‘How I Met Your Father’: Who Is Robert? Why John Corbett Looks Familiar

The time has finally arrived, How I Met Your Father fans — John Corbett will make his season 2 debut when episode 9, “The Welcome Protocol,” premieres on Tuesday, March 21, on Hulu. As the trailer teased, Corbett plays Sophie’s (much older) boyfriend, who we learned during the season 2 premiere may or may not be her father. But How I Met Your Father isn’t the first time Hilary Duff has worked with Corbett.

John Corbett, who stars as Robert in 'How I Met Your Father' Season 2, wears an olive green jacket over a black shirt. — John Corbett | Photo by Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic

John Corbett plays Robert in ‘How I Met Your Father’ Season 2

How I Met Your Father fans will meet Robert, played by John Corbett, in “The Welcome Protocol” when he and Sophie run into one another at a fancy party where Robert is the chef.

The synopsis for How I Met Your Father Season 2 Episode 9 reads, “Val takes Sophie to a work event so they can party all night with the rich and famous. Jesse wants to introduce the friends to a new girl he’s seeing, forcing them to spring into action and invoke the ‘Welcome Protocol.’”

So it sounds like both Sophie and Jesse will begin to move on from their season 1 fling in the upcoming episode. But for Sophie, it won’t be love at first sight between her and Robert.

A sneak peek at “The Welcome Protocol” reveals that Sophie and Robert meet when he criticizes her for wanting to dip her yellowtail crudo into ranch dressing. She calls him rude before walking away. But based on the season 2 trailer, we know that it won’t take long for Sophie and Robert to warm up to one another.

John Corbett’s movies and television shows

Hilary Duff fans might recall that How I Met Your Father isn’t the first time she’s shared the screen with John Corbett. The two starred in Raise Your Voice, where Corbett played Duff’s character’s music teacher. Now, they’ll play love interests in the Hulu sitcom.

Viewers might also recognize Corbett from shows such as Northern Exposure, Sex and the City, United States of Tara, Parenthood, NCIS: Los Angeles, Rebel, and And Just Like That.

Aside from Raise Your Voice, the actor’s film credits include Volcano, Serendipity, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Raising Helen, The Messengers, Sex and the City 2, Ramona & Beezus, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged, the To All the Boys trilogy on Netflix, and more.

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Corbett is also a country singer and has released two albums —John Corbett (2006) and Leaving Nothin’ Behind (2013).

Is John Corbett the father in ‘How I Met Your Father’?

While John Corbett will make his first appearance as Robert in How I Met Your Father Season 2 Episode 9, he will continue to guest star in the show as the season continues.

The trailer shows that the friend group later gives Sophie flack about dating an older guy. And the premiere revealed that Sophie might suspect that Robert is her father. The first episode of season 2 showed a flash-forward to Sophie frantically leaving her mother a voicemail while driving. She says, “Mom, please call me back! I think I’m dating my dad,” before running into Barney Stinson’s car.

Many fans suspect that Sophie is alluding to Corbett’s character in the scene. But we hope she’s wrong and Robert isn’t her father. And since (as far as we know) Sophie didn’t meet Robert the night of Sid and Hannah’s engagement party, it’s also unlikely that he’s the father of her son. However, since Robert is a part of the flash-forward, it looks like he’ll be sticking around for multiple episodes.

New episodes of How I Met Your Father Season 2 air Tuesdays on Hulu.

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