Cobie Smulders

Jacoba Francisca Maria "Cobie" Smulders[1] (born April 3, 1982)[2] is a Canadian actress and model. She is best known for her starring role as Robin Scherbatsky in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014) and as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), as well as several guest appearances in ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Cobie Smulders
Smulders in 2019
Born	Jacoba Francisca Maria Smulders (1982-04-03) April 3, 1982 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Education	Lord Byng Secondary School
Occupation	Actress model
Years active	2002–present
Spouse(s)	Taran Killam ( m. 2012)
Children	2

Smulders' other films include Safe Haven (2013), They Came Together (2014), Results (2015), and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016). She stars as Dex Parios in the ABC crime drama series Stumptown (2019–present).

Early life

Smulders was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to a Dutch father and a British mother. She was raised in White Rock, British Columbia and later moved to the affluent West Point Grey neighborhood in Vancouver to attend high school at Lord Byng Secondary School. She was named after her great-aunt, from whom she gained the nickname "Cobie."[3] Smulders describes herself as "a fluent listener" of French.[4] She has four sisters: Melissa, Amy, Fiona and Julie.[5]

Smulders worked in modelling, which she later said she "kind of hated", adding that the experience made her hesitant about pursuing acting as a career: "You know you go into these rooms, and I've had the experience of people judging you physically for so long and I was over that. But then it was like, 'Oh no, I have to actually perform. I have to do well, and I have to have a voice, and I have to have thoughts now.'"[6]

In her youth, Smulders aspired to be a marine biologist.[4] Describing her transition to her eventual professions, she said,

I studied acting throughout high school, then modeling took over because it brought more opportunity. When I quit modeling, coming back to Vancouver, I registered at the University of Victoria. At the same time, that summer, I was taking acting classes and decided to give that a year or two instead of going back to school. I always wanted to go back to school. I was looking into taking some classes part-time, but marine biology involves a lot of lab time.[4]

Smulders was also a member of the Girl Guides of Canada as a child, participating as a Brownie (Girl Guide program for 7-8 year olds).[7]

Career

Smulders and Neil Patrick Harris in 2013

Smulders' first acting role was as a guest in the Showtime science fiction series Jeremiah, and she has appeared in several television series since, including a recurring role on The L Word. Her first permanent series role was in the short-lived ABC series Veritas: The Quest, which ran for one season. After the cancellation of Veritas, Smulders was cast as television reporter Robin Scherbatsky on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother in 2005, remaining on the show for its entire nine-season run.

In June 2010, Smulders made her Off-Broadway debut in Love, Loss, and What I Wore at the Westside Theatre.[8]

Smulders played Maria Hill in the 2012 film The Avengers. She received training from a Los Angeles SWAT team trainer to handle guns in order to portray the character.[9] Smulders reprised the role in three episodes of the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,[10] and in the films Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).[11][12] Joss Whedon has suggested he had considered her for the role of Wonder Woman in his draft of the eponymous film, which did not go into production.[13] Smulders did voice a Lego version of Wonder Woman in the 2014 animated film The Lego Movie. It was the first time the Wonder Woman character had a theatrical film appearance.[14]

Teyonah Parris, Smulders, Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler in 2014

In 2013, Smulders had a supporting role in the romance film Safe Haven. She also starred in the comedy-drama Delivery Man and They Came Together.[15] In July 2015, it was reported that Smulders had exited the made-for-TV film Confirmation because she had broken her leg; Zoe Lister-Jones was then confirmed to replace her in the role of Harriet Grant.[16]

In 2016, she appeared in the comedy-drama The Intervention and with Tom Cruise in the action adventure film Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. In 2017, she played the recurring character "Mother" in the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events.[17]

From 2017 to 2019, she starred in the Netflix original series, Friends from College, in the main role of Lisa Turner.[18] She currently stars as Dexedrine "Dex" Parios, a PTSD-stricken military veteran turned private detective, in the ABC crime drama Stumptown, which premiered on September 25, 2019.[19]

Personal life

Smulders became engaged to Taran Killam in January 2009 after meeting him at a mutual friend's party four years prior.[20] They married on September 8, 2012, in Solvang, California.[21] The couple reside in Pacific Palisades, California.[22] They have two daughters together: Shaelyn Cado, born on May 16, 2009, and Janita, born January 4, 2015.[23][24][25]

In 2015, Smulders revealed she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer at age 25, while shooting season three of How I Met Your Mother in 2007. She had surgery to remove two tumors from her ovaries, but the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, resulting in the need for multiple operations over the course of two years.[26][27] In August 2019, Smulders revealed she is in remission.[28]

