Why How I Met Your Father's Ellen Actor Found Her Story So Refreshing

Tien Tran, who plays the character Ellen on Hulu's How I Met Your Father, explains why it's so refreshing to play this kind of LGBTQ+ role.

Why How I Met Your Father's Ellen Actor Found Her Story So Refreshing

How I Met Your Father star Tien Tran explains why she was so excited about her role in the series. HIMYF, which premiered on Hulu in January 2022, is set in the universe of the popular CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which ran for nine seasons from 2005 through 2014. Taking on the format of the original series, it follows Sophie (Kim Cattrall) explaining to her son how she met his father, prompting “flashbacks” to the present day and the romantic exploits of her younger self (Hilary Duff). The show explained that the father is one of the men that Sophie met over the course of the pilot episode, but has not yet revealed which of the men it is, in a slight reversal of the HIMYM setup.

Tran stars in the main cast of the series as Ellen, the adoptive sister of Chris Lowell’s character Jesse. In the beginning of the series, she has just moved to New York City after breaking up with her wife, with whom she ran a produce farm in Iowa. Over the course of the series, in addition to supporting Sophie on her journey to find love, she dates women around the city and experiences a much broader swath of life than she ever had access to back home. One notable element of this character is that Tran, who also appeared in the 2021 horror reboot Candyman, is openly queer just like her character.

Tran sat down to speak with Digital Spy in honor of How I Met Your Father dropping on Disney+ in the UK. She explained that it’s very exciting to be playing an LGBTQ+ role that isn’t rooted in trauma. Getting to explore the fact that the character is a “baby gay,” which Tran can relate to, is “a very unique and also wonderful story to get to tell.” Check out her full quote below:

It’s very exciting as a queer person in real life to get to play someone who’s queer, who’s part of the friend group, who doesn’t have to come out or have any sort of storylines that are based on her trauma.
It’s so refreshing, so cool, and also just like what life is like. Ellen is such a baby gay, which I find I was too, and it’s a very unique and also wonderful story to get to tell.
That she is in New York City with her friends and going through the same trials and tribulations as the rest of her friend group. Everyone is just loving and accepting of each other full stop.

What Tran is reacting to is the way that LGBTQ+ characters have typically been portrayed in pop culture for decades. Typically, the roles that get the most screen time are ones that deal with the hardships that the LGBTQ+ community faces, including violence, homophobia and transphobia, HIV/AIDS, and traumatic coming out experiences. For Ellen to be such a joyful character with an exciting arc is a far cry from other mainstream projects like Angels in America, The Normal Heart, or even Oscar winner Brokeback Mountain.

How I Met Your Father has already been renewed for a double-sized season 2. Hopefully, that season will give Ellen even more space to grow as a character and explore her identity in this brand new city. Given Tran’s enthusiasm for the role, she will be able to pour that vigor into whatever storyline she’s given, imbuing it with energy and excitement.