Love is in the air this February on the Hallmark Channel with the premiere of four all-new Loveuary films dedicated to romance.
Hallmark veteran Alison Sweeney will star in one of those new movies, "Love and Jane," which will premiere Feb. 10 — just in time for Valentine's Day.
The 47-year-old actress plays hopeless romantic and literary enthusiast Lily, whose wish comes true when famed author Jane Austen comes back from the dead to help with her love life.
Sweeney is no stranger to romantic comedies and happy endings. She has racked up credits on Hallmark after starring in (and producing) a number of the channel's original movies including "Murder, She Baked" (2015) and "Sweet Revenge: A Hannah Swensen Mystery" (2021).
However, she is probably best known for starring as drama queen Sami Brady in more than 3,600 episodes of the popular and long-lasting soap opera "Days of Our Lives."
After landing that role at just 16 years old, Sweeney was propelled to stardom in the 1990s. She worked that job — and others, including hosting reality show "The Biggest Loser" — for nearly two decades. But she ultimately left the show in 2014 to spend time with her one true love: her family.
The Hallmark alum has two children with her husband of more than 20 years, David Sanov. Sweeney has been in the spotlight for nearly her whole life, but her family is her first priority.
"For me, it's important to create that stability for them in their lives," she told Smashing Interviews Magazine in 2019. "I love being a mom, and I love everything that we do. It's been fun to spend time with them at home even if it's just making dinner or helping them with their homework."
Here's everything we know about Sweeney's two teenage children, Ben and Megan:
Benjamin Edward (18 years old)
Instagram/alisweeney
Sweeney's first child, Ben, was born on Feb. 25, 2005.
Now age 18, Ben got involved in the entertainment industry when he was just a toddler. Sweeney first brought him to set for one of her various projects when he was 2 years old.
"Ben visits both sets all the time," she told People in 2007. "It's so much fun having him around, we get time to play and hang out in between scenes."
Sweeney was a busy working mother when both her children were young. She was occupied on "Days of Our Lives," "The Biggest Loser" and other various Hallmark projects or small roles in television shows. And the actress says she sometimes had to miss waking them up in the mornings or taking them to doctor's appointments.
But Sweeney's dedication to being a good mother just meant she occasionally had to get a little creative when spending time with her kids. She told Ben when he was 10 years old that she would take him to New York City if he got an "A" on a book report about the Big Apple.
"We ended up going to Central Park, which was beautiful," she told Ellen Degeneres on her talk show in 2015. "The weather couldn't have been better. But I got us lost in the middle of Central Park, and he said to me, 'It's OK, Mommy. I'm really having fun walking around with you.'"
Though he's a bit older now, Ben's interest in Hollywood and performing has only grown.
He starred as the lead in his high school's production of Shakespeare's "MacBeth" in May 2023, which was his stage debut. Sweeney said on Instagram that he nailed the role.
Sweeney's oldest child also joined her on the set of one of her latest Hallmark films, "A Zest for Death: A Hannah Swensen Mystery" (2023) as a rotating intern. Ben helped on set, worked in the props department and served as an assistant to the camera operator. He told People his favorite role was working with the camera crew.
"Learning about the mechanics of the camera and how it works is fascinating," Ben said. "I also enjoyed learning about the focus and the zoom and how they work with each other by manipulating how light enters the lens."
For her part, Sweeney said she loved having Ben on set with her.
"Ben is such a conscientious worker," the actress told People. "He has a part-time job during the school year and he thrives with the responsibility. From being on set, he's developed a new understanding and appreciation of camera operations, which has been fun to watch him explore."
As a parent, Sweeney says she loves to see him take on new experiences and learn new skills.
"There are so many different career opportunities available today that I love when opportunities allow Ben to understand all the options available to them," she told People.
"With every experience, I hope my kids take away more confidence in themselves to thrive in any dynamic and a greater understanding of the hard work that goes into every job," she added. "I always love having my kids with me at work and when they better understand the roles of the crew, it makes the time even more interesting and fun for them."
Ben is set to graduate from high school in the spring of 2024, and it seems that he already has his next steps planned. Sweeney shared on social media in October 2023 that Ben was accepted into his first choice for college, Baylor University.
Megan Hope (14 years old)
Instagram/alisweeney
Sweeney's youngest child and only daughter, Megan Hope, was born on Jan. 13, 2009. She's now 15.
Megan's arrival actually surprised Sweeney, who was on set shooting an episode of "The Biggest Loser" when she went into labor. After Sweeney was rushed to the hospital, Megan arrived in the world later that night, with Sweeney still in hair and makeup from her day on set.
Sweeney frequently posts about her daughter on social media and has called her "brave, determined and independent." She's also growing up to look just like her pretty blond mother.
The mother-daughter duo enjoy spending time outdoors, at least according to Sweeney's Instagram. Megan also loves to talk about pop icon Taylor Swift and ride horses, which she frequently does competitively and with Sweeney on the weekends.
Sweeney told SheKnows in 2016 that it's much different raising a daughter than a son, especially when it comes to body image and food. The actress has opened up about her own struggles with her weight and her relationship to food, and she wanted to ensure Megan didn't suffer the same fate.
"For me, it's about setting the right example," Sweeney said. "I make a point of always talking about the positives with my daughter Megan — how great she looks, how well she carries herself. I focus on what is good rather than on the negative."
In fact, the "Days of Our Lives" alum says her kids have such different personalities that they require different parenting strategies. Sweeney told Yahoo News in 2015 that people love to read about the "best" way to parent their children but that it needs to be customized to each child.
"My son is easygoing and sensitive, and he's very affected if you're disappointed in him — it breaks his heart," she said. "My daughter is a spitfire, and so we are stricter with her than we are with my son. He doesn't need that, but with her, she'll walk all over you to the moon and back. My kids are different people, so they need different parenting."
Although her son may be interested in the entertainment business, Sweeney says her daughter has never shown much attraction to acting or Hollywood as a career choice.
"My daughter certainly talks about it all the time but [she's from] such a different generation — this YouTube generation — like they don't see it the same way that I grew up with it, so we'll have to see," Sweeney told Closer Weekly.
Regardless of where her career takes her or what avenues her children decide to pursue, Sweeney says she and her husband are simply trying to raise good people.
"We have strict rules in our house about manners. Please and thank you, pull out the chairs and stand up when my husband and I come in, my son holds the door open for me without being told to," she said to Yahoo News. "They clean up their own messes and clean up their dishes without anyone telling them to. That matters to me and I work hard on helping them learn to be better people."
And though parenting may be difficult sometimes, Sweeney told Closer Weekly, it is the greatest blessing in her life.
"I think the most rewarding part is watching your kids flourish and find the things that they're good at and celebrate that and encourage that," the actress said. "They're just great kids. I'm so lucky."
