NEIL PATRICK HARRIS

'Neil Patrick Harris' (born June 15, 1973) is an Emmy-nominated American actor. He is known for his television roles as the teenage doctor ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'' and the womanizing Barney Stinson in ''How I Met Your Mother''.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Credits

Television

Cinema

Theater

Animation

Awards nominations

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Harris was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S., and grew up in Ruidoso, New Mexico. His parents, Sheila H. and Ron Harris, were lawyers. He has an elder brother, and it was by following his brother to an audition in fourth grade that he first began acting - as Toto in a school production of ''The Wizard of Oz''. He attended La Cueva High School in Albuquerque and was active in school plays and musicals there. Harris was an honor student and graduated with honors in 1991. He was three years ahead of fellow La Cueva student Freddie Prinze, Jr.^[1]

Career

Harris began his career as a child actor. His first significant roles came in 1988, when he starred in two movies: the film ''Clara's Heart'', a drama with Whoopi Goldberg that won him a Golden Globe nomination, and ''Purple People Eater'', a children's fantasy. The following year he won the lead in ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'', for which he was again nominated for a Golden Globe. After ''Doogie Howser's four-season run ended in 1993, Harris played a number of guest roles on television series, before taking his first film role as an adult in 1995 in the little-seen shocker ''Animal Room''. Since then his film work has included supporting roles in ''Starship Troopers'', ''The Next Best Thing'', ''Undercover Brother'', and ''Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle'', in which he played a drug-crazed, lecherous parody of himself.
From 1999 to 2000, Harris starred with Tony Shalhoub in the sitcom ''Stark Raving Mad'', which lasted twenty-two episodes. He has taken lead roles in a number of made-for-television features, including '' in 1994, ''A Christmas Wish'' in 1998, ''The Christmas Blessing'' in 2005, ''The Wedding Dress'' in 2001, ''Joan of Arc'' in 1999, and ''My Antonía'' in 1995, as well as series guest roles.
Harris has worked on Broadway in both musical and dramatic roles. He played Tobias Ragg in 2001 concert performances of ''Sweeney Todd''. In 2002, he performed on Broadway beside Anne Heche in ''Proof.'' In 2003, he took the role of the Emcee in ''Cabaret,'' alongside Deborah Gibson and Tom Bosley. As a result of his critically acclaimed performance in ''Cabaret'', Harris was named the top drawing headliner in the role of the Emcee by GuestStarCasting.com, topping fellow celeb stars John Stamos and Alan Cumming.^[2]
In 2004, he performed a dual role of the Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald on Broadway in the controversial musical revival of Stephen Sondheim's ''Assassins.'' He also sang the role of Charles (first played by Anthony Perkins) on the Nonesuch recording of Sondheim's ''Evening Primrose''. He has also portrayed Mark Cohen in the musical RENT. Harris' current role is in the CBS ensemble sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'', playing a serial womanizer in a performance that earned him a 2007 Emmy nomination. The show debuted in the fall of 2005 and wrapped up its second season on May 14th, 2007. The sitcom is due to return to the CBS for a third season in the fall of 2007. On July 19, 2007 Neil Patrick Harris received an Emmy nomination as best supporting actor in a comedy for his role as Barney Stinson on "How I Met Your Mother.
In 2007, Harris worked with Mike Nelson on an audio commentary for Rifftrax. The film the two riffed on was ''Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory''. Harris is a big fan of the cult TV series Nelson worked on, ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'', and was interviewed for a 1992 Comedy Central special hosted by Penn Jillette, who did voiceovers for Comedy Central's programming at that time, about the series and its fans, ''This Is MST3K. Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory

Personal life

On November 2 2006, after a report about Harris' purported romantic relationship with actor David Burtka surfaced on www.Canada.com,^[3] Harris' publicist issued a denial, stating that the actor "is not of that persuasion." However, a day later Harris, who had long been openly gay in his personal life and in the theater community, came out to the media in ''People''. His statement read:^[4]

Credits

Television

★ ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'' (1989-1993) (title role)

★ ''Capitol Critters'' (1992) (voice of Max)

★ '' (1994) (Made for TV movie) ''Jim Stolpa''

