Alison Williams is an actress, producer and podcast host.

You know her from Girls, Get Out, and of course, Megan.

Now she's taking on a brand new role in the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's beloved novel, Regretting You.

Allison plays Morgan, a mother navigating love, loss,

and the complicated, beautiful bond she shares with her daughter, Clara.

Allison grew up in Connecticut, the daughter of journalist Brian Williams.

She always knew she wanted to act, but her parents encouraged her to get an education first.

So she headed to Yale University, where she was a self-described theater kid who spent

her time performing improv with the comedy troupe, Just Add Water.

Her big break came when director Jed Apatow spotted a viral YouTube video of her singing.

She then landed the role of Marnie Michaels on HBO's Girls,

a show that helped define a generation and launched her career.

Allison joined me for a read with Jenna Girls' Night Out at Virgin Hotels, New York City,

where we talked about what it means to bring Colleen Hoover's book to life.

I'm Jenna Bush-Hager. Welcome to my podcast, Open Book with Jenna.

Allison is an incredible adaptation, regretting you, which is a Colleen Hoover masterpiece. I've interviewed Colleen Hoover. I think I'm one of the very few. I haven't even met her in person yet. You haven't met her? No, she was filming another adaptation of hers in Canada the whole time we were working on our movie. And so we've FaceTimeed, we talked via text and stuff,

but I still haven't met her in person. Okay, you have to. She's hilarious. She's hysterical.

I mean, that much I can get from her books and also text. Yes, she's really wonderful.

Okay, so you all know, Alison, she's been kind of the queen of everything, but you've really specialized in horror of late.

Horror.

That word always sounds like it's horror.

Of late.

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