His parents are Liane and Alan Faneca. As a kid Alan attended John Curtis high and would later go to Lamar Consolidated high in Texas. He lettered in track and had accumulated many awards over his high school football career. He was an All-Greater Houston, Orlando Sentinel All-South, and Houston Touchdown Club player of the year. He is an American Football guard who currently plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Faneca can be recognized as one of the best linemen in the current NFL.

At age 15, Faneca began having seizures, which were later diagnosed as epilepsy. [1] He started on medication to control it and was able to continue playing football.

Faneca attended LSU and was redshirted in 1994. He was voted the South East Conference freshman of the year by Knoxville News Sentinel in 1995. In '96 he was selected as a player for the All-American 2nd team. By 1997 he had earned himself the honor of being placed on the first team All-American team. He started his last thirty six games at LSU and only allowed one sack in his last season. He had an outstanding 210 career pancake blocks and was well on his way to playing professionally. He would return in '99 and get his degree in Management Entrepreneurship.

He was picked by Pittsburgh in the first round (26th overall) in the 1998 NFL Draft. He saw limited playing time at first but injuries to fellow Steelers Will Wolford and Jim Sweeney allowed him to get his first start against Cincinnati. He had earned himself the Joe Greene Award as the teams top rookie and he had attained All-Rookie honors. By the year 2000 Alan had helped the Steelers reach fourth place in rushing and was named a starter in the 2002 Pro-Bowl. In 2003 Faneca had proven his versatility by going from left guard to left tackle due to injuries on the team. He has helped running backs Jerome Bettis, Duce Staley, and Willie Parker break individual and team rushing records. He helped the Steelers reach Super Bowl XL in Detroit, in which Pittsburgh defeated Seattle 21-10. He helped spring Parker to a 75-yard touchdown run that is currently the longest run in Super Bowl history. Alan is tied with Hines Ward and Deshea Townsend as the longest tenured Steelers on the roster. Alan has gained All-Pro honors in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006, as well as a 2nd team bid in 2003, despite playing Tackle the majority of that season and has been to the Pro-Bowl six times while starting in five.

Faneca married Julie Kuchta, from Virginia Beach, VA. They met as freshmen at LSU. They have one daughter named Anabelle.