Producer, actress, stand-up and AIDS activist Alison Arngrim has moved light years away from bad girl Nellie Oleson, the character she portrayed for seven years on NBC's Little House on the Prairie. Arngrim has been seen on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Extra: The Entertainment Magazine, Entertainment Tonight, and The Today Show. Arngrim also became a member of the independent film world and starred in _Last Place On Earth, The (2002)_ , with Tisha Campbell and Billy Dee Williams, and For the Love of May, co-starring Patricia Neal, Michael Learned, Alexandra Paul, and 'Ru Paul' .

Recently, Arngrim was seen in Celebration Theatre's "Sirena Queen Of The Tango". "It is time for me to renew my creative juices and get back to the theater, the root of all of our craft," stated Arngrim. Other television credits include Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, and the television movie of the week, I Married Wyatt Earp. Arngrim's stage credits include "Butterflies are Free", "In One Bed and Out the Other", "The Wool Gatherers" and "Hidden in the Laughter".

In her spare time, Arngrim devotes her energies to helping people with AIDS. When co-star Steve Tracy died of AIDS in 1986, Alison opted to volunteer at AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA). From 1989 through 1993, she served as Program Manager at Tuesday's Child, and is currently on their Board of Directors. Since 1990, Alison has served as both MC and Producer for the Comedy Stage at the APLA Annual Summer Party. For these outstanding efforts, Alison became the first woman to receive the "Friend in Deed" award at APLA, she also received the "Celebration of Life" award from South Bay Friends of Aid for AIDS. In 1992, Joel Wachs presented Arngrim with a resolution by the Los Angeles City Council commending her on her work on behalf of people living with HIV and AIDS. Alison also received the George Moscone award from Christopher Street West of Los Angeles.

Although she may be best remembered as Little House on the Prairie's resident spoiled brat, Alison's career has blossomed to encompass many areas of the entertainment industry. Pretty good for a bad girl!
Sister of Stefan Arngrim Her signature "Nellie Oleson curls" were a wig, which were held so tightly to her head that her scalp bled. She often fainted on the Little House on the Prairie set because the show taped in California's Simi Valley, where the temperature was routinely 100+ degrees. Worked as a poster model for 3 years after leaving Little House on the Prairie. Attended Dana Plato's 1999 funeral. Following the AIDS-related death of the Little House on the Prairie husband, actor Steve Tracy, she began working as an AIDS activist. She regularly volunteered at AIDS Project Los Angeles and at Tuesday's Child, a family-oriented AIDS organization. Good friends with Melissa Gilbert. Has a 22-year-old step-daughter from her second husband Her husband is a musician Is currently taking acting classes and has a small role in the upcoming independent film _Last Place On Earth, The (2002)_ . She also routinely appears as a stand-up comic in LA clubs. [February 2000] In Little House on the Prairie, her character of Nellie Oleson was renowned for making life miserable for Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert). Reportedly, at a parade many years after the show's run had come to an end, a fan threw a can of orange soda at Arngrim's head screaming: "I hate you for all the things you did to Laura!" Is a vegetarian. Daughter of Norma MacMillan and Thor Arngrim Originally auditioned for the role of Laura Ingalls on "Little House on the Prairie" (1974)_ . Is an activist for molested children. After being passed over for the roles of Laura and Mary Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie, she won the part of "Nasty" Nellie Oleson on the spot, after playing mean so convincingly in her audition. Calls the character she played in Little House on the Prairie, Nellie Oleson, "The living embodiment of PMS." She is on the national advisory committee of the National Association to Protect Children. She has spoken in the media about her own experiences as a victim of child sexual abuse and helped lobby on behalf of a California law toughening sentences against abusers who victimize family members. Was number 96 on vh1's 100 Greatest Kid Stars