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Neil Patrick Harris

Neil Patrick HarrisBorn: 15-Jun-1973
Birthplace: Albuquerque, NM

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Gay [1]
Occupation: Actor

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Doogie Howser

Neil Patrick Harris was raised in Albuquerque, where his parents owned a restaurant. He made his first stage appearance as Toto in a grade school production of The Wizard of Oz, and decided to become an actor. After plenty of pestering, his parents sent him to a week-long "acting camp" at New Mexico State University, where he met Mark Medoff, Tony-winning author of Children of a Lesser God, who recommended the 14-year-old Harris for his feature debut in Clara's Heart with Whoopi Goldberg.

He became famous as TV's Doogie Howser, MD, the child prodigy who graduated from Princeton at 10 and earned his doctorate at 16. He voiced Max the mouse in Capitol Critters, a short-lived 1992 politically-themed prime time cartoon where he hung out with retired lab rat Bobcat Goldthwait, and in 1999 he played horror writer Tony Shalhoub's neurotic, germ-phobic editor in Stark Raving Mad. Since 2005 he has starred as a comic lothario on How I Met Your Mother with Alyson Hannigan, and as that sitcom started its second season Harris publicly came out of the closet as gay.

On Broadway, he played the crying, Bible-clutching master of ceremonies in Cabaret with Debbie Gibson, starred in Proof with Anne Heche, and played Lee Harvey Oswald in the musical Assassins, where Harris won good reviews for a surprisingly rich baritone singing voice. He also starred in a Los Angeles production of Sweeney Todd with Kelsey Grammer, and took the title role in Amadeus with Michael York as Antonio Salieri.

In occasional movie roles, he played the kid who summoned a laughable monster in the kiddie film Purple People Eater with Ned Beatty and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and he showed where to shoot an arachnid in Starship Troopers with Casper Van Dien. Harris played himself -- as a drug-addled, lecherous sex addict -- in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.


[1] People magazine, 3 November 2006: "So, rather than ignore those who choose to publish their opinions without actually talking to me, I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love."

Father: Ron Harris (lawyer)
Mother: Sheila Harris (lawyer)
Brother: Brian Harris (lawyer, b. 1970)
Girlfriend: Carla Bianco (stage actress, dated 2000)
Husband:
David Burtka (actor/chef, cohabited since 2003, m. 6-Sep-2014, two children)
Son: Gideon Scott (twin, b. 12-Oct-2010 via surrogate)
Daughter: Harper Grace (twin, b. 12-Oct-2010 via surrogate)

    Emmy 2010 Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, for Glee
    Emmy 2010 Outstanding Special Class Programs, for hosting Tony broadcast
    Endorsement of Apple Apr-2016
    Endorsement of Comcast
    Endorsement of Hasbro
    Endorsement of Heineken
    Endorsement of Mars
    Endorsement of Procter & Gamble Old Spice deodorant (2008-09)
    Risk Factors: Marijuana, LSD

    TELEVISION
    How I Met Your Mother Barney (2005-14)
    Stark Raving Mad Henry McNeeley (1999-2000)
    Capitol Critters Max (1992-95)
    Doogie Howser, M.D. Doogie Howser (1989-93)
    Celebrity Poker Showdown Contestant

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Downsizing (30-Aug-2017)
    Gone Girl (26-Sep-2014)
    A Million Ways to Die in the West (29-May-2014)
    Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (26-Sep-2013) [VOICE]
    The Smurfs 2 (28-Jul-2013)
    American Reunion (4-Apr-2012) · Celebrity Dance-Off Host
    A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (4-Nov-2011) · Himself
    The Muppets (4-Nov-2011) · Himself
    The Smurfs (28-Jul-2011) · Patrick Winslow
    Beastly (3-Mar-2011) · Will
    Company (2011)
    The Best and the Brightest (16-Oct-2010) · Jeff
    Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (29-Jul-2010) · Lou [VOICE]
    Batman: Under the Red Hood (27-Jul-2010) · Nightwing [VOICE]
    Make Believe (Jun-2010) · Himself
    Yes, Virginia (11-Dec-2009) [VOICE]
    Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (16-Sep-2009) [VOICE]
    Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (15-Jul-2008) · Dr. Horrible
    Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (24-Apr-2008)
    Justice League: The New Frontier (26-Feb-2008) [VOICE]
    The Christmas Blessing (18-Dec-2005)
    Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (20-May-2004) · Neil Patrick Harris
    Undercover Brother (30-May-2002) · Lance
    Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in Concert (31-Oct-2001)
    The Wedding Dress (28-Oct-2001)
    The Next Best Thing (3-Mar-2000)
    Joan of Arc (16-May-1999)
    The Christmas Wish (6-Dec-1998)
    The Proposition (27-Mar-1998) · Roger Martin
    Starship Troopers (7-Nov-1997) · Carl Jenkins
    Animal Room (1995)
    Snowbound: The Jim and Jennifer Stolpa Story (9-Jan-1994)
    A Family Torn Apart (21-Nov-1993)
    Cold Sassy Tree (16-Oct-1989)
    Purple People Eater (Dec-1988)
    Clara's Heart (7-Oct-1988) · David Hart


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