From 2007 to 2019, “The Huge Bang Concept,” created by Chuck Lorre and Invoice Prady, took over the airwaves and have become one of many greatest and most beloved sitcoms of its time. That is thanks, largely, to the extraordinarily gifted central solid — so why do all of them look so acquainted?

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The sequence focuses on a gang of “nerds” working on the California Institute of Expertise in Pasadena, California — Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar), and Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) — who, within the present’s very first episode, meet a brand new, fairly neighbor named Penny (Kaley Cuoco) after she strikes in throughout the corridor from Sheldon and Leonard. Finally, the gang grows as Mayim Bialik’s Amy Farrah Fowler and Melissa Rauch’s Bernadette Rostenkowski be part of, and the present is fleshed out by some excellent supporting characters (and the good actors to painting them) besides.

Who appeared in an enormous streaming hit, a young romantic comedy, or led a serious community procedural? This is the place you’ve got seen the transformation of the solid of “The Huge Bang Concept” on the massive and small display screen — particularly since a few of them skyrocketed to fame and acclaim due to the sitcom within the first place.

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“The Huge Bang Concept” won’t have turn into an infinite, worldwide hit with out Jim Parsons’ central efficiency as Sheldon Cooper. A superb however deeply delinquent theoretical physicist at CalTech, Sheldon might be terribly troublesome, however honestly, he has an enormous coronary heart.

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Proper from the start, the staff behind “The Huge Bang Concept” knew Parsons was the precise selection for the position. In response to co-creator Invoice Prady’s interview on the “Hollywood at House with the Artistic Coalition” podcast, the actor’s audition was good: “We noticed — oh God, I do not know, 100 folks?” Prady stated. “And when Jim Parsons got here in, he was Sheldon on a degree — you already know, there have been individuals who got here in and also you went, ‘Okay, effectively, he is form of okay,’ ‘Oh, he is fairly good,’ ‘Perhaps he is the man.’ And Jim got here in and he was simply — from that audition, he was the Sheldon that you just noticed on tv.”

Even throughout his time on “The Huge Bang Concept,” Parsons — whose web price skyrocketed to greater than you might assume due to the present — was a prolific stage performer, making his debut on Broadway in “The Regular Coronary heart” in 2011, however he is additionally proven up in varied TV exhibits and flicks. Early in his profession, Parsons performed a small position in “Backyard State,” and also you additionally may know him from “Hidden Figures,” the Broadway movie adaptation “The Boys within the Band,” and the romantic comedy “Spoiler Alert.” In 2020, he labored with superproducer Ryan Murphy on the restricted sequence “Hollywood,” taking part in actual expertise agent Henry Wilson.

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Sheldon’s right-hand man and the primary romantic lead of “The Huge Bang Concept,” Leonard Hofstadter — performed by sitcom mainstay Johnny Galecki — additionally works at CalTech, however as an experimental physicist, and he is additionally much more socially inclined than Sheldon. Galecki really stated no to the position 5 instances earlier than accepting, worrying that it could be a step backwards in his profession … and in addition as a result of he was initially approached to play Sheldon Cooper. Fortunately, he lastly agreed, and the remaining is historical past.

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You in all probability bear in mind Galecki from “Roseanne,” the place he performed David Healy, the love curiosity to Sara Gilbert’s Darlene Conner. Funnily sufficient, Gilbert had a recurring position on “The Huge Bang Concept” as scientist Leslie Winkle, the on-and-off love curiosity for Leonard. Galecki reprised his position on “The Conners” from 2018 to 2019, however apart from that, he is largely stepped out of the highlight and lives in Tennessee along with his household.

Out of all the primary characters on “The Huge Bang Concept,” Simon Helberg’s aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz may expertise the one greatest glow-up all through the sequence. Initially a sleazy would-be Lothario who grosses out each girl in his orbit, Howard undergoes an enormous evolution when he meets Bernadette. The 2 fall in love fairly rapidly and finally get married and have two youngsters; this helps Howard develop out of his infantile habits and tackle his new roles as a husband and a father.

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As for Helberg, the actor popped up in tiny roles in tasks like “A Cinderella Story,” “Good Evening, and Good Luck,” and “Arrested Improvement” earlier than “The Huge Bang Concept,” and appeared within the movies “A Severe Man” and “Florence Foster Jenkins” whereas taking part in Howard. He additionally discovered time, in the course of the 2007-2008 Writers Guild strike, to play a supporting position in Joss Whedon’s internet sequence “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Lengthy Weblog,” displaying off his musical expertise. After “The Huge Bang Concept,” ended, Helberg turned in some nice performances — particularly on the Peacock unique “Poker Face” with Natasha Lyonne, in addition to Leos Carax’s English-language movie debut, “Annette.”

Raj Koothrappali, the present’s resident astrophysicist performed by Kunal Nayyar, is the candy, hopeless romantic of the group … which is type of a bummer contemplating that he is the one most important character to stay single on the finish of the sequence. That however, Raj is a form, earnest man who struggles with extreme social nervousness round ladies (to the purpose that he experiences selective mutism) and who merely hopes to seek out somebody identical to all of his pals.

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Apparently, Nayyar nearly missed out on the position of Raj as a result of CBS needed to seek out another person to play the character, however fortunately, creator Chuck Lorre stepped in and ensured that Nayyar grew to become part of the sequence. In 2020, Nayyar appeared within the sequence “Prison: UK” (and obtained a BAFTA nomination for finest supporting actor within the course of), and he additionally performed a number one position within the 2022 British sequence “Suspicion.” Nayyar has additionally lent his voice to the animated “Trolls” franchise and appeared in movies like “Spaceman.”

In 2025, Nayyar instructed the New York Put up that he would completely play Raj once more. “I believe that might clearly need to mature somewhat bit,” Nayyar joked. “Though the present resulted in 2019, it is nonetheless on each single day, so it seems like regardless that the present is over, it is nonetheless on.”

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Initially the one feminine member of the primary solid (though she by no means will get a canonical final identify till she will get married), Penny is mainly the viewers surrogate on “The Huge Bang Concept,” in that she’s the least scientifically inclined particular person within the core gang. On this method, Penny helps translate a few of their extra complicated conversations for the viewers. Throughout the narrative, she additionally helps the blokes escape of their shells and acquire an understanding of the world past their scientific pursuits.

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Cuoco wasn’t the unique feminine lead of the sequence, although. In an unaired pilot, a special feminine lead, Katie, was performed by Amanda Walsh. After the character carried out poorly in take a look at screenings, Walsh was axed and Cuoco joined the present. Earlier than “The Huge Bang Concept,” Cuoco memorably helped lead the sitcom “8 Easy Guidelines” as Bridget Hennessy, daughter of overprotective dad Paul Hennessy (the late, nice John Ritter).

Cuoco has stayed busy after taking part in Penny for 12 seasons. In 2017, she inked a take care of Warner Bros. by way of her manufacturing firm, Sure, Norman, named for her canine. By way of that deal, which was prolonged in 2021, she’s helped to create and in the end starred in exhibits like “The Flight Attendant” and the animated delight “Harley Quinn.” You may as well test her out in films like “Meet Cute” and “Function Play” in addition to TV exhibits like “Primarily based on a True Story.”

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Once we first meet Mayim Bialik’s Amy Farrah Fowler on “The Huge Bang Concept” — which Bialik made some huge cash from — it looks like she’s only a feminine model of Sheldon Cooper; socially awkward, averse to relationship, and an knowledgeable in her subject. Over time, although, Amy — who, like Bialik herself, is a neuroscientist — turns into her personal character with out query, significantly due to her shut friendship with Penny and Bernadette that helps give the sequence a much-needed enhance of female power.

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Bialik, after all, starred because the title character on “Blossom” from 1991 to 1995, however largely stepped away from performing after that and till “The Huge Bang Concept.” After taking part in Amy and incomes a handful of Emmy nominations within the course of, Bialik starred on the sitcom “Name Me Kat” from 2021 to 2023 and served as a bunch of “Jeopardy!” in that very same timeframe. In 2025, she appeared on her former colleague Melissa Rauch’s NBC reboot of “Evening Courtroom” for a “Huge Bang Concept” reunion. Bialik additionally hosts a podcast referred to as “Bialik Breakdown,” and sure, she actually is a neuroscientist; she obtained a PhD from the College of California, Los Angeles in 2007.

Like Amy Farrah Fowler, Melissa Rauch’s Bernadette Rostenkowski — later Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz — wasn’t part of the unique solid of “The Huge Bang Concept,” however it’s powerful to think about the present with out her. A diminutive but highly effective girl who works alongside Penny as a waiter earlier than getting her PhD in microbiology and dealing for a pharmaceutical firm, Bernadette is hard however honest … and she or he helps Howard develop as an individual, husband, and father.

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Because it occurs, simply earlier than touchdown the audition for “The Huge Bang Concept,” Rauch’s profession was in a precarious scenario. “I owe a lot to that present. I used to be on the unemployment workplace the week earlier than I acquired the job, driving round LA crying in my automobile,” she revealed to First For Girls. Fortunately, what was meant to be a visitor position ended up extending into a number of seasons. “I bear in mind strolling onto that set … I assumed, ‘Oh my gosh, that is so cool, and I can not consider I simply acquired to be right here for these subsequent 5 days.’ So the truth that it become near a decade nonetheless blows my thoughts, and I am very, very grateful.”

For those who’re a millennial who had a cable subscription within the aughts, you could bear in mind her as a panelist on VH1’s popular culture recap present “Finest Week Ever,” and she or he additionally appeared on “The Workplace” and “True Blood” in small roles. From 2023 to 2025, Rauch led an NBC revival of “Evening Courtroom” as Decide Abby Stone, working alongside the very best good friend of her late father (and unique “Evening Courtroom” character) Dan Fielding, performed by John Larroquette; sadly, it was canceled in 2025.