Charitable endeavours

Smulders filmed a public service announcement with Oceana, an international ocean conservation organization, in 2014.[29][30]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Walking Tall	Exotic Beauty
2004	Ill Fated	Mary	[31]
2005	The Long Weekend	Ellen
2006	Escape	Psychotic Brunette	Short film
2006	Dr. Miracles	Mrs. Peterson	Short film[32]
2007	The Storm Awaits	Anabella DeLorenzo	Short film[33]
2009	The Slammin' Salmon	Tara
2012	The Avengers	Maria Hill
2012	Grassroots	Clair
2013	Safe Haven	Carly Jo Wheatley
2013	Delivery Man	Emma
2014	The Lego Movie	Wonder Woman (voice)
2014	They Came Together	Tiffany Amber Thigpen
2014	Captain America: The Winter Soldier	Maria Hill
2015	Unexpected	Samantha Abbot	[34]
2015	Results	Kat
2015	Avengers: Age of Ultron	Maria Hill
2016	The Intervention	Ruby
2016	Jack Reacher: Never Go Back	Major Susan Turner
2017	Literally, Right Before Aaron	Allison
2017	Killing Gunther	Lisa McCalla
2018	Avengers: Infinity War	Maria Hill	Cameo
2018	Alright Now	Joanne Skye
2019	The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part	Wonder Woman (voice)
2019	Avengers: Endgame	Maria Hill	Cameo
2019	Spider-Man: Far From Home	Maria Hill / Soren

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Special Unit 2	Zoe	Episode: "The Wish"
2002	Jeremiah	Deborah	Episode: "Thieves' Honor"
2003	Tru Calling	Sarah Webb	Episode: "Brother's Keeper"
2003	Veritas: The Quest	Juliet Droil	Main role; 13 episodes
2004	Smallville	Shannon Bell / Eve Andrews	Episode: "Bound"
2005	Andromeda	Jillian Rhade	2 episodes
2005	The L Word	Leigh Ostin	4 episodes
2005–2014	How I Met Your Mother	Robin Scherbatsky	Lead role; 208 episodes
2010	How to Make It in America	Hayley	Episode: "Pilot"
2013–2015	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Maria Hill	3 episodes
2013	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Herself	Episode: "Cobie Smulders Wears a Black & White Strapless Dress"
2015	Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris	Herself	Episode: "Tyler Perry"
2016	Animals.	Anni (voice)	Episode: "Flies."
2017	A Series of Unfortunate Events	Mother / Mrs. Quagmire	Recurring role; 8 episodes
2017	Nature Cat	Nature Dog (voice)	Episode: "Ocean Commotion"
2017–2019	Friends from College	Lisa Turner	Main role; 16 episodes
2019	Arrested Development	Young Lucille Bluth	3 episodes[35]
2019–present	Stumptown	Dexadrine "Dex" Parios	Lead role; 18 episodes
2019	Room 104	Marian Wallace	Episode: "The Specimen Collector"
2020	The Simpsons	Hydrangea (voice)	Episode: "Bart the Bad Guy"

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Love, Loss, and What I Wore	Principal character	June 10, 2010 – June 26, 2010 Westside Theatre
2017	Present Laughter	Joanna Lyppiatt	April 5, 2017 – July 2, 2017 St. James Theatre

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2013	EWwy Award	Best Supporting Actress – Comedy	How I Met Your Mother	Won
2014	People's Choice Award	Favorite TV Gal Pals (shared with Alyson Hannigan)		Nominated
2017	Theatre World Award		Present Laughter	Honoree

