Who Is Alison Sweeney’s Husband? All About Dave Sanov

The Hallmark actress met her husband when they were kids

Alison Sweeney has known her husband, Dave Sanov, nearly her whole life.

The former Days of Our Lives star and previous host of The Biggest Loser has since become a Hallmark Channel mainstay — appearing in more than two dozen projects, including the movie series The Wedding Veil, in which she plays baker-turned-amateur-detective Hannah Swensen.

Coincidentally, Sweeney's character stars opposite a law enforcement agent in the films and in real life, she's married to one; Sanov is a former California Highway Patrolman.

The two met through their parents, who were coworkers, but they didn’t begin dating until their 20s, Sweeney told former Olympic figure skater Scott Hamilton on an episode of his podcast, Live Your Days in 2020. The couple married at a beachside ceremony in July 2000 and have two children, Ben and Megan.

“It’s so much fun,” Sweeney said. “The joy that the kids bring us — Dave and I both — is just the best adventure you could ever hope to be on. We have so much fun with it every day.”

So, who is Alison Sweeney’s husband? Here’s everything to know about Dave Sanov and his relationship with the actress.

They were introduced as children

Sweeney and Sanov grew up as friends after meeting through their parents, who worked together for decades as violinists.

“His dad and my mom play the violin for feature-film soundtracks, so we’ve actually known each other our whole lives,” Sweeney told Access in 2019. “I totally had a crush on him when we were kids.”

When she started acting on Days of Our Lives, and he went off to college, they didn’t see each other for four years. The two eventually reconnected at a party their parents threw for a fellow musician, Sweeney said on Live Your Days.

When she saw Sanov at the event, she invited him to her 21st birthday party, and they immediately hit it off. "We had such a great time, and we had so much fun getting to know each other again as grown-ups. And the rest is history," the actress shared.

They have been married since 2000

After Sweeney and Sanov celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in 2020, she was a guest host on Entertainment Tonight, where she promoted her latest Hallmark Channel movie, Good Morning Christmas. During the appearance, co-host and fellow former soap opera star Matt Cohen surprised her with a video of her wedding to Sanov.

In the clip filmed on July 8, 2000, the pair celebrated their union, and shared a few words of excitement after exchanging vows. There was also a sentimental scene of Sweeney’s mother and Sanov’s father performing a violin duet at the ceremony.

“It was such a special moment then, and to celebrate it now is just incredible," Sweeney said. "Those two violins are how Dave and I met, and [now] we have two beautiful children and we’ve been married 20 years."

On the couple’s 21st anniversary, Sweeney posted a photo on Instagram of her and Sanov on their wedding day side-by-side with a more recent snap of them. She captioned the picture, “Celebrating 21 years of marriage today!! So grateful for every day we’ve spent together. Love you, Dave! ❤️🥂.”

They share two children

Sweeney and Sanov welcomed their first child, son Benjamin Edward Sanov, on Feb. 25, 2005.

As he’s grown, Ben seems to have inherited the show business gene from his mom. Sweeney told PEOPLE he worked on the set of one of her Hallmark movies, getting hands-on experience.

“I always love having my kids with me at work and when they better understand the roles of crew, it makes the time even more interesting and fun for them,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney and Sanov welcomed their second child, Megan Hope Sanov, on Jan. 13, 2009.

On her 14th birthday in 2023, Sweeney posted a carousel with a selfie of her and her daughter and a picture of Megan horseback riding, among others. In the caption, she called her daughter “brave, determined and independent.”

He’s a retired cop

Sanov was a California Highway Patrol officer for 27 years, according to Sweeney’s Instagram, and retired from the force in the fall of 2022.

Earlier that same year, she showed her appreciation for Sanov and his career on social media. Sweeney captioned photos of her husband with each of their two children on Law Enforcement Appreciation Day with the message, “I just want to say how much I appreciate my husband, Dave and all the honest & brave men & women in law enforcement. Thank you for your service. 💙💛.”

Sweeney told host Kelly Clarkson that she was planning a big retirement party for Sanov. “It is a big deal to retire,” Sweeney said on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “We’re pulling people out of the woodwork to come be a part of this event. There's a lot of surprises we’ve planned for [Dave]. He’s so excited.”

Even after Sanov’s retirement, the couple remains active in the police community, supporting the CHP 11-99 Foundation — a nonprofit that provides emergency assistance to California Highway Patrol employees and scholarships to their children — per Sweeney’s Instagram.

He’s a pilot

One of Sanov’s most unexpected skills is flying planes — and he has put it to good use.

In 2018, he flew his first mission with Angel Flight West, a nonprofit that offers free transport flights to medical treatments to those in need. At the time, Sanov piloted a flight that took a cancer patient to a California hospital for treatment, according to a Facebook post.

Sanov also has partnered with Pilots n Paws, a nonprofit that rescues and transports pets and animals via flight to new homes. In 2015, Sanov and Sweeney flew to Chicago to rescue a dog named Horton and brought him to Los Angeles, where a new family was waiting to adopt him.

“Alison bonded with this dog on the flight home, and as you can see in the pictures, they got along very well,” he wrote about the trip on the organization's website.

It seems Sanov has passed his love for planes onto his son as well. “Ben & Dave have always bonded over their love of aviation — anything that flies, really,” Sweeney wrote on Instagram in 2020, alongside a photo of her and her son with a remote-control plane.

Sanov has also taken him along on the Pilots and Paws trips, according to a 2018 episode of the Loving Animals podcast.

They’re animal-lovers

Sweeney, Sanov and their children love animals. Over the years, they’ve had many rescue dogs, including pint-sized pups: Winky, Basil, Ozzy and Bean.

“They are such important members of our family,” the Murder, She Baked star wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of her and two of the family dogs in 2019.

In addition to their pets, Sweeney and Sanov have also gone to great lengths to help other people’s four-legged friends. In 2023, the actress shared a picture of a dog curled up on a couch and explained that it was found alone in L.A. before she and her husband rescued it.

“Sweet ol’ guy had been out there a while. We got him cleaned up & fed,” she wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). “I’m thrilled to report Rufus has been reunited with his owner today!”

He made a guest appearance on Days of Our Lives

Five years after Sweeney and Sanov wed, he made a guest appearance on Days of Our Lives — the soap opera on which his wife played the character Sami Brady for over two decades.

In the episode, Sanov portrayed a police officer who pulled over the character Lucas Horton (played by Bryan Datillo) on his way to marry Sami.

Nearly two decades later, Sweeney shared a photo of her, Sanov and Datillo behind the scenes while filming the episode. She captioned it, “Omg. 😂😂 I can’t with this 2005 #flashbackfriday from when I was VERY pregnant with Ben. Dave did a guest appearance on @nbcdays.”

He helps her with scripts

Lucky for Sweeney, her husband’s career experience comes in handy while she’s working on some of her Hallmark projects. For shows like Chronicle Crimes, Murder, She Baked or the Hannah Swensen mystery series, she has the former cop in the house to help with her scenes.

“I’d ask him ‘What would a cop do’ and Dave’s like, ‘First of all, that’s ridiculous. That would never happen,’ ” Sweeney told Access in 2019.

She gets help from the rest of her family, too. “[Dave] always lends a hand and gives me advice on some of the cop dialogue in the scene. My mom's a musician, so she always weighs in on the music in all the movies,” Sweeney shared with PEOPLE in 2021.

When they’re watching the shows at home, she said, her kids love trying to solve the crimes and guessing who the criminals are.

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