Alison Brie’s face is growing more familiar by the day, and for good reason. You may recognize her from her work on the dearly departed wrestling series GLOW, or you may have seen the celebrity in any of another of the dozens of projects she’s appeared in.
But although she’s becoming more and more well-known, few people would recognize the name she grew up with. Alison Brie is part of the name she was given at birth, but her original surname is another story.
Alison Brie’s rise to fame
Brie seemed destined for the world of acting from the very beginning. According to IMDb, she was born in Hollywood and began performing in shows at the local Jewish Community center when she was a child. After graduating from high school in 2001, Brie went to the California Institute of the Arts, where she graduated with a BFA in acting.
She started her acting career with an appearance on the hit TV show Hannah Montana in 2006. After about another year of similar small parts, she landed her breakout role in Mad Men in 2007.
She’s since appeared in scores of TV series and movies, including the popular series Drunk History and GLOW. This year she’s appearing in the series Cinema Toast and working in pre-production on another, called Roar.
Her childhood and her real name
According to Heavy, although her mom and dad divorced when she was five years old, Brie remained close to both of them. After the divorce, her parents moved to separate homes near each other in South Pasadena, so they would both be accessible to Brie and her older sister Lauren.
Brie’s mom, Joanne Schermerhorn, is a teacher who worked at a local community college. She’s proud to be Jewish, and she made sure to raise her daughters to be aware of their heritage. Her father, Charles Schermerhorn, is a journalist who focuses on entertainment.
The Schermerhorn name is a hint to Charles’ heritage. As Ancestry explains, the name refers to an area in northern Holland. Despite her family’s deep Dutch roots, Brie decided to drop her difficult-to-spell last name. To make things more simple, she uses her middle name as a surname instead.
Married to Dave Franco
In 2012, Brie began dating fellow actor Dave Franco. After five years together, the couple got married in 2017. They’ve worked together a handful of times, such as in a sketch called “Dream Girl” for the web-based comedy show Funny or Die. Franco also made an appearance as a voice actor in the animated series BoJack Horseman, in which Brie played the character, Diane.
During the pandemic, the couple has been using their downtime to write a romantic comedy script together. But don’t expect it to reveal much about their relationship, because she’s made it clear that it’s not based on their love story.
Brie’s popular series GLOW was canceled last year, in part because the pandemic made the wrestling scenes impossible to film safely. Fans are holding out hope that the producers will film a movie to wrap up the series, but no announcements have been made about it.
Regardless of what happens with GLOW, she seems to have lots of opportunities ahead of her still. And whether she takes those roles as Alison Brie or Alison Schermerhorn, fans are sure to recognize her and show up.
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