CBS struck gold with How I Met Your Mother, an Emmy Award-winning, long-running TV series starring Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, and a handful of others that garnered the success of the show that ran for nine seasons. In the time of reboots and revivals, anyone could have predicted that one of, if not, the most popular ensemble comedies post-Friends and pre-The Big Bang Theory would be picked up for another installment in the origins of a parental meet-cute. Like the original show, Hulu’s original series How I Met Your Father centers on an adult who recounts meeting her significant other and shares the story with her child. But instead of the central character being Ted Mosby, like it once was, it’s now Sophie, a 30-year-old hopeless romantic played primarily by Hilary Duff, with Kim Cattrall portraying her in flash-forwards.
Though the series has been met with mixed reviews, subjectively not living up to the original sitcom, it’s been renewed for a second season after ten episodes. None of the cast members appeared on the predecessor, but they made their marks on TV shows elsewhere. How I Met Your Father is complete with a main ensemble cast and has had notable guest stars, including Laura Bell Bundy, Paget Brewster and HIMYM alumna Colbie Smulders. Here are other roles you might’ve seen the actors play.
Hilary Duff
Due to Disney’s unjust request for a family-friendly reboot, a sequel to Lizzie McGuire was scrapped, much to fans’ dismay. No matter, Hilary Duff was still able to achieve her adult sitcom in this reboot where she plays Sophie. Duff is perhaps best known for starring as the titular character of the aforementioned coming-of-age Disney Channel sitcom, where she also voiced a cartoon version of herself. Her first acting role occurred in the 1998 Halloween film Casper Meets Wendy where a 10-year-old Duff played the good witch opposite the friendly ghost. As her popularity soared, she gained parts in Agent Cody Banks, the Cheaper by the Dozen duology, and starred in the first of many A Cinderella Story movies. Her most recent starring role was in the dramedy Younger, where she played Kelsey Peters.
Chris Lowell
Chris Lowell plays Jesse, an aspiring musician and Uber driver. Lowell had a starring role on The CW drama Veronica Mars, where he played Piz. He played William Parker on both Grey’s Anatomy and its spinoff Private Practice from 2007 to 2010. In 2011, Lowell portrayed Stuart Whitworth in the award-winning movie The Help, and in 2020, he was in Promising Young Woman. How I Met Your Father isn’t his only 2022 role, he was also part of Netflix’s docuseries Inventing Anna.
Francia Raisa
Freeform’s teen comedy grown-ish has been renewed for a fifth season but many of its cast members aren’t returning, one of whom is Francia Raisa who we can easily assume has left due to her part on How I Met Your Father. Since 2018, Raisa has played Ana Torres on grown-ish with a small part on its source series, black-ish. She had the starring role in the 2018 film Life-Size 2: A Christmas Eve along with Tyra Banks, but she might be best known for her role on The Secret Life of an American Teenager, an ABC Family drama that ran for five years. She has mostly acted in television and direct-to-video films including Bring it On: All or Nothing, The Cutting Edge and its sequel Fire and Ice. Now, she is known for playing Valentina, Sophie’s roommate and best friend.
Suraj Sharma
Suraj Sharma made his film debut with a starring role in Life of Pi, based on the novel by Yann Martel, a role that earned him a BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination. In 2014, he played Aayan in the fourth season of the Showtime series, Homeland, and he also played series regular Rakesh in the CBS dramedy God Friended Me, and Samar in Happy Death Day 2U. On How I Met Your Father, Sharma plays Sid, Jesse’s best friend and roommate who gets married at the end of the first season.
Tom Ainsley
The British aristocrat Charlie is played by Tom Ainsley. On the show, his love interest is Valentina, whom he met at London Fashion Week. Outside of How I Met Your Father, Ainsley can be seen on the E! soap opera The Royals as Nick. He’s also played Tom in the indie film Safe Inside, Pawlo in Boots on the Ground, and Adam in Serpent.
Tien Tran
Tien Tran, who plays Ellen, Jesse’s sister, has got a small resume behind her, but still has acted on more than one occasion. Her only film role was in the 2021 horror, Candyman where she played Jane Ji. On television, she’s had small roles on South Side, Q-Force, and Space Force, as well as a four-episode arc as Laura on the comedy series Hot Date.
Kim Cattrall
The narrator and future-Sophie, Kim Cattrall stars in her own scenes on the series. The actress is best known for playing Samantha Jones on Sex and the City, though she did not return for its sequel show, And Just Like That. However, she was part of the two movies that expanded from the show. She first came to stardom in the 1980s where she starred in a handful of movies such as Ticket to Heaven, Police Academy, and City Limits. She also had a role in the Disney Channel Original Movie Ice Princess and starred and executive produced the HBO series Sensitive Skin, for which she was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress.
Leighton Meester
One look at Leighton Meester and one just might relate her to her character Blair Waldorf on The CW series Gossip Girl. Meester starred for 121 episodes on the show that was so popular, it received a 2021 spinoff on HBO Max. Her latest role was Beth in the Netflix thriller, The Weekend Away, based on a novel by Sarah Alderson. She also played Angie on the two season-long ABC sitcom Single Parents, and roles in films such as The Roommate, Monte Carlo and The Judge. Now she plays Meridith, a recurring character on How I Met Your Father who is also Jesse’s ex-girlfriend.
Josh Peck
Sophie’s boyfriend for a majority of the first season is played by Josh Peck, who, like Hilary Duff, began his career at a young age. It’s likely that How I Met Your Father’s Gen Z and Millennial fanbase grew up watching Peck on a number of Nickelodeon series, including cameos on All That, a lead role the zany sketch comedy The Amanda Show, and of course his iconic buddy comedy Drake & Josh, where he starred alongside Drake Bell for four seasons. He also played John Stamos’ long-lost son on the short-lived comedy Grandfathered and the two both acted on Netflix’s Fuller House. Most recently, he played the lead in Disney+’s remake of Turner and Hooch and has an upcoming role in 13 the Musical, and, like nearly every actor in Hollywood, will star in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.