Alanis Morissette was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Georgia Mary Ann Feuerstein, a Hungarian Jewish-born teacher, and Alan Richard Morissette, a French-Canadian high school principal. Alanis has a twin brother, Wade, and an older brother, Chad. At six, she began playing the piano. In 1984, Morissette wrote her first song, "Fate Stay with Me", which she sent to a local folk singer, Lindsay Morgan, who recruited Morissette as her protégé. Morissette released "Fate Stay with Me" as a single via a label she founded with Morgan. A limited number of copies were pressed, and it received little airplay. In elementary school she was identified as gifted and attended St. Elizabeth's PGL (program for gifted learners). During her high school years, she attended Immaculata High School and Glebe Collegiate Institute in Ottawa while continuing to pursue a career in the arts. In 1986, she was a cast regular on the CTV/ Nickelodeon show, 'You Can't Do That on Television'. In 1987, Morissette competed in the inaugural year of the Rising Star Talent Competition, an amateur contest held in Toronto at the Canadian National Exhibition.

At a New York City audition, Morissette landed a spot on 'Star Search', a U.S. talent competition on which she used the stage name of 'Alanis Nadine,' her first and middle names. Morissette flew to Los Angeles to appear on the show, but lost after one round. In 1988, Morissette signed a publishing deal with MCA Publishing, which helped to fund her record deal with one of its independent subsidiary labels.MCA Records released Morissette's debut album, 'Alanis', in Canada only in 1991, and Morissette co-wrote every track on the album with its producer, Leslie Howe. By the time it was released, she had dropped her stage name and was credited simply as 'Alanis'. The dance-pop album went platinum, and its first single, "Too Hot", reached the top twenty on the 'RPM' singles chart. Subsequent singles "Walk Away" and "Feel Your Love" reached the top forty. Morissette's popularity, style of music and appearance, particularly that of her hair, led her to become known as the Debbie Gibson of Canada; Morissette was nominated for three 1992 Juno Awards: Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year (which she won), Single of the Year and Best Dance Recording (both for "Too Hot").

In 1992, she released her second album, 'Now Is the Time', a ballad-driven record that featured less glitzy production than 'Alanis' and contained more thoughtful lyrics. With her two-album deal with MCA Canada complete, Morissette was left without a major label contract.

In 1993, after graduating from high school, Morissette moved from Ottawa to Toronto. The song instantly garnered attention for its scathing, explicit lyrics, making it the third biggest selling album by a female artist, and the biggest selling debut album of all time, even though it was her third album. Morissette's popularity grew significantly in Canada, where the album was certified twelve times platinum

Morissette's success with 'Jagged Little Pill' was credited with leading to the introduction of female singers such as Shakira, Tracy Bonham, Meredith Brooks, Patti Rothberg and, in the early 2000s, Pink and fellow Canadian Avril Lavigne. She was criticised for collaborating with producer and supposed image-maker Ballard, and her previous albums also proved a hindrance for her respectability. Morissette and the album won six Juno Awards in 1996: Album of the Year, Single of the Year ("You Oughta Know"), Female Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Best Rock Album. At the 1996 Grammy Awards, she won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song (both for "You Oughta Know"), Best Rock Album and Album of the Year.

Later in 1996, Morissette embarked on an eighteen-month world tour in support of 'Jagged Little Pill,' beginning in small clubs and ending in large venues. Taylor Hawkins, who later joined the Foo Fighters, was the tour's drummer. "Ironic" was nominated for two 1997 Grammy Awards-- Record of the Year and Best Music Video, Short Form--and won Single of the Year at the 1997 Juno Awards, where Morissette also won Songwriter of the Year and the International Achievement Award. The video 'Jagged Little Pill, Live,' which was co-directed by Morissette and chronicled the bulk of her tour, won a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Long Form.

Following the stressful tour, Morissette started practicing Iyengar Yoga for balancing, and after the last December 1996 show, she headed to India for six weeks, accompanied by her mother, two aunts and two female friends.

