Career: Neil's first big break came in 1989 when he landed the lead role as a teenage doctor in comedy drama Doogie Howser, MD. When the show ended in 1993 after four seasons, Neil took up stage acting. He continued to make guest appearances in various TV shows, but he didn't hit the small-screen jackpot again until 2005 when he was cast as Barney Stinson in popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM). HIMYM ran for nine seasons, clocking up more than 200 editions. More recently, Neil has starred on the big screen in The Smurfs (2011) and its sequel The Smurfs 2 (2013), The Muppets (2011) and American Reunion (2012). He won two Emmy Awards in 2010 for a guest appearance in an episode of Glee and for hosting the 63rd Annual Tony Awards. He also won Emmys for hosting the 65th and 66th Tony Awards.

Career: Smulders's first role was as a guest in sci-fi drama Jeremiah. She followed this up with guest parts in Special Unit 2 and Tru Calling, before landing a regular role in short-lived sci-fi adventure series Veritas: The Quest. Her big break came in 2005 when she began playing TV reporter Robin Scherbatsky in sitcom How I Met Your Mother. On the big screen, she played Agent Maria Hill in Avengers Assemble (2012) and reprised the role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and TV series Agents of SHIELD.

Career: Hannigan got her big break as Dan Aykroyd's daughter in 1988 comedy My Stepmother Is an Alien. One of her co-stars was Seth Green who also featured alongside her in the sitcom Free Spirit. She then made appearances in US shows Picket Fences, Touched by an Angel and Roseanne. In 1997, she was cast as Willow Rosenberg in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a TV series based on a 1992 movie flop. It became one of the most popular US shows for years, again featuring Green as Oz, her werewolf boyfriend. Hannigan achieved big-screen success as the seemingly naive Michelle Flaherty in the American Pie films, made her West End stage debut in 2004, starring in Nora Ephron's When Harry Met Sally, opposite Luke Perry, and starred in the sitcom How I Met Your Mother between 2005 and 2014.

Career: Segel's first major acting role was in 1999 NBC comedy drama Freaks and Geeks. He had a recurring role on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation before his breakthrough in CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Success followed on the big screen in Knocked Up (2007), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), I Love You, Man (2009), Get Him to the Greek (2010), The Muppets (2011), Friends with Benefits (2011), Bad Teacher (2011), This Is 40 (2012), The Five-Year Engagement (2012) and Sex Tape (2014).

Career: In 2002, Josh made his Broadway debut opposite Kathleen Turner and Alicia Silverstone in The Graduate. His big break came in 2005 when he was cast as the lead in CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. He made his writing and directorial debut with the comedy drama happythankyoumoreplease (2010), which won the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award. His second film as a writer/director/star, Liberal Arts, premiered at the Sundance Festival in 2012.