American actor Alexis Denisof was born on February 25, 1966 in Salisbury, Maryland. Raised in Seattle, he later moved to London, where he studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. His acting debut came in 1989, when he starred in the British crime thriller Murder Story. He spent the early part of his career in the United Kingdom, appearing on the drama series Sharpe, and also working behind the scenes, notably as a fight choreographer for numerous television and stage productions.
Denisof then moved back to the United States, where he began work as an actor. His breakthrough came in 1999, when he joined the cast of the hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For nine episodes in the show’s third season, he played the role of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, a member of the Watchers’ Council who was directly responsible for Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Faith (Eliza Dushku). His character was intended to be killed off shortly after his first appearance, but the show’s creators loved it and instead decided to write the character into the spin-off show, Angel.
Denisof arguably got larger screen presence on Angel, which premiered in 1999. He entered the series after the death of Doyle (Glenn Quinn), initially as a comic relief, but throughout the show’s run he goes up the ranks as a leader of the group, and his personality was subsequently darkened. He was kicked out by the group in the third season, but was reluctantly accepted in the following season. His character was killed in the series finale in 2004.
Denisof is married to fellow Buffy co-star Alyson Hannigan, with which he has a son. Partly as a result, he got a recurring role in the sitcom where Hannigan stars, How I Met Your Mother, where he plays sleazebag television news anchor Sandy Rivers, who persistently asks colleague Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smoulders) out.