Alison Sweeney

Alison Ann Sweeney is an American actress, reality show host, director, producer, and author. Born on September 19, 1976, she is best known for her portrayal of Samantha "Sami" Brady on the long-running NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives. She is also widely recognized for hosting the reality competition series The Biggest Loser from its fourth season in 2007 through its sixteenth season in 2015.

Sweeney is of Irish descent and grew up with two brothers. Her screen career began at the age of five when she appeared in a television advertisement for Kodak. She later attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to study economics, but left her studies due to her commitments to Days of Our Lives.

As a young actress, Sweeney appeared in an episode of the horror series Tales from the Darkside titled "I Can't Help Saying Goodbye," playing a child who could sense impending deaths. In 1988, she appeared in the ABC sitcom Family Man. The following year, she was cast as Christy McCray in Brand New Life, a 1989 NBC miniseries created by Chris Carter that aired within NBC's Magical World of Disney.

On January 6, 1993, at sixteen years old, Sweeney debuted in her signature role as Samantha "Sami" Brady on Days of Our Lives, a show she had watched as a fan. She played the role under contract until October 2014. Following her initial departure, she made sporadic appearances, returned for the show's 50th anniversary celebrations, reprised the role again in 2017, and returned as a series regular in 2021.

In addition to acting, Sweeney expanded her career into television hosting and directing. She co-hosted the live broadcasts of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon from 2007 to 2010, hosted The Biggest Loser from 2007 to 2015, and joined the daytime drama General Hospital behind the scenes as a director in 2014. Her other television credits include guest appearances on NBC shows such as Friends, Las Vegas, and a celebrity edition of Fear Factor.

Sweeney is also an author and television movie star. She has published four books: her 2004 memoir All The Days of My Life (So Far) and the novels The Star Attraction, Scared Scriptless: A Novel, and Opportunity Knocks. She starred in the 2013 Hallmark Original Movie Second Chances, played podcast host Alex McPherson in the Chronicle Mysteries film series from 2019 to 2021, and has appeared in the Murder, She Baked film series since 2015.

For her performance on Days of Our Lives, Sweeney earned a Daytime Emmy Award nomination, a Fan Voted Daytime Emmy Award, and four Soap Opera Digest Awards. She married David Sanov on July 8, 2000, and the couple has a son and a daughter. After residing in Los Angeles, her family relocated to Arizona.