Who is the New Host for the 2015 Oscars?

Neil Patrick Harris is the 2015 Oscars host. The “Gone Girl” and “How I Met Your Mother” star announced his new gig with a Twitter video that showed him checking “Host the Oscars” off his bucket list.   Harris, who first rose to fame as TV’s teenage wunderkind “Doogie Howser, M.D.” in the early 1990’s, has become the entertainment industry’s go-to host in recent years. A four-time host of the Tony Awards and a two-time host of the Emmys, it is easy to see his next gig would be the Oscars.     “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.”   Before landing the Oscar job, October had already been a big month for 41-year-old Harris. His memoir, “Choose Your Own Autobiography,” was published Oct. 14, and his twins, Harper and Gideon, turned 4.   “It’s been epic, yeah,” Harris told Entertainment Weekly.   In a statement about the choice of Harris as host, two-time Oscar producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron said, “We are thrilled to have Neil host the Oscars. 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.”   Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy, said of Harris, “He is the consummate entertainer. Neil’s distinctive charm and showmanship make him the ideal host to honor the Oscar legacy and ensure we all enjoy another unforgettable celebration.”   Even with all of his entertainment experience, Harris will have a hard time topping last year’s Oscars. Not only was the Ellen Degeneres-hosted show the most-watched Academy Awards ceremony of the last ten years, the selfie Degeneres took with megastar audience members became the most retweeted picture in history.   The 87th Academy Awards will air Feb. 22, 2015 on ABC.