Alison Marion Lohman was born to Gary Lohman (Architect) and Diane Dunham(Bakery owner), in Palm Springs, California (USA), on September 18, 1979. She has one younger brother, Robert (born 1982).She is reported to be a vegan, and has two cats (Monk and Clint)
She started acting at a very young age, even though her parents had no industry connections: at 9 she played Gretyl in "The Sound of Music" at the Palm Desert's McCallum Theater and won the "Most Outstanding Actress in a Musical" award just 2 years later
By age 17, she had already acted in 12 different productions.
She was also an adept singer, having performed as a solo vocalist at Bob Hope's "Classic Ball" (1995), singing "The Trolley Song". The audience featured Frank Sinatra (Alison later commented "I'll never forget looking at Frank Sinatra. Just looking at his blue eyes. I think it's probably the most petrified I've ever been onstage" )
In 1997, her senior year at high school, she was an awardee of National Foundation of the Advancement of the Arts and was offered a chance to attend the Tisch School of the Arts, but she turned it down, preferring to relocate to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career. She also attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London
In the following years, her work consisted of unremarkable science fiction (such as "Kraa! The Sea Monster" and "Planet Patrol"), but she also worked for television productions (Beth Moss in "Sharing the Secret") and children's films (such as "Delivering Milo" and "The Million Dollar Kid"). In 2002 she acted in the movie "White Boy".
Her real breaktrough came that year, starring in "White Oleander". It was an adaptation of Janet Fitch’s novel, and she worked with Renée Zellweger, Michelle Pfeiffer and Robin Wright-Penn. Lohman's performance was widely praised by critics and it was described as her "breakthrough role" by media sources.
In 2002 she performed at London's West End, in Kenneth Lonergan's play, "This Is Our Youth". In 2003 she collected another success,costarring with Nicolas Cage and Sam Rockwell, in Ridley Scott's "Matchstick Men", where she portrayed 14-year-old Angela who wants to meet the father she never knew. In that same year, she also portrayed the young version of Jessica Lange in the movie "Big Fish".
Her only activity in 2004 consisted of voicing the lead character in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. In 2005 she appeared in Atom Egoyan's "Where the Truth Lies", where she appeared completely nude in a lesbian sex scene. She also played the lead of Tiffany in "The Big White" (alongside Robin Williams and Giovanni Ribisi)
In 2006 she portrayed a 16-year-old girl who befriends a wild mustang, in the movie "Flicka". She reported being thrown "emotionally and physically", given she had to train very hard for a month prior to filming (she had never ridden a horse before). In this year she also played the role of a recovering heroin addict in "Things We Lost in the Fire".
In 2006 she became a vegan, and now resides in Venice Beach (Los Angeles), with her long-time boyfriend Dwight (a camera man that she met on the set of Pasadena in 2001).
Her hobbies include playing guitar, riding horses and singing.