Neil Patrick Harris quit stage acting in 2005.
Neil Patrick Harris . On television , he is known for playing the title character on Doogie Howser , M.D. ( 1989 -- 1993 ) , Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother ( 2005 -- 2014 , for which he was nominated for four Emmy Awards ) , and Count Olaf on A Series of Unfortunate Events ( 2017 onward ) . In 2014 , he starred in the title role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway , for which he won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical .