How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) was one of the beloved shows of its time, nabbing an impressive nine-year run during a time in which most series couldn’t sniff that level of success. The CBS series was so adored and popular that it inspired a spin-off series, How I Met Your Father starring Hillary Duff, eight years after its finale. This came despite the fact that HIMYM has not exactly aged well, considering the offensive and deprecating nature of its jokes, particularly towards women. While How I Met Your Father has earned a lukewarm reception at best — 51% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes — HIMYM continues to draw a strong presence on streaming.

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The strength of the original How I Met Your Mother cast certainly has something to do with its success, as nearly the entirety of the original gang is composed of accomplished actors and actresses who have gone on to only grow their brand after the show. Surprisingly, Josh Radnor, who plays the main lead, Ted, might have the weakest resume of all of his on-screen pals. Those that are missing Ted, Barney, and the rest of the friends have plenty of options to find Radnor, Neil Patrick Harris, and the other actors in, though. Here are some of the best projects from the main cast of How I Met Your Mother.

Josh Radnor

     Anchor Bay Entertainment

As mentioned, Josh Radnor has perhaps the weakest filmography of his compatriots, and his role as Ted in How I Met Your Mother is certainly the highlight of his career thus far. His work outside the series is composed mostly of supporting parts for so-so projects that have been forgettable at best and downright bad at worst. The exception would have to be Happythankyoumoreplease, his Hollywood debut as a writer and director that came out in 2010. The film follows a group of young 30-somethings navigating their work and life balance in New York City. The rom-com is reminiscent of HIMYM with its pacing, writing, and overall structure. While the movie didn’t fare well with critics, it did land well with audiences, earning Radnor the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award.

Neil Patrick Harris

     Netflix

Perhaps the most decorated Thespian of the How I Met Your Mother gang, Neil Patrick Harris is a highly accomplished actor, musician, producer, writer, and celebrity personality, who has taken his talents on the silver screen, into television, and on Broadway. As such, Harris has a highly illustrious career filled with worthy entries into this list, including his childhood role as the lead on Doogie Howser, M.D. His new Netflix series Uncoupled, a romantic dramedy that illustrates the struggles of dating as a gay man in modern times, is also off to a great start, having garnered a 73% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes after one season. The top spot at the moment, though, has to go to his portrayal of Count Olaf in his other Netflix show, A Series of Unfortunate Events. His depiction of a greedy, eccentric, and conniving villain pays proper homage to both Lemony Snicket’s original character and his predecessor Jim Carrey, who played the same character in the 2004 film of the same source material.

Cobie Smulders

     Marvel Studios

Cobie Smulders’ career has been heavily tied-up between portraying Ted’s main love interest, Robin, in How I Met Your Mother for nearly a decade and now is committed to a recurring role within the MCU as Agent Maria Hill, Nick Fury’s right-hand woman, and she’s set to make another appearance in the upcoming Secret Invasion series. Between those roles, Smulders hasn’t had much time to diversify her filmography. That being said, she did create enough of an opening to appear in a little-known LGBTQ+ dramedy/mockumentary called Cicada, in which she plays Sophie, an unconventional therapist that supplies timely comic relief in a beautiful journey centered around a budding relationship with plenty of pitfalls to make for a cathartic story.

Alyson Hannigan

     Universal Pictures

Alyson Hannigan did most of her heavy acting as a teen star before appearing in How I Met Your Mother as Lily Aldrin, having held roles in some major cult classics of the late-90s and early-2000s like Veronica Mars and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While she’s not quite as decorated as Harris, she’s probably been seen more than him, as she’s garnered some wildly popular roles throughout her career like her appearance in That 70s Show. Of course, her most notable character outside of Lily has to be her recurring role as Michelle Flaherty in the American Pie movies. Hannigan is perfect in that role, an obvious keeper for her four-film run in the series, bringing an admirable girl-next-door presence to an over-the-top sexual comedy.

Jason Segel

The only actor who can challenge Hannigan’s presence in mainstream pop culture is her on-screen husband Jason Segel, who audiences adored as the affable gentle giant, Marshall Eriksen. Segel’s shown quite the range in his acting career, rivaling Harris as a performer capable of drawing laughs, tears, and emotional connections out of his audiences. Some of his best roles evoke every emotion that a human has when watching his craft. Perhaps more important to his career than even his talent is his relationship with Judd Apatow. From his time on the cult classic television series, Freaks and Geeks, Segel built a friendship with Apatow, which has led to some wildly successful movies like This Is 40, Knocked Up, and The Five-Year Engagement.

Apatow not only boosted his career as an actor but as an overall talent by encouraging him to write, according to Cinema Blend. His best role in an Apatow film was one that Segel wrote for himself as Peter Bretter in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Starring alongside two strong actresses in Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell, in a film that also features the comedic talents of Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, and Bill Hader, among others, Segel shines in a familiar role, as a goofy, lazy, but lovable man-child. Those that want a little more Marshall Eriksen in their lives, but can’t help but cringe at the archaic jokes within How I Met Your Mother, need to turn on Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which will give them an instant dose of the adorable giant they’re missing so much.