Josh Radnor, best known for his role as Ted Mosby in the Emmy-nominated show How I Met Your Mother, will be speaking to the Cornell Community on Wednesday, Sept. 6.
Radnor, who got his undergraduate degree at Kenyon College, is the latest speaker in the Major Speaker Series organized by Cornell Hillel, which over the last year has brought 6-time Olympic medalist Aly Raisman and Josh Peck of “Drake and Josh” to interact with Cornellians.
The series is made possible by the Himan Brown Charitable Trust, which provides a grant to Cornell Hillel to bring influential speakers to Cornell, according to Molly Pushner ’19, chair of the Major Speaker Series.
Pushner called Radnor an “obvious choice” for the series because of his “name recognition” and industry-wide experience.
“[He] made his name because of his role in How I Met Your Mother, but his experience around the industry as a writer and director means that what he has to say will interest a lot of people,” she said.
Pushner believes Radnor’s role in the Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway play Disgraced, which opens in October and focuses on a Muslim lawyer in New York, will be a matter of interest for the audience.
“Disgraced is a play about Islamophobia in America and the self identity of Muslims. These issues are in the news and Cornellians would want to know more about a theatrical experience that reflects that,” she said.
While Radnor is best known for his acting, he has also written and directed two feature films — Liberal Arts (2012) and Happythankyoumoreplease (2011). While the films received adverse reviews — Pushner believes it will still be heartening to see what he has to say about it.
Radnor is also a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and has written articles for Moviemaker Magazine, Indiewire and The Huffington Post.
The talk will begin at 6 p.m. in the Statler Auditorium. Tickets for the event, which became available August 24, have already sold out.