Allison Williams (actress)

Allison Howell Williams (born April 13, 1988) is an American actress. She first received attention on YouTube and as a member of the improv comedy troupe Just Add Water. She then played Marnie Michaels in the HBO comedy-drama series '' Girls'' (2012–2017), receiving a Critics' Choice Award nomination. Her continued television roles include the Netflix black comedy ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'' (2018–2019) and the Showtime miniseries ''Fellow Travelers'' (2023).

Williams' film breakthrough came with Jordan Peele's psychological horror ''Get Out'' (2017), earning nominations at the MTV Movie Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. She then starred in and produced the comedy horror films '' M3GAN'' (2022) and ''M3GAN 2.0'' (2025). For her work in the horror genre, Williams has been deemed a scream queen.

Early life

Allison Howell Williams was born on April 13, 1988, in Hartford, Connecticut, and raised in New Canaan, Connecticut. She is the daughter of former ''NBC Nightly News'' anchor and managing editor Brian Williams and TV producer Jane Gillan Stoddard. She has a younger brother Doug, the WCBS-TV reporter and anchor and former late-night anchor of Geico SportsNite on SportsNet New York. Williams attended New Canaan Country School and Greenwich Academy.
*"I went to the New Canaan Nature Center for preschool," she said. "I was so into that world, and still think about it all the time. It established my love for nature and animals." "New Canaan Country School and Greenwich Academy followed." She later attended Yale University majoring in English; she was a member of Morse College and the St. Elmo secret society. In 2010, Yale made a "That's Why I Chose Yale" promotional video featuring among others Williams, whose contribution went viral. She graduated Yale with a degree in English in 2010.

Career

2004–2017: Early work and television roles

Williams began her career as a member of the improv comedy troupe Just Add Water, working with them for four years and acting in the YouTube series ''College Musical.'' The project featured Sam Tsui and was directed by Kurt Hugo Schneider, both of whom also attended Yale.

In 2010, Williams performed a mashup of "Nature Boy" set to RJD2's "A Beautiful Mine", the theme song for the television series ''Mad Men''. The YouTube video of the performance received widespread praise on the Internet.After seeing Williams' mashup, Judd Apatow was convinced to cast Williams in the HBO series '' Girls''. The series premiered on April 15, 2012, and generated high praise from television critics but sparked many controversies. Williams was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 22nd Critics' Choice Awards. In an interview with ''The Guardian'''s Benjamin Lee in 2023, Williams said it was not stressful at the time, but, "If I was cast on ''Girls'' now, the experience would be much more stressful, ..We were so young and it was loud in the way of watercooler and thinkpieces and Gawker was, like, obsessed with us and it was the heyday of that kind of thing but I didn’t have any sense of how to calibrate how big any of it really was."

From 2011 to 2012, Williams appeared as Cheryl in the CollegeHumor series '' Jake and Amir''. On December 4, 2014, she starred in the title role on NBC's live television presentation of the musical ''Peter Pan Live!'', opposite Christopher Walken as Captain Hook.

In November 2016, Williams appeared in ''Past Forward'', a short film collaboration between David O. Russell and Prada. Williams wrote a series of Funny or Die sketches starring as newlywed Kate Middleton, with English actor and model Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.

2017–present: Film breakthrough and mainstream recognition

In 2017, Williams starred in the horror film ''Get Out'', which was her feature film debut. Director Jordan Peele was convinced she was right for the role of Rose after seeing her performance in '' Peter Pan Live!'' and cast her in order to "disorient audiences". Williams said that she had been "looking for a role that would weaponize everything that people take for granted about me. So I instantly signed on to it." To prepare for the role, Williams isolated herself from the cast and crew during production in order to understand the psychopathic nature of her character. The film received critical acclaim, and the performances of the acting ensemble were praised. Johnny Hoffman of ''MovieWeb'' praised her for being "suspicious and charming from beginning to end" and wrote that "Williams proved, with this character, that she is perfectly capable of portraying an effective villain." The film earned her several accolades, including nominations for the MTV Award for Best Villain and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

That same year, Williams was cast in the role of Charlotte on the Netflix horror film '' The Perfection'', released on May 24, 2019 to mixed reviews though her performance was called "compelling". In 2018, she was cast as Kit Snicket in the Netflix comedy-drama series ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'', a recurring character throughout the show's second and third seasons. Two years later, Williams appeared in the Swedish thriller film '' Horizon Line''.

Three years after ''Get Out'', Williams reteamed with Blumhouse Productions to executive produce and star in '' M3GAN''. She plays Gemma, a roboticist and creator of the titular robot. The film was released on January 6, 2023 to commercial success, becoming the second highest-grossing film of her career. Williams was also critically lauded for her performance. Jason Zinoman of The New York Times said that she had a "knack for playing it straight" and further wrote that she "capably updates the mad-scientist archetype, refusing to pause and ask questions while inventing a doll of the future, one who pairs with a child and adjusts to their needs, filling in as best friend and big sister." Fletcher Peters of ''The Daily Beast'' wrote that Williams "conquers her role" and further praised her ability "to play off the absurdity with such finesse is incredible €¦ Williams excels in the gruesome scenes just as well as she does with the comedy". Kristy Puchko of ''Mashable'' said that she "solidly grounds the human drama within this scary sci-fi premise of a killer doll."

Following her roles in ''Get Out'', ''The Perfection'' and ''M3GAN'', she was dubbed a horror queen by several media outlets. She will reprise the role of Gemma in ''M3GAN 2.0'', a sequel film that she also produces set for release in 2025. She starred as Lucy Smith in the October 2023 miniseries ''Fellow Travelers''. The series won a Peabody Award at the 83rd ceremony for "Chronicling LGBTQ+ History Over 50 Years."

Personal life

Williams began dating Ricky Van Veen, the co-founder of CollegeHumor, in 2011. They were engaged in 2014 and married on September 19, 2015, in a private ceremony in Saratoga, Wyoming. Tom Hanks officiated the ceremony. On June 27, 2019, Van Veen and Williams released a joint statement announcing their separation.

In late 2019, Williams began dating German actor Alexander Dreymon, whom she met while filming '' Horizon Line''. In late 2021, they had a son. In December 2022, it was reported that the couple had become engaged.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Allison
1988 births
Living people
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Connecticut
American child actresses
American film actresses
American television actresses
American voice actresses
People from New Canaan, Connecticut
Yale College alumni