Cobie Smulders

Jacoba Francisca Maria Smulders, known professionally as Cobie Smulders, was born on April 3, 1982, in Vancouver, British Columbia, to a Dutch father and a British mother. She grew up in White Rock, British Columbia, and later attended Lord Byng Secondary School in the West Point Grey neighbourhood. Her nickname "Cobie" came from a great-aunt after whom she was named. As a child, Smulders participated in the Girl Guides of Canada as a Brownie, and she harbored early ambitions of becoming a marine biologist before developing an interest in theatre during her high school years. She briefly attended the University of Victoria before committing to a career in acting. Prior to that career, she worked in modeling, an experience she later described as something she "kind of hated."

Smulders launched her professional acting career in 2002 with guest appearances on the UPN series Special Unit 2 and the Showtime series Jeremiah. Early television work followed on Tru Calling, Smallville, and Andromeda, and her first series regular role came in the short-lived 2003 ABC adventure drama Veritas: The Quest. She made her film debut in 2004 in the action film Walking Tall, followed by a supporting role in the 2005 comedy The Long Weekend and a recurring role as Leigh Ostin on the Showtime drama The L Word that same year.

In 2005, Smulders was cast as Robin Scherbatsky, a television reporter and former teen pop star, in the CBS series How I Met Your Mother. The show ran for nine seasons, concluding in 2014, and won ten Emmy Awards over its run. Her performance earned her a People's Choice Award nomination and broad recognition. Concurrent with that series, she expanded her film work, appearing in The Slammin' Salmon in 2009 and the 2010 pilot of the HBO series How to Make It in America.

In June 2010, Smulders made her off-Broadway debut at the Westside Theatre in Love, Loss, and What I Wore, written by Delia and Nora Ephron. That same year marked a significant expansion of her screen profile when she was cast as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a role she first played in the 2012 superhero film The Avengers. To prepare for the part, she trained with a Los Angeles SWAT team trainer. She subsequently reprised the role in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and the 2023 television miniseries Secret Invasion.

Her film credits across this period include the romantic drama Safe Haven, the comedy-drama Delivery Man, and the romantic comedy They Came Together, all in 2013 and 2014. In 2014, she voiced a Lego version of Wonder Woman in The Lego Movie, marking the character's first appearance in a theatrical film. She reprised that voice role in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part in 2019. Additional film work includes Results and Unexpected in 2015, and The Intervention and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back in 2016.

Smulders made her Broadway debut in 2017 in the revival of Noël Coward's comedy Present Laughter, portraying Joanna Lyppiatt opposite Kevin Kline. The production earned her a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut. Her performance was later filmed for the PBS series Great Performances.

Also in 2017, Smulders joined the Netflix black comedy drama A Series of Unfortunate Events in the recurring role of Mother, also known as Mrs. Quagmire, and starred in the Netflix comedy series Friends from College as Lisa Turner, a role she held through 2019. In 2019, she took on the lead role of Dexedrine "Dex" Parios, a military veteran working as a private detective, in the ABC crime drama Stumptown, which premiered to positive reviews on September 25, 2019, before being cancelled after one season due to production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. She received a Critics' Choice Super Award nomination for Best Actress in a Superhero Series for that performance. In 2021, she portrayed media pundit Ann Coulter in the FX true crime anthology series Impeachment: American Crime Story, which also received favorable critical attention.