Alison Ann "Alie" Ward (born November 6, 1976) is an American writer, actress, and television and podcast host.

Ward moved frequently around northern California during her childhood due to her father's career, living in Tahoe, Sacramento, El Dorado Hills, and Cameron Park before returning to the Bay Area.

Eventually, she changed her course of study and obtained a degree in cinema at San Francisco State University before moving to Los Angeles.

[6][7] While studying cinema in San Francisco, Ward attended an audition for the television series Nash Bridges, which filmed in the area.

[12] In early 2009, Ward and her friend Georgia Hardstark created a cocktail called the McNuggetini, drafting plans on the back of a popcorn bag at the L.A. dive bar The Roost.

Hardstark and Ward next shot a short instructional video, directed by friend and director of Key & Peele Peter Atencio, and posted it to YouTube in October 2009.

[22] Inspired by a visit to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in 2013 that led into a weekly volunteer shift,[23] Ward quit her previous job.

She began working in science communications media as a correspondent on the CBS series Innovation Nation, for which she won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing Special Class in 2016.

[5] Ward interviews a different expert each week, with episodes including topics such as volcanology, primatology, paleontology, gemology, cosmetology, cosmology and horology.