The world knows the hunky actor/chef David Burtka mostly for being Neil Patrick Harris’ hot-ass hubby. But before he was banging and cohabitating with NPH, David was working his sexy kind of magic on Broadway in performances like Gypsy and The Opposite of Sex, which makes us easily understand why Doogie (er, Neil) fell in love with him. In fact, the two met when they were both working in the theatre, David in Gypsy and Neil in Cabaret. (There was also a break-up, an American Idol viewing party, and an Angelina Jolie movie involved before they were officially an item.) Like many handsome and talented Broadway actors, David made the brave leap to the silver screen, earning small roles in movies like 24 Nights (1999) as Toby; Worldly Possession (2007), a TV movie where he starred as Andrew Bates; Annie and the Gypsy (2012), as Martin, and, of course, playing himself in A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011), where he and his hubby shared a scorching kiss to prove they’re in love and happy. Born in Dearborn, MI, David is actually a professional chef who has a culinary arts degree from Pasadena’s Le Cordon Bleu, and trained under chef Mario Batali in New York. The acting thing has mostly been a side gig, with a lot of his projects since meeting Neil involving Neil himself, like his role as Scooter in How I Met Your Mother in various episodes from 2006-2014, appearing as Mr. Willums in A Series of Unfortunate Events in 2018, and co-writing and working on Neil’s Puppet Dreams in 2012-2013. Puppets. Puppets. Puppets. Mr. Man’s got nothing.