Morissette hosted the Juno Awards of 2004 dressed in a bathrobe, which she took off to reveal a flesh-coloured bodysuit, a response to the era of censorship in the U.S. caused by Janet Jackson's breast-reveal incident during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. Two other singles, "Out Is Through" and "Eight Easy Steps", fared considerably worse commercially than "Everything", although a dance mix of "Eight Easy Steps" was a U.S. club hit.

Morissette embarked on a U.S. summer tour with long-time friends and fellow Canadians Barenaked Ladies, working with the non-profit environmental organization Reverb.

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of 'Jagged Little Pill', Morissette released a studio acoustic version, 'Jagged Little Pill Acoustic,' in June 2005. The album was released exclusively through Starbucks' Hear Music retail concept through their coffee shops for a six-week run. The limited availability led to a dispute between Maverick Records and HMV North America, who retaliated by removing Morissette's other albums from sale for the duration of Starbucks's exclusive six-week sale. 'Jagged Little Pill Acoustic' sold around 300,000 copies in the U.S., and a video for "Hand in My Pocket" received rotation on VH1 in America. The accompanying tour ran for two months in mid 2005, with Morissette playing small theatre venues. During the same period, Morissette was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.

Morissette opened for The Rolling Stones for a few dates of their A Bigger Bang Tour in the autumn of 2005.

Morissette released the greatest hits album 'Alanis Morissette: The Collection' in late 2005. The lead single and only new track, a cover of Seal's "Crazy," was a U.S. adult top 40 and dance hit, but it achieved only minimal chart success elsewhere, as did the album. A limited edition of 'The Collection' features a DVD including a documentary with videos of two unreleased songs from Morissette's 1996 Can't Not Tour:" King of Intimidation "and" Can't Not."(A reworked version of" Can't Not "had also appeared on 'Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie.') The DVD also includes a ninety-second clip of the unreleased video for the single" Joining You."Morissette contributed the song" Wunderkind "to the soundtrack of the film 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,' and it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. Morissette did not take any interviews for a time to explain the song, and it was theorized that she did it as an April Fools' Day joke. Black Eyed Peas vocalist Stacy" Fergie "Ferguson responded by sending Morissette a buttocks-shaped cake with an approving note. On the verge of the release of her latest album, she finally elaborated on how the video came to be, citing that she became very much emotionally loaded while recording her new songs one after the other and one day she wished she could do a simple song like" My Humps " in a conversation with Guy Sigsworth and the joke just took a life of its own when they started working on it. (The NHL requires arenas to perform both the American and Canadian national anthems at games involving teams from both countries) In early 2008, Morissette participated in a tour with Matchbox Twenty and Mute Math as a special guest.

Morissette's seventh studio album, 'Flavors of Entanglement', which was produced by Guy Sigsworth, was released in mid 2008. She has stated that in late 2008, she would embark on a North American headlining tour, but in the meantime she would be promoting the album internationally by performing at shows and festivals and making television and radio appearances. The album's first single was "Underneath", a video for which was submitted to the 2007 Elevate Film Festival, the purpose of which festival was to create documentaries, music videos, narratives and shorts regarding subjects to raise the level of human consciousness on the earth. On 3 October 2008, Morissette released the video for her latest single, "Not as We".

Recently, Morissette has contributed to '1 Giant Leap', performing "Arrival" with Zap Mama and she has released an acoustic version of her song "Still" as part of a compilation from Music for Relief in support of the 2010 Haiti earthquake crisis. Morissette has also recorded a cover of the 1984 Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias hit, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", re-written as "To All the Boys I've Loved Before". Nelson played rhythm guitar on the recording.In 1986, Morissette had her first stint as an actress: eighteen episodes of the children's television show 'You Can't Do That on Television'. She appeared on stage with the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society in 1985 and 1988.

