Remember the name Alison Brie. (that’s ‘Alison’ not ‘Allison’) She’s gradually been working her way up, starting with a short film in 2004 and a guest role in an episode of Hannah Montana in 2006. From there, Alison went to act in a variety of independent films before being cast for AMC’s Mad Men. Since then, she’s enjoyed working on a handful of web comedy sketches and series. Many of her roles have been as a high school student, but that is sure to change. The people in charge of NBC’s Community seem to be cultivating her for the future; the past couple of episodes have seen Alison’s character as the center of attention. Fortunately, she still has the trademark Brie mannerisms:

• sing-song voice
• bright eyes
• head turns
• concerned/distraught facial expressions
• gazes into the distance

Brie on "Community". An overachiever with mainstream sex appeal.

Everyone knows about Alison’s run as Trudy Campbell in 20 episode’s of Mad Men, and her current role on Community. Her first credited role seems to be a lead character in “Stolen Poem“, 2004 short that was made while Alison was a student at California Institute of the Arts, but sadly, no video seems available online. Here are the available online video clips of her lesser-known roles:

Web shorts/series:

Alison Brie in "Hot Sluts"

• One of Alison’s best roles, hands down. More impressives is that she did this after the first season of Mad Men. “Hot Sluts” is described as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz stepped into Boogie Nights. Watch all 5 episodes at Atom. The trailer is hilarious and the 90’s filming style is perfect:

• On the 2008-2009 web series “My Alibi” Alison plays an overachieving high school student, very similar to her character Annie on Community. Each of the 19 episodes is 3 minutes or less in length. The first one:

• In “Buddy ‘n’ Andy”, Alison plays a love interest of Andy (a piece of meat) in his dream:

• Singing “Santa Baby” in a comedy series titled “Christmas Idol”

Short films:

• Alison has a role as Alyson in “Us One Night”, a short film set at an engagement party. The trailer is available, and the film was recently screened at the Williamstown Film Festival:

• In 2008, Alison played a sexual abuse victim in “Salvation, Texas”, a film that appeared at a couple of independent film festivals:

[myspace 13992670]

Television:

• Last year, Alison appeared as a high school student in “The Deadliest Lesson“, a Lifetime Movie Network film about drugs and murder. Who doesn’t love a Lifetime movie?

• Alison appeared on a 2006 episode of “Hannah Montana” as a girl who was paid to pretend she is in a relationship. :

Other:

• Here’s a classy black & white video portrait shot by Tyler Shields, the man who also shot the Cary Brothers video mentioned here last year:

• For pictures, check out the Facebook fan page.
• IMDB has a list of Brie’s credits. Expect to see her soon on the big screen in as a teenage daughter in Montana Amazon alongside Olympia Dukakis and Haley Joel Osment.