About this Artist
Equally successful on stage and screen, NEIL PATRICK HARRIS continues to demonstrate his creative versatility. He can currently be seen as the womanizing Barney Stinson in the fifth season of the hit CBS comedy series, How I Met Your Mother, a role that has garnered him two consecutive Golden Globe nominations and three consecutive Emmy nominations. Harris’ Barney is best known for his hilarious catchphrases, penchant for suits, and foolproof ways of picking up women. Named one of the “2008 Entertainers of the Year” by Entertainment Weekly, Harris served as host of the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards and the 63rd Annual Tony Awards. Harris gained notoriety on the small screen as the much-adored title character in Doogie Howser, M.D., a role that also garnered him a Golden Globe nomination. Created by Steven Bochco and David E. Kelley, the television comedy-drama, which ran for four seasons, told the story of a brilliant young doctor who faced the problems of being a normal teenager. Harris’ additional television credits include the NBC comedy series, Stark Raving Mad, opposite Tony Shalhoub; the CBS miniseries Joan of Arc, with Leelee Sobieski & Peter O’Toole; Showtime’s The Man in the Attic; the classic TNT telefilm Cold Sassy Tree, opposite Faye Dunaway; My Antonia with Jason Robards and Eva Marie Saint; The Wedding Dress with Tyne Daly; and CBS’ top-rated telefilm of 2005, The Christmas Blessing. He’s also made notable guest appearances on such shows as Will & Grace, Ed, and Boomtown.
As a result of the 2007-08 Writer’s Guild of America strike, Neil starred as the aspiring supervillain and lovelorn title character in Joss Whedon’s Emmy award-winning, web-based musical miniseries, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, co-starring Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day. The web series debuted atop the iTunes television charts and has gone on to produce a subsequently successful soundtrack. Furthering his appeal with the online community, Neil was also one of the leading cast members of the all-star web-based hit, Prop 8: The Musical, co-starring alongside Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and Allison Janney. A veteran of the theater, Harris has starred in three Broadway productions, including the dual roles of The Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald in the Tony Award-winning musical, Assassins. He also played Anne Heche’s unexpected suitor in the Pulitzer Prize-winning production of Proof, and the exuberant emcee in Cabaret at Studio 54. His additional theatre credits include roles in the Geffen Playhouse production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, The Paris Letter at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, tick, tick…BOOM! at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory, Romeo & Juliet at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, the concert production of Sweeney Todd at Lincoln Center in New York, and the Los Angeles production of Rent, which garnered him a Drama Desk Award.
Utilizing his theatrical expertise behind the curtain and furthering his association with the Pulitzer Prize-winning production, Harris makes his musical directorial debut in this evening’s staging of Jonathan Larson’s Rent. In July 2007, Harris made his theatrical directing debut with the original comedic script, I Am Grock, at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood. Furthermore, Harris mixed his love of magic and theatre in directing The Expert at the Card Table at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Harris rounds out his accomplishments on stage and television with an equal measure of success on the silver screen. Harris recently completed production on two upcoming feature films – The Best and the Brightest, a comedy, co-starring Bonnie Somerville and Amy Sedaris, about a young couple entering the competitive world of New York City’s elite private schools and the lengths they must go to in order to gain admittance for their five year-old daughter, and Beastly, a modern-day retelling of the “Beauty and the Beast” fairy tale, where a teen is transformed into a hideous monster in order to find true love. The CBS Films production is based on the novel by Alex Finn, and co-stars Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Hudgens, and Mary-Kate Olsen. Neil reprised his role as “Neil Patrick Harris” in New Line Cinema’s comedy film, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, the sequel to 2004’s sleeper hit Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. Harris’ feature-film debut was a starring role opposite Whoopi Goldberg in the coming-of-age drama, Clara’s Heart, for which he received his first Golden Globe nomination. Additionally, Harris has appeared in Universal’s hit urban comedy, Undercover Brother, with Eddie Griffin; Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers; The Next Best Thing with Madonna and Rupert Everett; and The Proposition with Madeline Stowe and Kenneth Branagh, among many others. The multi-talented Harris also enjoys a busy schedule in the world of voice-overs, most recently voicing the character of Steve the Monkey in the Sony Pictures Animation and Columbia Pictures box office sensation, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, based on the beloved children’s book by Judi and Ron Barrett. Harris can also be heard voicing one of the characters in Warner Bros. Pictures’ upcoming live-action/animatronic sequel, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, which landed in theatres in July 2010. In addition to his voice-over work in numerous animated series and features, including the CBS holiday special, Yes, Virginia; the recent musical episode of Batman: The Brave & The Bold, as The Music Meister; Justice League: The New Frontier, as Barry Allen/The Flash; and the top-rated MTV series, Spider-Man, voicing both the title character and his alter ego Peter Parker. Harris can be heard opposite Will Arnett in the D3 Productions video game, Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard. His voice work also includes creating character voices for numerous books on tape, including Henry and Ribsy by Beverly Cleary, Slake’s Limbo, Ribsy, Lump of Coal, A Very Marley Christmas and the award-winning children’s book, Henry Huggins.
Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Harris currently resides in Los Angeles.