In 1993, she appeared in the film 'Just One of the Girls' starring Corey Haim, which she described as "horrible".

She expanded her acting credentials with the July 2004 release of the Cole Porter biographical film 'De-Lovely', in which she performed the song " Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" and had a brief role as an anonymous stage performer. In February 2005, she made a guest appearance on the Canadian television show 'Degrassi: The Next Generation' with 'Dogma' co-star Jason Mewes and director Kevin Smith.

In 2006, she guest starred in an episode of Lifetime's 'Lovespring International' as a homeless woman named Lucinda, three episodes of FX's 'Nip/Tuck', playing a lesbian named Poppy, and the mockumentary/ documentary 'Pittsburgh' as herself.

It was announced on Morissette's website that she will be starring in a film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel 'Radio Free Albemuth'. Morissette will play Sylvia, an ordinary woman in unexpected remission from lymphoma. She said she was a "big fan" of Dick's books, which she called "poetic and expansively imaginative", and said she "feels blessed to portray Sylvia, and to be part of this story being told in film".

It was announced in May 2009 that Morissette had been cast in at least seven episodes of 'Weeds', playing Dr. Audra Kitson, a "no-nonsense obstetrician" who treats pregnant main character Nancy Botwin. These episodes aired from June to August 2009.During 1993, Morissette dated Dave Coulier of television's 'Full House' fame. Apparently the relationship became strained because of the couple's work schedules.

Between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, Morissette suffered from anorexia and bulimia nervosa, which were catalysed by "hardcore" professional pressure and managerial demands from her work towards making her first album. She recalled returning to the studio to re-record some vocals, only to be told that the person who summoned her there wanted to discuss her weight, and that she couldn't be successful if she was fat. She lived on a diet of carrots, black coffee and Melba toast, and her weight fluctuated fifteen to twenty pounds. She subsequently began therapy, which she called "a long process to un-program my brain. I try to remember, whatever my body is, it's perfect the way it is".

By mid 2004, Morissette had become an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church, a religious organization that offers anyone semi-immediate ordination as a minister free of charge.

In 2002 she began dating actor Ryan Reynolds. In June 2004, Morissette announced her engagement. In June 2006, 'People' magazine reported that Morissette and Reynolds had split, but neither party confirmed the report. The following month, a source said that they were together. Contact Music reported that their split was a "rumour" and they were pictured holding hands in Los Angeles. In February 2007, representatives for Morissette and Reynolds announced that they had mutually decided to end their engagement. Since July 2007, she has been dating environmental lawyer Tom Ballanco.

In her May 2004 interview to the British newspaper 'The Mirror' she discussed her past relationships, having dated a twenty-nine year-old man at age fourteen and, briefly, her experiences with drugs. In the article, she was quoted as saying: "My addictions were work and food. I smoked pot once in a while, but I'm too much of a control freak to be a drug person".

In February 2005, Morissette became a naturalized citizen of the United States while maintaining her Canadian citizenship. Morissette refers to herself as a Canadian-American.

In a 'Rolling Stone' interview she revealed that she was going to spend 2006 working on a memoir. She said of her book, "it will be all the wisdom I've accrued in the thirty-one years of my life ... A lot about relationships, fame, travel, body-image issues, spirit -- with a lot of self-deprecating humor peppered throughout, 'cause I just can't help it". As of May 2008, Morissette was halfway through writing this memoir that will focus on women's issues. It will have chapters on sexuality, beauty, relationships and work and was partially inspired by young women who regularly come up to her and tell her their stories of personal pain.

In early 2009, after reading Dr. Joel Fuhrman's book 'Eat to Live', Morissette adopted a vegan diet which helped her lose weight and get healthy.

In the autumn of 2009 Morissette ran the Bizz Johnson Trail Marathon (11 October 2009) in 4:17:03. She raised over $3,000 for the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) for this race. Three weeks later, she ran the New York City Marathon (1 November 2009) in 4:28:45.