An actress and former international model, Cobie Smulders was born on April 3, 1982 in Vancouver, Canada. As a child, she aspired to become either a doctor or a marine biologist, but during her high school years, she gained an interest in acting. She appeared in several school productions until she was discovered by a modeling agency. She later pursued a modeling career, hitting locations such as France, Japan, Milan and Germany. She nevertheless graduated from high school in 2000, and continued modeling until deciding to finally pursue an acting career.
After her film debut, as the lead in the 2001 short Candy from Strangers, she moved to Los Angeles and began playing guest roles in different television shows. She made her TV debut in 2002, when she starred in the Showtime science fiction series Jeremiah. A year later, she earned her first regular television role, for the short-lived science fiction series Veritas: The Quest. She didn’t get to play the role of Juliet Droil much longer, though, as the program was cancelled by ABC executives after only four episodes.
Smulders continued playing several television guest roles, as well as some movie roles. The most notable of these was a minor recurring role in the Showtime drama The L Word, where she played Leigh Ostin, a lesbian who had a relationship with Valerie Goins (Camille Sullivan). In 2005, she earned another regular television role, this time for the CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother. She plays the role of Robin Scherbatsky, a Canadian news reporter who started working for “fluff news pieces” and eventually worked up the ladder until she became a news anchor. Her character was also involved with Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), whose relationship was a tumultuous one throughout the comedy’s first two seasons; later, she was with his friend Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris).
Since then, she has risen to fame appearing on other productions. Smulders was seen next on The Long Weekend in 2005, Escape in 2006, and The Storm Awaits in 2007. She later got a part in the film The Slammin’ Salmon, and has been seen on Smallville, Tru Calling, and Andromeda as well.