Claim: Neil Patrick Harris was on How I Met Your Mother as Barney Stinson.
Evidence: On television , he is known for playing the title character on Doogie Howser , M.D. -LRB- 1989 -- 1993 -RRB- , Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother -LRB- 2005 -- 2014 , for which he was nominated for four Emmy Awards -RRB- , and Count Olaf on A Series of Unfortunate Events -LRB- 2017 onward -RRB-.