List of characters from How I Met Your Mother

The following is a partial list of characters from the television series "How I Met Your Mother":

Main characters

Ted Evelyn Mosby

Played by Josh Radnor. The central character of the show, Ted is a Wesleyan University graduate and an architect who, according to Barney, thinks too much. He was born and raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Ted lived with his friends Marshall and Lily, whom he met in college, until they moved out in the third season. After Marshall became engaged, Ted decided to try and find his soulmate or "The One," who, for the first two seasons, Ted believed to be Robin. However, relatively early in the first season, Ted identified Robin as "Aunt Robin" in telling his story to his children. While on the rebound from the break-up with Robin, he had a butterfly tattooed on his bottom. Ted also once protected another student when he was in school. The student was so grateful that, when he became a porn actor, he took "Ted Mosby" as his stage name as a way to thank his protector. All that is known in the future is that Ted has a son and a daughter, who appear to be in their late teens.

Marshall Eriksen

Played by Jason Segel. Marshall met Ted and Lily during their freshman year at Wesleyan University. He is a Columbia Law School student originally from St. Cloud, Minnesota. Even though he stands at six-foot-four, he is the shortest male member of his family. Marshall became a lawyer because he was interested in environmental protection laws. Ultimately, he accepted a job at a corporate law firm where his only client is an amusement park riddled with various safety violations. He is also very good at games and highly interested in food and paranormal happenings. He believes in, among other paranormal things, ghosts and aliens.

Lily Eriksen/Aldrin

Played by Alyson Hannigan. She is a kindergarten teacher. She is married to Marshall Eriksen and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Lily also dreams of being an artist and at one point paints a portrait of Barney in the nude. She also has a huge debt problem because of her impulsive buying practices. She is able to hide this from Marshall until they apply for a mortgage.

Barney Stinson

Played by Neil Patrick Harris. He is a womanizer, favors suits, enjoys playing laser tag, and frequently uses the words "awesome" and "legendary," which Ted believes he uses too liberally. Barney was engaged to a woman in college, and when she broke up with him (leaving him still a virgin), his black, gay brother arranged for him to lose his virginity. The woman claimed he was "awesome" (as a favor to Barney's brother) which ignited Barney's unlimited confidence. Prior to losing his virginity, Barney was a long-haired hippie with plans to join the Peace Corps.

Robin Scherbatsky

Played by Cobie Smulders. She is a Television news reporter/anchor at a local news station. For most of the second season, she dated Ted after Ted spent much of the first season pursuing her romantically. Early in the first season, it was established that she does not become Ted's wife, instead becoming "Aunt Robin" to Ted's children. Despite their breakup, there continued to be some sexual tension between them throughout most of the third season, most obviously when Robin brought home her new Argentinian boyfriend from the trip she and Ted had planned together. Like Cobie Smulders, she is from Canada. As a teenager, she was a Tiffany-like teen pop singer named Robin Sparkles. She went on a tour of malls across Canada following her "minor hit," "Let's Go to the Mall" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mJAsgIIfNM] .

econdary characters

; Ted's daughter and son : Not much is known about them, except that they still don't know all the events that led to Ted meeting their mother and that they are in their late teens in the year 2030, meaning they probably were born sometime in the early 2010s. In his twenties, Ted apparently wanted to name the children Luke and Leia because in Milk Ted was told to "swear on his unborn son and daughter," to which he replied, "I swear on Luke and Leia." The daughter is played by Lyndsy Fonseca, and the son is played by David Henrie.; Carl : Bartender at MacLaren's Bar, which is frequented by the main characters. In the pilot, he is dating a Lebanese girl. In "The Pineapple Incident" he writes his phone number on a very drunk Ted's arm to call if he gets lost. Although never stated in the show, creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas mention on the Season 1 DVD that Carl’s last name is MacLaren and he owns the bar (thus the name). During Carter Bays & Craig Thomas's commentary track for "The Pineapple Incident", it was stated that Joe Nieves, who plays Carl, received the part after the scene he was supposed to be in was cut from the pilot but no-one had told him, and he turned up on set in full costume (he was meant to be a police officer). As no-one wanted to tell him that they had cut his scene, they gave him the role of Carl.; Wendy the Waitress : Played by Charlene Amoia. Wendy is the waitress at the gang's bar of choice. She is often in the background but did have a short fling with Barney in the episode The Platinum Rule. Appears in 11 episodes.; James Stinson : Played by Wayne Brady. Barney's African-American and gay brother of whom also enjoys wearing suits and acts nearly the same as his brother. He is married and he and his husband have one adopted son. Appears in 3 episodes.; Victoria : Played by Ashley Williams. Baker at Buttercup Bakery. She and Ted met at a wedding reception for which she had made the cake, where they spend the night hanging around by themselves under the promise that they will never see each other again so as not to ruin their memory of that night. This promise is soon broken and they start up a relationship with each other. This is complicated when she is offered a cooking fellowship in Germany. They eventually decide that a long distance relationship cannot work and break up. A vision of her appears to Ted shortly before the break-up, when he lies to Robin about having already ended the relationship before the fact. Appears in 6 episodes.; Stella : Played by Sarah Chalke. Ted's dermatologist who removes his illadvised butterfly "tramp stamp" tattoo. Ted attempts to convince her to go out with him over the course of the episode Ten Sessions. Stella initially refuses, telling Ted that she has to focus on being a mother to her daughter, but eventually agrees to go on a two minute lunch date. She and Ted begin dating soon after. Her future with Ted is intentionally left up in the air and there is some speculation that she may be Ted's eventual wife. In the last episode of season three, Ted proposed to Stella, and in the season four premiere she accepted. Appears in several season three episodes and at least five season four episodes.; Brad : A friend of Marshall's from law school. Brad and Marshall begin to hang out after they both find out they are single dudes on the town. He also attends Marshall's bachelor party and wedding. Appears in 4 episodes.;Abby : Played by Britney Spears. Stella's receptionist. Very energetic and scatterbrained, she developed an obsessive crush on Ted while he was pursuing Stella. Barney ended up sleeping with her, and then they worked together to torment Ted with their faux relationship since they both disliked him at that time. However, Abby was simultaneously still in love with Ted and seemingly unable to comprehend that the relationship with Barney was a charade. Appears in 2 episodes.

