Neil Patrick Harris

American actor

Written by Melinda C. Shepherd

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Oct 28, 2024 • Article History

Quick Facts

Born:: June 15, 1973, Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. (age 51)

Awards And Honors:: Tony Awards; Emmy Award (2010); Emmy Award (2014): Outstanding Special Class Program; Emmy Award (2013): Outstanding Special Class Programs; Emmy Award (2012): Outstanding Special Class Programs; Emmy Award (2010): Outstanding Special Class Programs; Emmy Award (2010): Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series; Tony Award (2014): Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Married To:: David Burtka (2014–present)

Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):: "Home Movie: The Princess Bride" (2020); "Fraggle Rock: Rock On!" (2020); "Ghostwriter" (2019); "A Series of Unfortunate Events" (2017–2019); "At Home with Amy Sedaris" (2017); "Downsizing" (2017); "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return" (2017); "The Penguins of Madagascar" (2010–2015); "American Horror Story" (2015); "Gone Girl" (2014); "A Million Ways to Die in the West" (2014); "How I Met Your Mother" (2005–2014); "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" (2013); "The Smurfs 2" (2013); "Adventure Time" (2011–2013); "Neil's Puppet Dreams" (2012–2013); "American Reunion" (2012); "The Muppets" (2011); "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas" (2011); "The Smurfs" (2011); "Company" (2011); "Beastly" (2011); "The Best and the Brightest" (2010); "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" (2010); "Glee" (2010); "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" (2009); "Robot Chicken" (2009); "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" (2009); "Family Guy" (2007–2009); "Sesame Street" (2008); "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" (2008); "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" (2008); "Me, Eloise" (2006); "Jack & Bobby" (2005); "Numb3rs" (2005); "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (2004); "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" (2004); "Spider-Man" (2003); "Boomtown" (2003); "Undercover Brother" (2002); "Justice League" (2002); "The Mesmerist" (2002); "Touched by an Angel" (2002); "Ed" (2001); "The Legend of Tarzan" (2001); "As Told by Ginger" (2001); "Son of the Beach" (2001); "Static Shock" (2001); "Stark Raving Mad" (1999–2000); "Will & Grace" (2000); "The Next Best Thing" (2000); "Joan of Arc" (1999); "The Proposition" (1998); "Starship Troopers" (1997); "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1997); "The Outer Limits" (1996); "Animal Room" (1995); "Capitol Critters" (1992–1995); "Murder, She Wrote" (1993); "Doogie Howser, M.D." (1989–1993); "Quantum Leap" (1993); "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" (1992); "Blossom" (1991); "The Simpsons" (1991); "B.L. Stryker" (1989); "Purple People Eater" (1988); "Clara's Heart" (1988)

Movies/Tv Shows (Directed):: "The Goodwin Games" (2013); "How I Met Your Mother" (2010)

Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973, Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.) is an American comic actor known for his portrayals of both likably average and flamboyantly unconventional characters.

Harris made his stage debut as Toto in a grammar-school production of The Wizard of Oz and acted throughout high school. He earned a Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a supporting role for his first film, Clara’s Heart (1988), opposite Whoopi Goldberg. Harris achieved TV stardom (and a second Golden Globe nomination in 1992) as a teenaged physician in Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989–93).

Four seasons as the medical prodigy, however, left the 20-year-old actor struggling to avoid being typecast, and he sought out such varied roles as Jimmy Burden in the Emmy Award-winning My Antonia (1995), the Dauphin in the made-for-TV movie Joan of Arc (1999), and a phobia-prone book editor in the short-lived series Stark Raving Mad (1999–2000). He also portrayed a character dubbed Neil Patrick Harris in three farcical Harold & Kumar movies (2004, 2008, and 2011).

USA 2006 - 78th Annual Academy Awards. Closeup of giant Oscar statue at the entrance of the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, film movie hollywood

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His musical talents were at the forefront in Joss Whedon’s three-part Web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (2008), which gained cult status and won an Emmy for best short-format live-action entertainment. Meanwhile, Harris turned to the stage, both in dramas, such as Proof (2002) and All My Sons (2006), and in musicals, most notably Rent (1997), Cabaret (2003), Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins (2004), and concert stagings of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd (2001) and Company (2011; filmed for television).

Harris continued to accrue accolades for his television work, becoming the breakout star of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM; 2005–14). His performance as serial womanizer Barney Stinson earned him two more Golden Globe nods (2009 and 2010) and four Emmy nominations (2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010). Harris’s public acknowledgment in 2006 that he was gay proved to be a nonissue in his career as he continued to play the skirt-chasing Stinson on HIMYM. A guest appearance on the musical series Glee in 2010 finally brought Harris an Emmy victory.

In 2014 Harris took supporting roles in the Seth MacFarlane comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West and the thriller Gone Girl. That year he also appeared in the title role in a Broadway staging of the gender-bending rock-and-roll musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Harris’s spot-on portrayal of the transgender Hedwig earned him a Tony Award for best actor in a leading role in a musical. In 2015 he hosted the variety show Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris. He then played the loathsome Count Olaf on Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017–19), a TV series based on Daniel Handler’s best-selling books of the same name. In The Matrix Resurrections (2021), the fourth installment in the popular Matrix movie franchise, Harris was cast as a villain. In 2022 he appeared alongside Nicolas Cage and Tiffany Haddish in the action-comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. That year also marked the debut of the Netflix series Uncoupled, in which Harris starred as a middle-aged gay man who is dumped by his partner.

Harris served as coproducer and sometime host of several Emmy and Tony awards broadcasts, the latter of which won four Emmys for outstanding special class program (2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014). He also hosted the Academy Awards ceremony in 2015. In addition, Harris wrote the children’s books The Magic Misfits (2017) and The Magic Misfits: The Second Story (2018). Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography (2014) is an unconventional memoir.

Melinda C. Shepherd The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica