How I Met Your Mother guest stars

977 actors have guest-starred in How I Met Your Mother across 208 episodes and 9 seasons. The most-credited is Lyndsy Fonseca, Daughter in 48 episodes. 429 of them have also guest-starred in five or more of the other shows in this catalogue.

Who came back most

How I Met Your Mother guest actors by episode count
Actor	Character	Eps
Lyndsy Fonseca	Daughter	48
David Henrie	Son	47
Joe Nieves	Carl	21
Marshall Manesh	Ranjit	19
Charlene Amoia	Wendy	17
Suzie Plakson	Judy Eriksen	15
Ashley Williams	Victoria	14
Wayne Brady	James Stinson	14
Bill Fagerbakke	Marvin Eriksen Sr.	12
Jennifer Morrison	Zoey	12
Robert Belushi	Linus	12
Alexis Denisof	Sandy Rivers	10
Chris Elliott	Mickey Aldrin	10
Ellen Dambros Williams	Patrice	10
Becki Newton	Quinn	9
Bob Odenkirk	Arthur Hobbs	9
Sherri Shepherd	Daphne	9
Kal Penn	Kevin	8
Nazanin Boniadi	Nora	8
Ned Rolsma	Marcus Eriksen	8
Sarah Chalke	Stella Zinman	8
Joe Manganiello	Brad Morris	7
Matt Boren	Stuart	7
Michael Trucco	Nick Petteruti, Crush	7
William Zabka	William Zabka	7

How I Met Your Mother guest stars by season

Guest actors per season of How I Met Your Mother
Season	Guests	Who
Season 1	116	David Henrie, Lyndsy Fonseca, Ashley Williams, Joe Nieves, Alexis Denisof, Marshall Manesh, Alyshia Ochse, Anna Zielinski, Charlene Amoia, Matt Boren, Monique Edwards, Pedro Miguel Arce and 104 more
Season 2	122	Charlene Amoia, Joe Manganiello, Joe Nieves, David Henrie, Lyndsy Fonseca, Aisha Kabia, Bryan Cranston, Ewan Chung, Josh Wingate, K Callan, Meagen Fay, Michael Gross and 110 more
Season 3	114	David Henrie, Lyndsy Fonseca, Charlene Amoia, Sarah Chalke, April Bowlby, Britney Spears, Darcy Rose Byrnes, Enrique Iglesias, Marshall Manesh, Abigail Spencer, Alan Fudge, Alexis Krause and 102 more
Season 4	156	Lyndsy Fonseca, Sarah Chalke, Bryan Callen, Charlene Amoia, Darcy Rose Byrnes, David Henrie, Annie Abrams, Jason Jones, Joel McCrary, John Duerler, Laura Prepon, Aaron Hendry and 144 more
Season 5	148	David Henrie, Lyndsy Fonseca, Benjamin Koldyke, Ron Nicolosi, Charlene Amoia, George Finn, Joe Nieves, Marieve Herington, Marshall Manesh, Matt L. Jones, Suzie Plakson, Abhi Sinha and 136 more
Season 6	118	Jennifer Morrison, David Henrie, Lyndsy Fonseca, Bob Odenkirk, Bill Fagerbakke, Suzie Plakson, Nazanin Boniadi, Artemis Pebdani, Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Bell Bundy, Ashwyn Bagga, Ben Vereen and 106 more
Season 7	122	Kal Penn, Becki Newton, Chris Elliott, Alexis Denisof, Ellen Dambros Williams, Vicki Lewis, Nazanin Boniadi, Amber Stevens West, Ashley Williams, Bill Fagerbakke, Bruce Gray, Martin Short and 110 more
Season 8	125	Michael Trucco, Ashley Williams, Ellen Dambros Williams, Abby Elliott, Becki Newton, Jennifer Birmingham, Kyle MacLachlan, Suzie Plakson, Alexis Denisof, August Maturo, Chris Elliott, Jake Elliott and 113 more
Season 9	135	Robert Belushi, Sherri Shepherd, Wayne Brady, Marshall Manesh, William Zabka, Roger Bart, Joe Nieves, Ben Vereen, Napoleon Ryan, Ryan Philbin, Tracey Ullman, Tre Moye and 123 more

Guest stars you know from somewhere else

The hardest-working character actors in this show's guest cast, ranked by how many other shows in this catalogue they have also guest-starred in. Not the most famous names, the most prolific ones.

How I Met Your Mother guest stars who appear in other shows
Actor	In How I Met Your Mother	Other shows
Tom Virtue	Minister	48
Christopher Darga	Bus Driver	38
Van Epperson	Shop Owner	34
Ray Wise	Robin Sr	33
Jim Jansen	Doctor	33
John Getz	Bob Hewitt	33
Alan Fudge	Farmer Frank	32
Ernie Hudson	Ernie Hudson	32
Larry Poindexter	Joe Donovan	32
Greg Collins	Matt Zinman	31
Todd Stashwick	Steve	31
Cristine Rose	Virginia Mosby	30
Harry Groener	Clint	30
Gary Kraus	Wedding Videographer	30
K Callan	Grandma Lois	28

Played more than one character

How I Met Your Mother actors credited under several characters
Actor	Characters	Eps
Edward Flores	Food Guy, Male Jenkins, Marc	4
Eben Ham	Pilot, Policeman, Younger Bob	3
Gita Isak	Female Robotic Recording, Rachel Sondheimer, Stewardess	3
Michael Trucco	Nick Petteruti, Crush	7
Bruce Gray	Yuthers, Senior Partner	3
Annie Abrams	Desk Clerk, Maxine	2
E.E. Bell	Mystery Man, Walter	2
Ewan Chung	Carol, Co-Worker	2
Gary Anthony Williams	Inspector, Reginald	2
Josh Wingate	Mike, Richard Whartonike	2

Shares a cast with

How I Met Your Mother and NCIS — 143 shared actors
How I Met Your Mother and ER — 122 shared actors
How I Met Your Mother and Grey's Anatomy — 120 shared actors
How I Met Your Mother and Criminal Minds — 118 shared actors
How I Met Your Mother and Bones — 116 shared actors
How I Met Your Mother and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation — 115 shared actors
How I Met Your Mother and Castle — 105 shared actors
How I Met Your Mother and NCIS: Los Angeles — 88 shared actors

Cast data from TVmaze, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.