Allison Williams (actress)

Allison Howell Williams (born April 13, 1988 ) is an American actress. For her work in horror films, she has been deemed a scream queen by the media. She first became known for starring as Marnie Michaels in the HBO comedy-drama series Girls (2012–2017), which earned her a Critics' Choice Award nomination. Her breakthrough came with the role of Rose Armitage in the horror film Get Out (2017), which earned her nominations from the MTV Movie Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards among other accolades. She went on to star in the horror films The Perfection (2018) and M3GAN (2022), the latter of which she also executive produced.

Early life
Williams was born and raised in New Canaan, Connecticut, the daughter of former NBC Nightly News anchor and managing editor Brian Williams and TV producer Jane Gillan Stoddard. She has a younger brother. Williams attended New Canaan Country School and Greenwich Academy. She later attended Yale University majoring in English; she was a member of Morse College and the St. Elmo secret society.

While in New Canaan, Williams worked in a Ralph Lauren outlet store. She was also a member of the improv comedy troupe Just Add Water for four years and acted in the YouTube series College Musical. The project featured Sam Tsui and was directed by Kurt Hugo Schneider, both of whom also attended Yale. She graduated with a degree in English in 2010.

Career
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 universal praise from television critics. In 2016, Williams received a nomination for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

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.

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.

Williams was cast in the role of Charlotte on the Netflix horror film The Perfection, which was released on May 24, 2019 to positive reviews, and her performance was called "compelling". She was cast in the role of Kit Snicket throughout the second and third seasons of the Netflix comedy-drama series A Series of Unfortunate Events. Williams appeared in the Swedish thriller film Horizon Line, which released in 2020.

In 2020, 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 critical and commercial success. 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.

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. She and her husband lived in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. 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.