<P> He was raised in Port Richmond, Staten Island by his mother Loretta (younger version voiced by Megan Mullally, played by Frances Conroy), who was apparently very promiscuous . His father proved to be an ongoing mystery in the series . When Barney was young, he asked his mother who his father was, and as The Price Is Right happened to be on TV at the time, she pointed to Bob Barker and replied, "Oh, I don't know . That guy ." Barney believed the lie wholeheartedly . Years later, as portrayed in the season 2 episode "Showdown", he appears on The Price Is Right with the intention of naming Barker as his father on national television, until he panics at the last minute and cannot go through with it . As a child, Barney was terrible at sports, and from various episodes it is shown he had few friends (one scene shows that no one attended his birthday party). In the episode "The Leap," Lily reveals that Barney planned on being a violinist when he was young . </P> <P> In "Natural History", Barney finds out that a man named Jerome Whittaker, whom Barney believed to be his uncle, signed a form claiming to be Barney's father . Barney finally meets Jerome (John Lithgow) again in the episode "Legendaddy" and learns that he is in fact his father . Upon meeting, Jerome feels pressured to act like the hard - partying womanizer he once was in order to impress Barney, and also because Barney refuses to see him any other way . Barney eventually breaks down and accuses Jerome of walking out on him . Jerome, who can offer no excuse, apologizes and pleads with Barney to allow him to be a part of his life . Later in the sixth season, in "Hopeless", Jerome tries to impress Barney by acting like his old self, but later reveals he was just pretending . Barney, nevertheless, willingly listens to advice from Jerome about settling down . Barney also learns of his Canadian heritage, when he finds out that Jerome's mother was born in Manitoba . </P> <P> Barney has three half - siblings: James (played by Wayne Brady), from his mother's side, a gay African American who is married to a man, with whom he has an adopted son and daughter (as revealed in the season seven episode "The Rebound Girl"); Carly (played by Ashley Benson), a university student from his father's side with whom Ted has a one - night stand in "Ring Up!", and Jerome Jr . (JJ), from his father's side, who is 11 . He also has a female cousin named Leslie, with whom he accidentally grinds in a nightclub, as seen in the episode "Okay Awesome". </P> <P> Throughout the series Barney has claimed to have attended MIT; In the final season, Barney explains that MIT is an acronym for the Magicians Institute of Teaneck, not the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . He has worn a Cornell Big Red T - shirt, indicating that he may have gone there, instead . As evidenced in Season 2 "Atlantic City", Barney learned at least conversational Korean, Chinese at some point, as well as some French . His musical skills include playing the drums, dancing the tango and singing . He is also skilled at juggling and laser tag . </P>

Who plays barney's sister on how i met your mother