Cobie Smulders was still a relative unknown when she landed her big break in How I Met
Your Mother. Since then, everyone has learned her name, but there's still a lot about her
that you probably don't know. This is the untold truth of Cobie Smulders.
How I Met Your Mother's Robin Scherbatsky became known as one of the most iconic Canadian
characters on any American TV sitcom. However, Robin's nationality wasn't planned. As Smulders
explained in a Canadian TV interview, it wasn't until the How I Met Your Mother writers learned
of the actress' nationality that they came up with the idea.
"Second season, they said, 'We're thinking of making Robin a Canadian.' And I said, 'Oh,
okay,' and they said, 'We think that it's exotic.'"
Of Robin's first episode as an out-and-proud Canadian, Smulders explained,
"Robin was like, 'You know, we have universal health care and our school system and all
these great things that Canada provides. And then literally the next episode...We had one
episode, and from then on, just trashing our country."
Not only was Cobie Smulders' How I Met Your Mother character Canadian, she also had a
secret past as a teenage pop star called Robin Sparkles, best known for her chart-topping
hit in Canada, "Let's Go to the Mall."
The character became a fan favorite, recurring several times throughout the show's run. In
fact, Robin Sparkles eventually took on a life of her own. Smulders told TV Guide,
"I was happy that people enjoyed it so much. It became such an Internet hit and there's
even a [Robin Sparkles] MySpace page, which I find hilarious."
Smulders admitted she also loved the vintage costume, and told the magazine,
"She has a bedazzled acid-wash jean jacket that has [her name] graffitied on the back.
If you were wearing it back then and you looked back on it, you'd think that was terrible.
But I personally think it is awesome, just because it is so cheesy."
When the actress was 12 years old, one of her girlfriends was working as a professional
model and encouraged Smulders to become one too. By the time Smulders was in her late
teens, she was traveling all over the world as an in-demand international model. As she
told Venus Zine,
"I'm traveling. I’m in Europe. I'm living in Italy. I’m living in New York and I'm
living here for free. I'm meeting all these great people, and it was just sort of fun.
You know, I'm 19 years old, and so I enjoyed it for that. But it just really wasn't my
bag."
As for eventually making the leap to acting, Smulders explained,
"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.'"
Long before Gal Gadot took on the iconic role, a completely different superhero movie was
in development. About a decade before Patty Jenkins' version hit the big screen, Joss
Whedon was working on his own Wonder Woman movie, and Cobie Smulders was rumored for
the main role. The actress told TV Guide in 2008,
"I know there was a lot of Internet hype about it, mainly from Joss Whedon, who's a friend
of mine, so that spurred some interest. I don't know where they are at with the project
right now. It's a bit unknown to me."
While Whedon's version of Wonder Woman never happened, Smulders revealed to Total Film,
"Wonder Woman is such an amazing character...But she's very iconic, so it's scary stuff. It's
scary stuff with big shoes."
However, Smulders eventually got the chance to play the superhero in animated form, when
she provided the voice of LEGO Wonder Woman in 2014's The LEGO Movie. Plus, Smulders saw
some superhero action when she was cast as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in 2012's The
Avengers, which just so happened to be directed by her friend, Whedon. Of her Marvel role,
the actress told the Toronto Star,
"My hope is that I can inspire little girls to stand up and to have a voice."
It's hard to believe, but Cobie Smulders was once up against fellow Canadian actress Evangeline
Lilly for a role in Lost. Both stars auditioned to play Kate Austen in the ABC pilot, a role
which Lilly scored over Smulders. The How I Met Your Mother actress told E! News,
"She owes me a lot because I went in and I bombed the audition...And she was like, 'Thank
you!'"
Even though Smulders lost out on a big role, she held no grudge and became Lilly's first
friend in Los Angeles. Of their famous connection, Lilly told E! News,
"Cobie Smulders, she was the first person I met in LA...She took me under her wing,
she let me hang out with her friends, she took me shopping...she let me stay at her
place."
While fans of How I Met Your Mother will have a difficult time envisioning anyone but Cobie
Smulders playing Robin Scherbatsky, the network originally planned to have a far more established
actress playing the character. Co-creator Carter Bays told Entertainment Weekly,
"[T]he part of Robin was offered to a pretty famous actress and she turned it down."
Bays later revealed during a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session,
"Jennifer Love Hewitt did The Ghost Whisperer instead of [How I Met Your Mother]."
It's wild to think how different the show could've been with a different actress playing
Robin.
Cobie Smulders married former Saturday Night Live cast member Taran Killam in 2012, and
they've been together since they were 22-years-old. As Smulders recalled during a 2019 appearance
on Live with Kelly and Ryan,
"We were babies and we survived, like, we survived our 20s together. I don't know how
that's possible, but we did."
The couple welcomed a baby girl in 2009, followed by another daughter in early 2015. Smulders
kept the birth announcement of her second child low-key, casually dropping the news
while promoting her pregnancy-themed indie film Unexpected at the Sundance Film Festival.
