Television and film actor Neil Patrick Harris will host the 87th Academy Awards in Los Angeles in 2015.

The star of TV comedy How I Met Your Mother announced the move by posting a cheeky video on Twitter.

In it, he says "I'm in!" as he gets off the phone, before circling the words "Host the Oscars" on a bucket list.

The 41-year-old, known to many for Doogie Howser MD, has hosted the Tony Awards and the Emmys but he said this realised a lifelong ambition

"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,"' Harris said in a statement released by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The news caps a busy week for Harris, who released his autobiography and features in in the nation's number one film, Gone Girl.

The 87th Academy Awards take place on 22 February at the Dolby Theatre.

Source: Press Release