Smulders was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to a Dutch father and a British mother. She was named after her Dutch great-aunt, Jacoba, for which she gained the nickname "Cobie".
As a child Smulders wanted to be either a doctor or a marine biologist but started to gain an interest in acting in high school, appearing in several school productions. She finished high school in 2000 at Lord Byng Secondary School with high honors, being voted "Most Respected". Discovered by a modelling agency in her teens, she started to model internationally, including in locations such as New York, Paris, Milan, Berlin, Athens, Tokyo and Africa. In an interview with Venus Zine, Smulders said she “kind of hated” modelling and the experience made her hesitant about pursuing acting as a career initially: “You know you go into these rooms, and I’ve had the experience of people judging you physically for so long and I was over that. But then it was like, ‘Oh no, I have to actually perform. I have to do well, and I have to have a voice, and I have to have thoughts now.’”
She currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Smulders has a daughter, Shaelyn Cado Killam, with partner Taran Killam. Shaelyn was born on May 16, 2009.
Smulders is also an avid Vancouver Canucks fan. In December 2010 she was on the cover of Maxim Magazine.
Her first role was as a guest in the Showtime sci-fi series Jeremiah, and she has guest starred in numerous television series since, including a recurring part in The L Word.
Her first permanent series role was in the short-lived ABC series Veritas: The Quest; her second was the series for which she is most well-known, the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, where she plays television reporter Robin Scherbatsky, also a Canadian. Joss Whedon has suggested that he considered her for the role of Wonder Woman in his draft of the (cancelled) eponymous film. Smulders has been cast to play Maria Hill in the upcoming film The Avengers, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name.