As she told Bustle,
"I have a three-week old baby, so I can certainly relate [to the theme of the film]...It's my
world at the moment."
In an interview with Parents, Smulders admitted that having kids was nothing like the fantasy
she imagined when she was younger. The actress explained,
"Growing up it was like 'I'll have kids and I'll stay home with them all day and I'll
raise them in the forest. We will only eat organic food that we've grown ourselves from
our garden. And every month we'll kill that chicken and they'll learn about the cycle
of life.' And it's like no. We live in New York City."
Now that she's experienced the day-to-day realities of motherhood, Smulders shared the
biggest piece of advice she gives to her friends who are about to have children, and said,
"Just flow with it. Just be present and let it happen and do your best. It really is the
hardest job in the world. It really is."
And as for whether she has a favorite child, Smulders told Parents,
"Just that you love them the same...Maybe that will change and maybe one will be a jerk
growing up and I'll think I like you a little bit less right now, but I think it will always
be true. You really have this love for both of them."
At 25 years old, Cobie Smulders was on the top of the world. She was living her dream,
starring in a hit TV sitcom that was enjoying big ratings and critical acclaim. However,
during the third season of How I Met Your Mother, the actress received some truly shocking
health news. Smulders told Women's Health,
"I had tumors on both ovaries...and the cancer had spread into my lymph nodes and surrounding
tissues."
After several surgeries over the course of two years, she had finally conquered the disease.
However, Smulders told the publication,
"I don't think I'll ever feel like I'm cancer-free...Now that I'm five years out, I'm trying to think
of it as a positive thing and what can I learn from it. And if I can create more awareness,
I'll do it."
During a session at the Television Critics Association, the actress revealed,
"I think that going through [ovarian cancer] has made me a better person, a better mother,
certainly able to tap into things in terms of creating characters."
In 2019, Cobie Smulders was cast in the lead role in Stumptown, playing a down-on-her-luck
private investigator called Dex. The role turned out to be an extremely physical one,
as Smulders told The New York Times,
"I'm literally strapped into stunt gear, like pads and a backpack, in a really weird seated
position on my couch. We are doing a pretty intense fight that’s taking place in a kitchen.
It’s always a fascinating thing when you’re on a series and every week you have a fight
sequence. I do all the hits and the kicks, anything but where I’m getting thrown somewhere
at a very high velocity where something could go very wrong."
At the Television Critics Association press tour, Smulders admitted,
"Everything about her challenges me but that's what excites me...It doesn't make me afraid.
I mean, it's physically wearing but you're not really getting hurt. If you're getting
hurt, someone's not doing their job right."
Luckily, Smulders felt well prepared for her new role after receiving a crash course in
stunt training from Tom Cruise, her co-star in the movie Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,
as she revealed,
"Yeah, I mean when I worked with Tom [Cruise]...that was when I learned the most...about training,
about fighting, about stunts, about how to do everything safely because he was such a
pro at just doing everything correctly and really well."
Smulders also admitted that while there's a part of her that enjoys doing the stunt
work, it has its challenges. The actress said that working opposite Cruise required not
just doing the stunts, but also hours upon hours of training and exercising ahead of
time. In an interview with CTV News, Smulders said,
"It was just insane, also a great experience, but I remember being in there like, 'I can't
do this again. I can't.' It takes over your whole life."
Speaking to People for their "World's Most Beautiful" issue in 2014, Cobie Smulders was
asked when she feels the most beautiful without makeup. She explained,
"Probably when I wake up in the morning and start my day. I mean, I never wear makeup
in my life, truly I don't. I only really wear makeup when I'm working or doing photoshoots
or something fancy. I use very, very minimal makeup and my husband seems to like that look
best."
Smulders keeps her skin-care regimen just as simple. The actress told Self,
"I treat myself to a facial every few months. It's like getting your car washed. They get
in there and get stuff out. I've also started using a[n]...exfoliating brush a couple of
times a week...I'm like, 'I'm doing something for my face, honey! It's for my face!'"
As TV shows ranging from Gilmore Girls to Will & Grace have received the reboot treatment,
fans of How I Met Your Mother can be excused for wondering when the cast of the beloved
show will be reuniting. But according to Cobie Smulders, they shouldn't get their hopes up.
She revealed to HuffPost during a Build Series interview,
"I mean, we were just on every week. Aren't you sick of us?...So, I don't know. Who knows?
I don't think now. I think it's too soon. But talk to me in 20 years, I might need a
job!"
However, Smudlers did give a more open-ended answer during an interview with The IMDb Show
when she said,
"I think it's too soon. I mean, I would love to work with the cast again."
And in an interview with The New York Times, Smulders made it clear that, one day, a reunion
could be on the table. She teased,
"I've literally not ever had a conversation about it with anybody. I would love to work
with everyone again. I just feel like we're all off doing our own thing. It also doesn't
feel like that long, though I guess it is becoming a long time since it has been on
the air. Yeah, of course I would, I would love to. I would definitely not just say no."
It sounds as though How I Met Your Mother fans might need to be patient, as Smulders
isn't reuniting with the cast just yet.
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