Photo: Eric Schwabel
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LOS ANGELES, CA – Award-winning star of stage and screen Neil Patrick Harris will host the 87th Oscars
®,
show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced today. This will
be Harris’ first time hosting the ceremony. The show will air live on
ABC on Oscar® Sunday, February 22, 2015.
"We are thrilled to have Neil host the Oscars," said Zadan and
Meron. "We have known him his entire adult life, and we have watched
him explode as a great performer in feature films, television and
stage. To work with him on the Oscars is the perfect storm, all of his
resources and talent coming together on a global stage."
“It is truly an honor and a thrill to be asked to host this
year’s Academy Awards. I grew up watching the Oscars and was always in
such awe of some of the greats who hosted the show,” said Harris. “To
be asked to follow in the footsteps of Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal,
Ellen DeGeneres, and everyone else who had the great fortune of hosting
is a bucket list dream come true.”
“We share Craig and Neil’s excitement in welcoming the incredibly
talented Neil Patrick Harris,” said Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Academy
President. “He is the consummate entertainer. Neil’s distinctive
charm and showmanship make him the ideal host to honor the Oscar legacy
and ensure we all enjoy another unforgettable celebration.”
“Neil is a terrific actor, singer, risk-taker and collaborator,”
said Dawn Hudson, Academy CEO. “We can't wait to see the show that he
and Craig and Neil create together.”
“Neil Patrick Harris is highly energetic and a definitive
entertainer,” said Paul Lee. “We are thrilled to have him as our 2015
Oscar host.”
A triple-threat performer, Harris has enjoyed a successful career
in entertainment. He can currently be seen starring opposite Ben
Affleck and Rosamund Pike in David Fincher’s critically-acclaimed
feature film, “Gone Girl.” Harris garnered multiple Emmy
® and
Golden Globe award nominations for his role as Barney Stinson on the
hit television series, “How I Met Your Mother,” and he won an Emmy for
his guest-starring role on “Glee” in 2010. He also recently starred in
the title role of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” on Broadway, earning the
2014 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Harris served as host
of the 61st and 65th Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as the 63rd, 65th,
66th and 67th Tony Awards, for which he won four Emmys. Most recently,
Harris added the title of author to his list of accomplishments with
the release of his autobiography from Crown Publishing, “Neil Patrick
Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography.”
The last two Oscars telecasts, which were produced by Zadan and
Meron, received a major spike in the ratings. The 86th Oscars was TV’s
most-watched entertainment event in 10 years and attracted the biggest
viewership since 2000, with more than 45 million viewers. The show
resulted in dramatic gains in younger demos and social media
conversation, with more than one billion impressions generated on
Twitter and 25 million interactions happening on Facebook on Oscar
Sunday. Additionally, the star-studded “selfie” became the most
retweeted photo of all time with 32.8 million views.
The Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood &
Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC
Television Network at 4 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. The Oscar presentation also
will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories
worldwide.