Joshua Thomas Radnor born July 29 1974 is an American actor filmmaker author and musician He is best known for portraying Ted Mosby on the popular and Emmy Awardwinning CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother He made his writing and directorial debut with the 2010 comedy drama film Happythankyoumoreplease for which he won the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize In 2012 he wrote directed and starred in his second film Liberal Arts which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival In 2014 Radnor portrayed Isaac in the Broadway play Disgraced which was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play He then starred as Dr Jedediah Foster on the PBS American Civil War drama series Mercy Street Lou Mazzuchelli in the musical series Rise and as Lonny Flash in Hunters