Alexis Denisof

Alexis Denisof
Born	February 25, 1966 (1966-02-25) Salisbury, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1989–present
Spouse	Alyson Hannigan (2003–present)[1 Child]
Children	Satyana Marie Denisof (March 24, 2009)

Alexis Denisof (born February 25, 1966) is an American actor who is known for playing Wesley Wyndam-Pryce in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel.

Early life

Denisof was born in Salisbury, Maryland to a Russian-American father and an Irish-American mother. He also indicates that he is a small part French on his father's side. He moved to Seattle, Washington when he was three years old. After graduating from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, he moved to Britain where he lived and worked for a number of years. Denisof dated Caroline Aherne and he is given a special thanks in the credits for The Royle Family.

When Denisof first arrived in California to begin working in the U.S., he stayed with Ted Danson and his wife Mary Steenburgen for a year.

Career

(From left to right) Tom Lenk, Emma Caulfield, Denisof, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head, Joss Whedon, Michelle Trachtenberg at the Buffy cast party.

He was the fight director for a stage production of Hamlet, and in 1991 he was the fight director of The Other Side for the BBC, Romeo and Juliet, and The Soul's Dark Night. One of his first known works in television is on the arcade version of the video for "Got My Mind Set On You" by George Harrison. He had a small role in the movie First Knight appearing in scenes with Sean Connery and Richard Gere.

Denisof appeared with Sean Bean in three episodes of Sharpe as Lord John Rossendale. He has done many stage productions, including one with Anthony Head, who played Wesley's predecessor Rupert Giles on Buffy.

Denisof's character was first introduced in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season three as Buffy's replacement Watcher. He later showed up in episode 10 of season one of Angel, and was an official main character from episode 11 (effectively replacing Doyle), appearing in 100 out of the 110 episodes of the series.

Denisof was among 200 actors considered for the role of James Bond for Casino Royale, but lost out to Daniel Craig. He also auditioned for lead in Highlander: The Series back in the early 1990s.

Denisof appears in Season 2 of Private Practice as a man named Daniel, who has two pregnant wives giving birth on the same day.

At San Diego Comic-Con 2009, Joss Whedon confirmed that Denisof would be joining the cast of Dollhouse for multiple episodes as Senator Daniel Perrin.

In 2006, Denisof began a recurring role as Sandy Rivers on Hannigan's series How I Met Your Mother and has appeared in 7 episodes to date, most recently being seen on the January 2, 2012, episode. According to a commentary in season 1, creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays speculated that Denisof was initially reluctant to take the role because he feared it was just charity work on account of his wife, Hannigan, being a main character on the show. They go on to state that he wasn't aware, until they actually told him, that they were huge fans of his work, dating back to his time on Angel.

Personal life

According to the DVD release of Angel's Season Five, three weeks before the filming of the season premiere Denisof was stricken with Bell's palsy, from which he later recovered. Due to the paralysis of the left side of his face, scenes were structured as to not show its effects.

Denisof with wife Alyson Hannigan.

Denisof married past co-star Alyson Hannigan, who played Willow Rosenberg in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, on October 11, 2003. The couple lives in Santa Monica. Their first child, a daughter named Satyana Marie Denisof, was born on March 24, 2009 (which is also Alyson Hannigan's birthday). Hannigan's rep confirmed on December 16, 2011 that the couple was expecting their second child. Denisof is currently forming a band called The Black Scorpion.

External links

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1989	Murder Story	Tony Zonis
1991	Snow and Fire	David
1992	Dakota Road	Jacob
1995	Innocent Lies	Christopher Wood
	First Knight	Sir Gaheris
1996	True Blue	Ed Fox
1998	The Misadventures of Margaret	George
1999	Rogue Trader	Fernando Gueller
2001	Beyond the City Limits	Yuri
2002	Tarzan & Jane	Nigel Taylor	Voice Role Direct-to-Video Release
2011	Love, Wedding, Marriage	Lloyd	Co-straing with real-life wife Alyson Hannigan
	All-Star Superman	Dr. Leo Quintum	Voice Role Direct-to-Video Release
2012	Justice League: Doom	Mirror Master	Voice Role Direct-to-Video Release
	Much Ado About Nothing	Benedick
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Romeo and Juliet	Tybalt	TV-Movie
	Faith	Joel	TV-Movie
	Soldier Soldier	Lt. Bob Steadman	Episode: Proud Man
1997	Crime Traveller		Episode: Fashion Shoot
	Sharpe's Revenge	Lord John Rossendale
	Sharpe's Justice
	Sharpe's Waterloo
	Hostile Waters	John Baker	BBC TV-Movie
	Highlander: The Series	Steve Banner	Episode: Diplomatic Immunity
1998	Ghost Cop	Jonah Blade	Episode: Pilot
	The Orchard Walls	Dennis	ITV TV-Movie
1999	Noah's Ark	Ham	NBC TV-Movie
	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Wesley Wyndam-Pryce	9 episodes
1999–2004	Angel		100 episodes; Saturn Award (nominated-3)
2000	Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)	Richard Shelley	Episode: Paranoia
2001	Batman Beyond	Zander	Voice Role Episode: The Curse of the Kobra (1) Episode: The Curse of the Kobra (2)
	The Legend of Tarzan	Henry	Voice Role Episode: New Wave
2006	Justice League Unlimited	Sam Scudder / Mirror Master I	Voice Role Episode: Flash and Substance
2006, 2011, 2012	How I Met Your Mother	Sandy Rivers	Episode: Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M. Episode: Mary the Paralegal Episode: Come On Episode: Bad News Episode: The Stinson Missile Crisis Episode: Tick Tick Tick Episode: Tailgate (How I Met Your Mother)
2008	Private Practice	Daniel	Episode: Serving Two Masters
2009	Dollhouse	Senator Daniel Perrin	Episodes: Vows, Instinct, Belle Chose, The Public Eye, The Left Hand
	Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alexis Denisof

• Alexis Denisof at the Internet Movie Database