Neil Patrick Harris

"Kumar: Where will you go now?

Neil Patrick Harris: ...wherever God takes me."

""Neil Patrick Harris won an Emmy for his one-episode stint as an embittered former Glee rival of Will's; something I didn't even know you could win an Emmy for but I guess when you are Neil Patrick Harris all things are possible.""

- The Idiots Lantern

Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973), occasionally nicknamed NPH, got his first big break as the title character of Doogie Howser, M.D. when he was a teenager. He managed to establish himself in theater (Rent, Toby in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) after that, as well as taking roles in films such as Starship Troopers and Undercover Brother. He took his career to the big screen again in 2004, playing... Neil Patrick Harris, a crude Jerkass womanizer in Harold and Kumar (pretty much an Up to Eleven version of the Former Child Star stereotype). He then went on to play the part of the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother. Shortly afterwards, he came out as gay, and proceeded to play a singing shoe fairy in a Sesame Street cameo.

Of course, in Internet circles, he's probably most famous for his leading role in Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog. He later used his musical talent to play The Music Meister in the Musical Episode of Batman the Brave And The Bold and plays Nightwing in Batman Under the Red Hood, and again used his musical talent as Doctor Blowhole in The Penguins of Madagascar. He worked alongside Mike Nelson on the Rifftrax of Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. An episode of Adventure Time featured him as Prince Gumball, the gender flipped version of Princess Bubblegum. He's done some voice acting, lending his voice to Spider-Man in both the 2003 series and Amazing Spider-Man in Spider Man Shattered Dimensions.

On August 21, 2010 he won his first Emmy awards thanks to his stellar guest appearance on Glee and awesome hosting of last year's Tony Awards.

NPH has been in a relationship with David Burtka since 2004. In January 2010 he was voted "Gay Man of the Decade" after a fierce Twitter war against John Barrowman. It was once said of NPH that "Neil Patrick Harris is so manly, only another man could possibly satisfy him." And in the fall of 2010, Neil and David became daddies to twins.

Not to be confused with Christopher Masterson, who looks very similar to him.

Some roles Neil has played includes:

 * Adventure Time: Prince Gumball
 * Assassins: The Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald
 * Batman the Brave And The Bold: The Music Meister
 * Batman Under the Red Hood: Nightwing
 * Capitol Critters: Max
 * Captain Planet and The Planeteers: Todd Andrews (You may know him better as the victim from the AIDS episode)
 * Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs: Steve
 * Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog: Billy/Dr. Horrible
 * Doogie Howser, M.D.: Doogie Howser
 * Eat Lead the Return of Matt Hazard: Wallace "Wally" Wellesley
 * Glee: Bryan Ryan
 * Harold and Kumar: Neil Patrick Harris
 * How I Met Your Mother: Barney Stinson
 * Justice League: Ray Thompson
 * Justice League the New Frontier: Barry Allen
 * Rent: Mark Cohen
 * Saints Row 2: Veteran Child
 * Sesame Street: The Fairy Shoeperson
 * Spider Man Shattered Dimensions: Amazing Spider-Man
 * Spider Man the New Animated Series: Spider-Man
 * Stark Raving Mad: Henry McNeeley
 * Starship Troopers: Carl Jenkins
 * Static Shock: Johnny Morrow
 * Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Toby
 * The Penguins of Madagascar: Dr. Blowhole
 * Undercover Brother: Lance

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This actor provides examples of:

 * As Himself / Adam Westing: Spoofed in the Harold and Kumar movie, where he's credited "Neil Patrick Harris as Neil Patrick Harris".
 * Justified a bit as he had himself credited like this so people wouldn't think the way he acts in the film is how he acts in real life.
 * Blue Eyes
 * Career Resurrection: Though he was never completely off the radar, the period between Doogie and H&K were a pretty thin stretch for Neil.
 * The Cast Showoff: Directors are quick to notice his beautiful voice with impressive range.
 * He's also a magician and has showed off his talents on How I Met Your Mother and Glee.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Former Child Star: Thankfully (and notably) averted.
 * Hair of Gold
 * Happily Married: To David Burtka after a five-year betrothal and having two kids with him.
 * Irony As She Is Cast: He is an openly gay actor most well-known for playing an impulsive womanizer.
 * Mean Character Nice Actor: Although known for playing a crude, obnoxious womanizer, he is a very nice actor and a family man in real life.
 * Older Than They Look: For the record, NPH is 38.
 * One of Us: Loves Star Wars so much they worked it into his character on How I Met Your Mother; is a public and lifelong fan of musicals and comic books; and publicly admitted in his Doogie Howser days that he never, ever, missed an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Hell, he even made a guest appearance on Rifftrax!
 * During an interview in the Spike Video Game Awards (in which he was host), he noted that he was a fan of Katamari Damacy.
 * Sesame Street Cred: He was the Sesame Street Fairy Shoe Person.
 * He's also friends with Elmo.
 * Rule of Sean Connery: His mere presence and awesomeness can improve almost any work he appears in.
 * Straight Gay: One of the more famous modern examples of this trope. There is nothing conspicuous or camp about him.
 * Well... (Of course, he's joking).
 * Villain Song: Has rocked quite a few, notably "Slipping", "Brand New Day", "Drives Us Bats" and "Brand New Plan".