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.

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 honors student and graduated with honors in 1991. He was three years ahead of fellow La Cueva student Freddie Prinze, Jr.

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 Snowbound: The Jim and Jennifer Stolpa Story 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.

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 currently in its third season on CBS.

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.

On November 2, 2006, after a report about Harris' romantic relationship with actor David Burtka surfaced on www.Canada.com, 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:

Burtka and Harris moved in together the following summer. The two attended the Emmy awards in September 2007 as an openly acknowledged couple for the first time, an appearance which Harris discussed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and which was reported in various media outlets.