Josh Radnor

Josh Radnor, famous for his character Ted Mosby in How I Met Your Mother, would seem like an ordinary star at first glance. In 1974, Josh was born into a conservative Jewish home. He has a mom and a dad and two sister. At an early age he took an interest in acting. In college, he won the "Paul Newman" award for theatre and graduated with a B.A. in Drama. He did further studies at NYU and received his Master of Fine Arts. He took the typical route. First doing theatre and trying out for small parts. In 2005, he got his first big break and was casted as Ted for How I Met Your Mother. He was 31.

His route to fame is not that amazing. He wasn't discovered miraculously and he didn't go through extreme hardships. But, what I find inspirational about him is his work ethic. He believes in kindness, which is something difficult to come by in Hollywood.

"It really shocks me when I encounter people who think kindness doesn't matter. Because I think it's pretty much the only thing that matters. This should not be mistaken as a call for humorlessness or some naive, fussy moralizing on my part. It's not about being "good" (a loaded concept, to say the least) or "nice," which is really just a social convention that often has to do with worrying about being liked (occasionally masking real deviousness). It's ultimately about compassion, recognizing that all of us are going through it all in our own particular way, no matter our social status." [Read entire article!]

He does not only talk about it, but truely lives by what he says. My friend blogged about her experience when she and a few other college students were chosen to have a discussion with Josh Radnor. Their opening topic: "He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow?"

 "As we engaged in discussion with him, he loved us by treating us like equals despite the fact that we’re at least a decade younger (At one point between pauses in the discussion, he even said in a hushed voice “This is awesome”)."[source]

One does not need to risk their life or conquer impossible odds to be an inspiration, just a simple act of kindess can be enough.