Alison Arngrim Bio - Biography

Name Alison Arngrim
Height 5' 4"
Naionality American
Date of Birth January 18, 1962
Place of Birth New York, New York,
Famous for
Alison Arngrim, best known to viewers world-wide for her portrayal of the incredibly nasty "Nellie Oleson" on the much loved, long running hit television series "Little House On The Prairie," continues to amuse audiences through her many film, television and stage appearances. She can currently be seen in the independent films "For the Love of May" with Ru Paul and Patricia Neal, and "The Last Place On Earth" with Billy Dee Williams and Phyllis Diller.

In addition to her seven years on "Little House," Alison guested on such cult classics as: "The Love Boat," "Fantasy Island" and the NBC movie of the week, "I Married Wyatt Earp," starring Marie Osmond. She mocked her own status as an "ex-child star" on Jay Leno¹s Tonight Show, during their month long parody, "Hollywood Survivor" and continues to be a frequent interview subject on everything from "A&E", "E! Entertainment", and "VH-1", to CNN and the Travel Channel.

Alison¹s stage work includes, "Sirena: Queen of the Tango", "Butterflies Are Free," "Hidden In The Laughter", "Dear Brutus," "The Wool Gatherer," "Cry Of Players", the French bedroom farce, "In One Bed And Out The Other," and Michael Kearns¹ "AIDS/US II."

As a stand-up comedian, Alison has headlined at nightclubs such as the Laugh Factory, the Comedy Store and the Improv in Los Angeles; numerous comedy clubs all across the United States and Canada, and recently launched her one-woman-show "Confessions of a Prairie Bitch" at Club Fez in New York.

In the 1986 when her friend and "Little House husband" co-star, Steve Tracy, passed away due to complications of HIV/AIDS, Alison immediately began volunteering at AIDS Project Los Angeles. Her duties have ranged from working on the Southern California AIDS Hotline and the APLA food bank, (APLA's Necessities of Life Program) to chairing the steering committee of the volunteer speakers bureau and developing "Safer Sex" workshops. She has provided AIDS education to doctors, nurses, prison inmates, service clubs, churches, department stores and schools, and spent seven years hosting the APLA educational cable television show, "AIDS Vision". In 1992, Joel Wachs presented Alison with a resolution by the Los Angeles City Council commending her on her work on behalf of people living with HIV and AIDS. She continues to serve on the Ambassador Council of AIDS Project Los Angeles.

From 1989 through 1993 she served as Program Manager at Tuesday's Child, an organization assisting children and families affected by HIV and AIDS. Since 1989 she has served as both hostess and producer for the comedy stage at the AIDS Project Los Angeles Annual Summer Party, (on the backlot of Universal Studios), where through an evening of raucous entertainment, featuring name comedians, she helps to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for people living with HIV.

She is currently serves as Vice Chair of the Screen Actors Guild Young Performers Committee, addressing the needs of children working in the entertainment industry, and on the National Advisory Board of PROTECT, fighting to give children a legal and political voice in the war against child abuse.

Alison currently lives in the wilds of Tujunga with her husband of ten years, musician Bob Schoonover, (from the rock and roll band "Catahoula") and their two cats, Hannibal and Clarice. She takes pride in the fact that so many people enjoyed hating her as a girl and is more than happy to give them the opportunity to do so in the future.

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