When Cobie Smulders spoke about her British mother being ‘cruelly honest’

Actress Cobie Smulders once spoke about the gravity of crude British humour, and how she experiences it on a daily basis at her home. An old video of the actress from ‘The Graham Norton Show’ has resurfaced on the Internet, and it shows the actress talking about the “cruelly honest” signature of British humour.

During the show, she asked the host, “Is it a British thing where you’re just so cruelly honest a lot of the time?”

When Norton replied affirmatively, she said, “I had this one moment with my mother and I was in the 12th grade in high school and we put on the production of Singing in the Rain and instead of giving me a part where I spoke, they gave me a part where I sang, which I’m not great at, and it wasn’t great”.

She further mentioned, “It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great and my mom came to our first performance and, you know, we were all excited and I was like flushed and I felt really great and I did it. I nailed it, even though it was a challenge for me and I came off stage and she said, ‘Oh, Cobie,you were so wonderful. You couldn’t sing a note of it, but you just sang it anyway’. And I was, ‘I still had like eight shows to go’”.

Cobie Smulders is widely recognised for her versatility across television and film. She gained international fame as Robin Scherbatsky in the hit sitcom ‘How I Met Your Mother’, earning praise for her sharp comic timing and charismatic screen presence.

Her enduring popularity stems from her ability to balance humour, strength and emotional depth across diverse roles as seen in the video.

Smulders made her professional acting debut in 2002, with guest appearances in the UPN science fiction comedy series Special Unit 2 and the Showtime science fiction drama series Jeremiah. She subsequently made multiple appearances on television, including in the Fox supernatural drama series Tru Calling (2003), the WB superhero series Smallville (2003), and the Global space opera series Andromeda (2005). Smulders’ first role as a series regular was in the short-lived 2003 ABC adventure drama series Veritas: The Quest, which ran for one season. She made her film debut in 2004 with a supporting role in the action film Walking Tall. She then had a supporting role in the 2005 comedy film The Long Weekend. That same year, she had a recurring role as Leigh Ostin in the Showtime drama series The L Word.

In 2005, Smulders was cast as television reporter and former teen pop star Robin Scherbatsky in the CBS series How I Met Your Mother. The series concluded in 2014 after nine seasons, winning ten Emmy Awards throughout its run. For her performance, she garnered wide recognition and earned a People’s Choice Award nomination. In 2009, she appeared in the comedy film The Slammin’ Salmon.

Agencies