onstage at the Jewish Community Center in Southern California. Her first television role came in 2006 as Nina, a novice hairdresser, on the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana. She received further recognition as Trudy Campbell in the AMC period drama series Mad Men (2007–2015), which won her the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. She went on to star in the web series My Alibi, which aired from 2008 to 2009.
From 2009 to 2015, she portrayed Annie Edison on the NBC/Yahoo! View sitcom Community, for which she was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and won an Entertainment Weekly Award from two nominations. In April 2010, she co-hosted an episode of Attack of the Show! (and again in March 2011) and appeared in a segment on Web Soup. She appeared in the 2010 comedy film Montana Amazon. Brie made Maxim magazine's 2010 Hot 100 list at number 99 and appeared at number 49 in their 2011 list. She was voted the 57th Sexiest Woman in the World by FHM readers in 2013. She was voted the second-most desirable woman in the world by AskMen readers in 2014.
Brie had several major film roles, including as Rebecca Walters, Sidney Prescott's assistant, in the slasher horror film Scream 4 (2011), and Suzie Barnes in the romantic comedy film The Five-Year Engagement (2012). She voiced Princess Unikitty in the animated comedy film The Lego Movie (2014), and voiced a character in an episode of the animated series American Dad!, which aired during their eighth season.
In June 2014, Brie joined the cast of the Netflix series BoJack Horseman, which debuted on August 22. She has since voiced a variety of characters, including main character Diane Nguyen and recurring character Vincent Adultman. She appeared on Lip Sync Battle and won against Will Arnett with performances of "Shoop" by Salt-N-Pepa and "Bang Bang" by Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj.
In 2015, she starred with Jason Sudeikis in Leslye Headland's romantic comedy film Sleeping with Other People, and played Will Ferrell's character's fiancée in the comedy film Get Hard. In 2016, she starred as Lucy in the romantic comedy film How to Be Single, and as Martha Dunstable in Julian Fellowes' adaptation of Anthony Trollope's Dr. Thorne for television.
In 2017, she co-starred in several films, including the historical comedy The Little Hours, the biographical comedy-drama The Disaster Artist, and the historical drama The Post. From 2017 to 2019, she starred as Ruth Wilder in the Netflix comedy-drama series GLOW, which was inspired by the 1980s female professional wrestling promotion Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. Brie noted that since appearing in GLOW and receiving critical praise for it, she has become more focused on taking "meaningful" roles. For her performance, she earned multiple nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.
In 2018, she co-starred in the music video for Beck's "Colors". In 2019, she reprised her voice role as Princess Unikitty in the animated comedy sequel film The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part and provided an English dub for the Japanese animated romantic fantasy film Weathering with You.
2020s In 2020, Brie starred in the drama thriller film Promising Young Woman, directed by Emerald Fennell. Also that year, she wrote, produced and starred as Sarah in the Netflix drama film Horse Girl, which was directed by Jeff Baena. Brie then starred opposite Dan Stevens in the horror film The Rental, which was directed by her husband Dave Franco. Brie played Sloane in the romantic comedy film Happiest Season, directed by Clea DuVall. In 2021, she starred as a celebrity guest voice in the fifth season of the animated sitcom Rick and Morty.
In 2022, Brie starred in and co-wrote the dark comedy film Spin Me Round with frequent collaborator and director Jeff Baena; it was released in select theatres by IFC Films and streamed on AMC+ . She also starred in an episode of the Apple TV+ anthology TV series Roar, "The Woman Who Solved Her Own Murder". The series is based on the eponymous book by Cecelia Ahern.
In 2022, Brie was to reprise her role as Annie in a Community film.
In 2023, Brie wrote and starred in the romantic comedy film Somebody I Used to Know with her husband Dave Franco, who also co-wrote and directed it. It was released on Amazon Prime Video on February 10 and became the #1 film on the platform in the US and worldwide. In 2023, Brie also voiced the character of Aftershock in the Disney Channel animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
In February 2023, Brie was cast in Peacock's limited TV series adaptation of the Liane Moriarty novel Apples Never Fall with Jake Lacy, Annette Bening, and Sam Neill.
On September 4, 2024, she was announced as Evil-Lyn for the upcoming live action movie reboot of Masters of the Universe. She stars as Macy's Gift Guide in the American department store chain's Holiday 2024 advertising campaign."Macy's Unveils Holiday 2024 Campaign Starring Acclaimed Actress Alison Brie as the 'Macy's Gift Guide,'" Macy's press release, Monday, October 28, 2024. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
In 2025, Brie stars with her husband Dave Franco in the supernatural body horror film Together.