★ ''My Antonia'' (1995) ''Jimmy''

★ ''Joan Of Arc'' (Le Dauphin) 1999 television miniseries

★ ''Roseanne'' (guest appearance)

★ ''Stark Raving Mad'' (1999-2000) Henry

★ ''Will & Grace'' (guest appearance)

★ ''Ed'' (guest appearance - season 2, episode 6)

★ ''NUMB3RS'' (guest appearance - season 1, episode 5)

★ ''Jack & Bobby'' (guest appearance - season 1, episode 17)

★ '' (2003) as Peter Parker/Spider-Man

★ ''Celebrity Poker Showdown'' (31 Oct 2004)

★ ''How I Met Your Mother'' (Barney) (debuted fall 2005)

★ ''MADtv '' (guest appearance)

★ ''The Daily Show '' (guest appearance)

★ ''The Simpsons'' (guest voice - season 3, episode 4: "Bart the Murderer")

★ ''Big Brother 7: All Stars'' (guest appearance - episode 22, as the houseguests' secret Santa)

★ ''Quantum Leap Episode (Return of the Evil Leaper)'' (guest appearance)

★ ''Boomtown (TV series) as Peter Corman'' (guest appearance - season 1, episode "Monster's Brawl")

★ ''Late Show with David Letterman'' (guest appearance 13 Oct 2006)

★ ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' (guest appearance 16 Aug 2007)

Cinema

★ ''Harold & Kumar 2'' (2008) as himself (Neil Patrick Harris)

★ ''The Golden Blaze'' (2005) as Comic Shop Owner

★ ''Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle'' (2004) as himself (Neil Patrick Harris)

★ ''Undercover Brother'' (2002) as ''Lance''

★ ''The Next Best Thing'' (2000) as ''David''

★ ''The Proposition'' (1998)

★ ''Starship Troopers'' (1997) as ''Colonel Carl Jenkins''

★ ''Not Our Son (Made for TV movie)'' (1995) as ''Paul Kenneth Keller''

★ ''Clara's Heart'' (1988) as ''David''

Theater

★ ''Sweeney Todd'' ''Tobias Ragg''

★ ''Rent'' (1997) 2nd National Tour-LA, San Diego ''Mark Cohen''

★ ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1998) Old Globe Theatre, San Diego ''Romeo''

★ ''Proof'' (2002) Broadway, ''Hal''

★ ''Cabaret'' (2003) Broadway ''Emcee''

★ ''Assassins'' (2004) Broadway ''Balladeer; Lee Harvey Oswald''

★ ''Tick, Tick... BOOM!'' ''Jon'' (2005) Menier Chocolate Factory, London

★ ''All My Sons'' (2006) ''Chris Keller'', Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles

★ ''Amadeus'', Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, July 20, 2006 at the Hollywood Bowl

Animation

★ ''(2008) ''Flash''

Awards nominations

★ 1989: Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture – ''Clara's Heart''

★ 1992: Golden Globe Award for – ''Doogie Howser, M.D.''

★ 2007: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series – ''How I Met Your Mother''

Year	Group	Award	Result	Notes
1989	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama	Nominated	''Clara's Heart''
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture	Nominated
1990	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actor Starring in a Television Series	Won	''Doogie Howser, M.D. ''
1991			Won
1992			Won
1992	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical	Nominated
2007	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Actor: Comedy	Nominated	''How I Met Your Mother''
	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Nominated

References

1. Neil Patrick Harris Ramone Johnson
2. Neil Patrick Harris and John Stamos Lead Emcee Rankings Preston Scott Reed
3. canada.com - O.C. stars hit T.O.
4. People - EXCLUSIVE: Neil Patrick Harris Tells PEOPLE He Is Gay

External links

★ Neil Patrick Harris Biography

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★ 2004 Chicago Sun Times Interview

★ Neil Patrick Harris interview at AOL Television

★ A question and answer session with Harris at Broadway.com

★ Neil Patrick Harris and Marc Kudisch - ''Downstage Center'' audio interview at American Theatre Wing.org

★ Video: 9/06 Interview on myfoxla.com.

★ Neil Patrick Harris Comes Out as "Content Gay Man"