References

1. "Cobie Smulders on life after "How I Met Your Mother"". CBS News. March 30, 2014. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
2. "UPI Almanac for Wednesday, April 3, 2019". United Press International. April 3, 2019. Archived from the original on April 3, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2019. actor Cobie Smulders in 1982 (age 37)
3. "Cobie Smulders on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson". YouTube. April 18, 2008. Archived from the original on June 15, 2014. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
4. Johnson, Brian D. (November 16, 2013). "'It's always in my back pocket': Cobie Smulders on Canadian identity". Maclean's. Archived from the original on March 7, 2014. Retrieved December 27, 2013.
5. Billy Eichner & Cobie Smulders Answer the Web's Most Searched Questions. Wired. Event occurs at 10:16. Retrieved January 29, 2019 – via YouTube.
6. Zuo, Mila (September 1, 2009). "The Elusive Charm of Cobie Smulders". Venus Zine. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
7. "Cobie Smulders (@cobiesmulders) on Instagram".
8. Wieselman, Jarett (June 10, 2010). "'Love, Loss' and two lovely ladies". New York Post. Archived from the original on October 18, 2010. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
9. Sacks, Ethan (April 29, 2012). "'The Avengers': Scarlett Johansson & Cobie Smulders are superwomen of the screen". Daily News. New York City. Archived from the original on October 7, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
10. Goldberg, Lesley (July 19, 2013). "Cobie Smulders' Comic-Con Reveal: Secret 'Agents of SHIELD' Role". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 12, 2014. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
11. Graser, Marc (October 29, 2012). "Frank Grillo to play Crossbones in 'Captain America' sequel". Variety. Archived from the original on November 1, 2012. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
12. Thompson, Bob (November 7, 2013). "Vancouver's Cobie Smulders is on a roll (with video)". Calgary Herald. Calgary, Alberta. Archived from the original on November 8, 2013. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
13. "Satin Tights No Longer". Whedonesque.com. February 3, 2007. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
14. "The LEGO Movie review". Retrieved March 24, 2018.
15. "Cobie Smulders Joins the 'Starbuck' Family". NextMovie. August 27, 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2013.
16. Petski, Denise (July 9, 2015). "Zoe Lister-Jones Joins HBO Movie 'Confirmation' In Recasting". Deadline Hollywood.
17. "Who Do Will Arnett & Cobie Smulders Play In 'A Series Of Unfortunate Events'? Not Everything Is As It Seems". Bustle. January 14, 2017. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
18. Jackson, Dory (January 12, 2019). "Cobie Smulders spills on 'Friends From College' Season 2 and whether fans should like the characters". Newsweek. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
19. Lawrence, Derek (September 17, 2019). "'Stumptown' is ready to bring you a type of character that 'didn't exist on television'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
20. Alexander, Reagan (January 28, 2009). "HIMYM's Cobie Smulders Flashes Her New Engagement Ring". People. Retrieved November 25, 2009.
21. ""SNL's" Taran Killam Marries "How I Met Your Mother's" Cobie Smulders — Exclusive". RumorFix. September 8, 2012. Archived from the original on April 7, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
22. "Cobie Smulders buys Pacific Palisades home for $5.6M". The Real Deal. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
23. León, Anya (July 3, 2009). "It's a Girl for Cobie Smulders". People. Retrieved November 25, 2009.
24. "Taran Killam and Cobie Smulders Expecting Second Child". People. October 21, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
25. Klassen, Anna (January 26, 2015). "'Unexpected' Star Cobie Smulders & Director Kris Swanberg On Finally Making a Pregnancy Film From the Female Perspective". Retrieved January 30, 2015. I'm in Sundance and I have a three week old baby, so I can certainly relate.
26. Serico, Chris (April 23, 2015). "'I had tumors on both ovaries': Cobie Smulders reveals cancer scare". Today. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
27. Corriston, Michele (April 23, 2015). "Mom of 2 Cobie Smulders Reveals Her Battle with Ovarian Cancer". People. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
28. "Cobie Smulders draws on cancer survival for new character". The Seattle Times. August 5, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
29. Wiseman, Jessica (August 6, 2014). "Photos: Rashida Jones, Cobie Smulders, and Angela Kinsey Help Protect Belizean Reefs". Oceana. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
30. Scott, Walter (November 23, 2013). "Cobie Smulders' Detachable Baby Bump". Parade. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
31. Bobbin, Jay (August 13, 2006). "Cobie Smulders - Chicago Tribune". Chicago Tribune.
32. Dr. Miracles Episode 3. YouTube. October 2006.
33. "The Storm Awaits (episode three)". YouTube. Very Advanced Productions. February 15, 2007. 3:18 minutes in.
34. "NBA Star Chris Webber To Exec Produce Cobie Smulders Drama 'Unexpected'". Deadline Hollywood. January 7, 2015. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
35. Snierson, Dan (March 7, 2019). "Arrested Development: Cobie Smulders and Taran Killam to play Lucille and George Sr". Entertainment Weekly.

External links

• Cobie Smulders on IMDb
• Cobie Smulders on Twitter
• Cobie Smulders How I Met Your Mother biography at CBS

Preceded by Michelle Monaghan (2010–2011)	Voice of Wonder Woman	Succeeded by