NEIL Patrick Harris thinks coming out as gay has improved his career.

The 'How I Met Your Mother' star believes he's received more work opportunities since revealing his sexuality in 2006 because bosses are more inclined to hire people that openly express their personality for all to see.

Speaking in the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone magazine, he explained: "Once all the cards were on the table, I got more opportunities than ever. Some actors don't get hired because you can't look into their soul and see what they're like, because they're kept guarded."

The 40-year-old star - who has three-year-old twins Gideon and Harper with his fiancé David Burtka - realised he had "crushes on boys" when he was a youngster but he didn't know "how that would be manifested" as he got older.

He said: "I think it would be easier to make that leap at that age now, because there are so many examples but not back then, in a tiny town in the middle of the mountains of New Mexico."

Although, Neil insists he wasn't bothered by his attraction to the same sex when he was younger, but he just didn't know how to pursue it at the time.

He added: "I wasn't troubled by it. Playing footsie with a friend under the table at school was very charged, to me, but I didn't know then what to do about it."