Occasional and guest characters

; Sandy Rivers : Played by Alexis Denisof. Robin's former co-anchor. A sleazebag, (and, as described by Ted, "a total jackass") he constantly asks Robin out until one night she accepts, making Ted extremely jealous. Before this, he was a favorite of Ted and Marshall, as they enjoyed laughing at the section of his morning news bulletin where he simply read through front pages of newspapers. In the first season finale, he reveals that he has accepted a position at CNN and has recommended Robin to succeed him as lead anchor of Metro News One. Appears in 3 episodes.; Katie Scherbatsky : Played By Lucy Hale. Robin's younger sister. First introduced in the "First Time in New York" episode where she comes to visit. Appears in 1 episode.; Ranjit : Played by Marshall Manesh. Cab and limo driver who drives the main characters around on a few occasions and on one occasion drinks champagne with them in MacLaren's bar. Also drives the limo right after Marshall and Lily are married. Helps Ted with his 2 minute date with his dermatologist Stella in the episode Ten Sessions as well as driving Barney and Ted to Ted's 30th birthday party in the episode The Goat. Appears in 6 episodes.; Hammond Druthers : Played by Bryan Cranston. Ted's boss at the architecture firm until Ted submits better design for a building in the episode "Aldrin Justice." He, much to his displeasure, begins to work for Ted afterward. Appears in 2 episodes.; Trudy : Played by Danica McKellar. The girl who ends up in Ted's bed after Barney convinces Ted to do instead of think. Appears in 2 episodes.; Penelope : Played by Amy Acker. A girl who hooked up with Barney twice and helps teach Ted how to do a rain dance. Appears in 1 episode.; Chloe : Played by Morena Baccarin. A girl who works at a coffee shop who dates Marshall for a bit, and also starts the trend of people calling Barney "Swarley."; Wendy the Waitress : Played by Charlene Amoia. Wendy is the waitress at the gang's bar of choice. She is often in the background but did have a short fling with Barney in the episode The Platinum Rule. Appears in 11 episodes.; James Stinson : Played by Wayne Brady. Barney's African-American and gay brother of whom also enjoys wearing suits and acts nearly the same as his brother. He is married and he and his husband have one adopted son. Appears in 3 episodes.; Victoria : Played by Ashley Williams. Baker at Buttercup Bakery. She and Ted met at a wedding reception for which she had made the cake, where they spend the night hanging around by themselves under the promise that they will never see each other again so as not to ruin their memory of that night. This promise is soon broken and they start up a relationship with each other. This is complicated when she is offered a cooking fellowship in Germany. They eventually decide that a long distance relationship cannot work and break up. A vision of her appears to Ted shortly before the break-up, when he lies to Robin about having already ended the relationship before the fact. Appears in 6 episodes.; Scott : Played by Tom Lenk. A guy who also works at the coffee shop who points Chloe out to Lily, and also has a name tag that reads "Brian."; Bartender : Played by Sebastian Siegel. A man who, because of the blaring music, has a comedic sign language dialogue with Ted over the price of drinks.; Professor Lewis : Played by Jane Seymour. Marshall's recently divorced law professor who is considered a "cougar" by Barney, who attempts to "tame her."; Korean Elvis : Korean Man who dresses up as Elvis and hangs out with the group after meeting when Barney, Marshall, and Lily went to go sing Karaoke after Marshall and Barney got off of work.;Stuart : A good friend of Ted and Marshall's who accompanies them to Marshall's bachelor party. Stuart also was about get married to another friend of Ted's Claudia, but when Ted wanted to bring a guest to their wedding Claudia freaked out that no more people could come. Ted went behind Claudia's back and asked Stuart if he could bring Robin to his wedding and Stuart agreed. This resulted in Stuart and Claudia breaking up. Ted eventually got the two of them back together. Appears in 3 episodes.