Neil Patrick Harris Is Hosting The Oscars In 2015

Neil Patrick Harris Is Hosting The Oscars
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 08: Neil Patrick Harris, winner of the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for ÂHedwig and the Angry InchÂ, poses in the Paramount Hotel Winners' Room at the 68th Annual Tony Awards on June 8, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 08: Neil Patrick Harris, winner of the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for ÂHedwig and the Angry InchÂ, poses in the Paramount Hotel Winners' Room at the 68th Annual Tony Awards on June 8, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

Neil Patrick Harris is hosting the Oscars. The news, first reported by Variety and then also BuzzFeed, was confirmed to HuffPost Entertainment by a representative for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. A press release announcing Harris as host for the 87th annual Academy Awards soon followed.

"We are thrilled to have Neil host the Oscars," said producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron in a statement. "We have known him his entire adult life, and we have watched him explode as a great performer in feature films, television and stage. To work with him on the Oscars is the perfect storm, all of his resources and talent coming together on a global stage."

Harris has taken home Emmys and a Tony, and has hosted both, but this will be his first time acting as emcee for the Oscars. He did, however, perform in the opening musical number in the 2010 ceremony.

"It is truly an honor and a thrill to be asked to host this year's Academy Awards," Harris said in a statement. "I grew up watching the Oscars and was always in such awe of some of the greats who hosted the show. To be asked to follow in the footsteps of Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal, Ellen DeGeneres, and everyone else who had the great fortune of hosting is a bucket list dream come true." Harris tweeted a video of the bucket list, which proves -- as we all knew -- that he has had a pretty great career.


Last year, Ellen DeGeneres hosted the most-watched Oscars of the past decade. The broadcast garnered 43 million viewers. The 87th annual Academy Awards take place on Feb. 22, 2015.

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