Personal life
Brie and actor Dave Franco began dating in 2012 after meeting during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. On August 25, 2015, they were reported to be engaged. They married on March 13, 2017. Brie and Franco have collaborated on 5 films together.
Brie has stated in several interviews that she does not want to have children. In a BuzzFeed video released on February 17, 2023, Brie states that she is bisexual.
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Notes 2004 Stolen Poem Alice Short film 2007 Born Mary Elizabeth Martino Dickie Smalls: From Shame to Fame Mya 2008 Parasomnia Darcy Grace Buddy 'n' Andy Michelle Short film Salvation, Texas Lisa Salter 2009 Us One Night Alyson 2010 Hannah Raspberry Magic Ms. Bradlee 2011 Scream 4 Rebecca Walters 2012 Save the Date Beth The Five-Year Engagement Suzie Barnes-Eilhauer Montana Amazon Ella Dunderhead 2013 Heather Toy 2014 The Lego Movie Princess UnikittyVoice A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. Harmontown Herself Documentary film Search Party Elizabeth Lennon or McCartney Herself Documentary short film 2015 Sleeping with Other People Elaine "Lainey" Dalton Get Hard Alissa Barrow No Stranger Than Love Lucy Sherrington 2016 Joshy Rachel How to Be Single Lucy Get a Job Tanya Sellers A Family Man Lynn Vogel 2017 The Post Lally Weymouth The Little Hours Sister Alessandra The Disaster Artist Amber 2018 Emmet's Holiday Party Princess Unikitty Voice, short film 2019 Weathering with You Natsumi Suga Voice, English dub The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part Princess UnikittyVoice 2020 Promising Young Woman Madison McPhee Horse Girl Sarah Also writer and producer The Rental Michelle Happiest Season Sloane Caldwell 2022 Spin Me Round Amber Also writer and producer 2023 Somebody I Used to Know Ally Also writer and executive producer Freelance Claire Wellington 2025 Together Millie Wilson Also producer 2026 Masters of the Universe Evil-Lyn The Revisionist Elise Filming
Television Year Title Role Notes 2006 Hannah Montana Nina Episode: "It's My Party and I'll Lie if I Want To" 2007 Not Another High School Show Muffy Unsold pilot 2007–2015 Mad Men Trudy Campbell Recurring role 2008 The Deadliest Lesson Amber Television film 2009–2015 Community Annie Edison Main role 2011 Robot Chicken Martha Stewart / Vampire Lifeguard Voice, episode: "The Godfather of the Bride 2" 2012 NTSF:SD:SUV:: Joanie Episode: "Sabbath-tage" American Dad! Lindsay Voice, episode: "Adventures in Hayleysitting" 2013 High School USA! Miss Temple Voice, episode: "Choices" Axe Cop Beautiful Girly Bobs Voice, episode: "The Dumb List" 2014 Comedy Bang! Bang! Herself Episode: "Alison Brie Wears a Black Mesh Top & Mini-Skirt" 2014–2020 BoJack Horseman Diane Nguyen / Various voices Voice, main role 2016 Teachers Lauren Lark Episode: "Pilot"; also executive producer Doctor Thorne Martha Dunstable Main role 2017 Dr. Ken Herself Episode: "Ken's Big Audition" 2017–2019 GLOW Ruth Wilder Main role; also directed episode: "Hollywood Homecoming" 2019 Drunk History Thea Spyer Episode: "Love" 2020 Make It Work! Herself Television special Marvel's 616 Directed episode: "Spotlight" 2021 Cinema Toast Jane Voice, episode: "Familiesgiving" Rick and Morty Planetina Voice, episode: "A Rickconvenient Mort" Star Wars: Visions Am Voice, episode: "The Twins"; English dub 2022 Roar Rebecca Moss Episode: "The Woman Who Solved Her Own Murder"2023 Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Aftershock / Allison Dillon Voice, episode: "Moon Girl Landing" Carol & the End of the World Voice, episode: "David" 2024 Apples Never Fall Amy Delaney Main role; Miniseries 2024–2025 Krapopolis Tina Voice, 3 episodes
Web Year Title Role Notes 2008–2009 My Alibi Rebecca Fuller Main role 2009 Hot Sluts Amber Main role 2012 Sketchy Meg Episode: "You Got Retweeted" 2013 Madonna Episode: "Madonna & Rosie O'Donnell" 2020 The Cast of Community Reunites for Table Read Annie Edison Online Fundraiser
Video games Year Title Voice role 2015 Lego Dimensions Princess Unikitty 2016 Marvel Avengers Academy Black Widow
Music videos Year Title Artist Role 2018 "Colors" Crossfade Herself
Theme park attractions