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The Big 5-Oh! Happy Birthday to Neil Patrick Harris

Big 5-Oh

Photo montage of Neil Patrick Harris

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Neil Patrick Harris

(JUNE 15) Actor Neil Patrick Harris has been in the spotlight for the bulk of his 50 years on Earth, memorable for his role as Doogie Howser, TV’s preternaturally brainy teen doctor. His impressive staying power is a testament to his chameleonic ability to reinvent himself as, among other things, a song-and-dance man (Into the Woods), a sitcom star (How I Met Your Mother) and a go-to emcee (for the Tonys, Emmys and Oscars). Last year, Harris executive-produced and starred in Uncoupled, a romantic dramedy that’s been picked up by Showtime for a second season. He plays a Manhattan real estate agent forced to adjust to single life after being dumped by his longtime partner. In real life, he’s married to actor David Burtka (since 2014), father to 12-year-old twins and embracing what comes with age. “[Life] is acquiring chapters in a book,” Harris recently told Out. “I don’t want my life to be a pamphlet. I want it to be a tome.” —Nicholas DeRenzo


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Credits, from top: Illustration by Sean McCabe. Neil Patrick Harris primary photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images. Photo collage, clockwise from top right: Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection; Bruce Glikas/WireImage via Getty images; Alamy; Monty Brinton/CBS/Courtesy Everett Collection; Eike Schroter/Netflix; Derek Storm/Everett Collection. Klum: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images; Depp: Juan Naharro Gimenez/WireImage via Getty Images; West: Allison Bailey/NurPhoto via AP; Lauper: Steve Granitz/WireImage via Getty Images; Burns: Mark Von Holden/Invision for The Television Academy/AP Images; Manilow: Anthony Behar/Sipa via AP Images; Jagger: Ekaterina Chesnokova/Sputnik via AP

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