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Stuart Bloom is a reasonably large a part of “The Huge Bang Concept,” even when he isn’t a sequence common for his total run (he is downgraded to recurring for a bit however is lastly deemed a most important character from season 8 onward). Performed by Kevin Sussman, Stuart owns and operates the comedian e book retailer that Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard frequent all through the sequence.

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Sussman nearly could not even be part of “The Huge Bang Concept” due to a earlier dedication to the ABC office comedy “Ugly Betty,” the place he performed Walter in Season 1. Throughout his run as Stuart, he appeared on exhibits like “Weeds,” “Moist Sizzling American Summer time: First Day of Camp,” and “The Mentalist.” After “The Huge Bang Concept,” Sussman confirmed up in “The Dropout,” “Higher Name Saul,” and Mayim Bialik’s “Name Me Kat” earlier than working with Marvel star and Oscar winner Brie Larson on the Apple TV+ miniseries “Classes in Chemistry.” Plus, he is set to guide a serious “Huge Bang Concept” spinoff, titled “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.”

Lauren Lapkus solely performed artist and comedian e book fanatic Denise on “The Huge Bang Concept” throughout 8 episodes from 2018 to 2019, however she’s a vitally necessary character for one huge cause: she supplies a cheerful ending for Stuart Bloom. Denise works on the comedian e book retailer with Stuart, and the 2 find yourself relationship.

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In an interview with PopCulture in 2022, Lapkus stated that, regardless that she joined “The Huge Bang Concept” late in its run, she was completely happy to be part of the ensemble. “It was actually attention-grabbing,” Lapkus stated. “I imply, it was actually cool to return into one thing the place it was so established, after all, and had been on for therefore lengthy, they usually all knew one another so effectively and had been working collectively for therefore lengthy that to return into that was actually nice as a result of they have been enthusiastic about company coming in and shaking up the power, having completely different folks there.”

Lapkus, for the uninitiated, is a comedy powerhouse. On the massive display screen, you’ve got seen her in every thing from “Jurassic World” to “Happiest Season” to “The Out-Legal guidelines.” Her tv resume is fairly stacked, together with appearances on “Drunk Historical past,” “Key & Peele,” “Crashing,” “Good Ladies,” and “Historical past of the World, Half II.” She additionally performed Susan, a jail guard, on Netflix’s flagship unique sequence “Orange is the New Black.” For those who’re actually doing a deep dive on Lapkus (and you need to), take a look at her YouTube sequence “The Earliest Present” or her episode of Netflix’s anthology “The Characters,” and she or he’ll present up on “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” with Kevin Sussman.

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Bert Kibbler actually is not probably the most distinguished character on “The Huge Bang Concept,” however Brian Posehn is all the time a welcome presence. A geologist who works at CalTech and briefly carries a torch for Amy, Bert largely exists within the background, however he is an necessary a part of the broader universe of “The Huge Bang Concept.” So the place have you ever seen Posehn earlier than?

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Actual comedy nerds know Posehn from his work on “Mr. Present with Bob and David,” HBO’s sketch sequence led by Bob Odenkirk (“Higher Name Saul”) and David Cross (“Arrested Improvement”). He additionally performed Brian Spukowski on “The Sarah Silverman Program,” had a recurring position as one in every of Jessica Day’s (Zooey Deschanel’s) colleagues at an elementary faculty on “New Woman,” and popped up on exhibits like “Neighborhood” and “Anger Administration.” Alongside Kevin Sussman and Lauren Lapkus, Posehn will even be part of “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.”

Sheldon has a couple of nemeses on “The Huge Bang Concept,” and one of many funniest of the group is Barry Kripke, performed by John Ross Bowie. A plasma physicist with rhotacism — which means that he pronounces the letters “R” and “L” like a “W,” very like the “Looney Tunes” character Elmer Fudd — Barry is consistently making an attempt to finest Sheldon, although he hardly ever succeeds. As for Bowie, the man has been performing — largely in tv — for many years.

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You possibly can spot Bowie in episodes of “Reno 911!,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Glee,” “Charmed,” “Heroes,” “Weeds,” “Childrens Hospital,” “Home of Lies,” “Joyful Endings,” “The League,” “Brooklyn 9-9,” “Episodes,” “Veep,” “United States of Al,” and “Station 19,” simply to call a couple of. Bowie can be the fourth main supporting character from “The Huge Bang Concept” to signal on for “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe,” becoming a member of Kevin Sussman, Lauren Lapkus, and Brian Posehn.

We do not meet everybody’s dad and mom on “The Huge Bang Concept,” however Mary Cooper is an important a part of Sheldon’s backstory — and we first meet her within the present’s debut season, the place she’s performed by stage and display screen legend Laurie Metcalf. Mary is a deeply non secular, empathetic, and sort girl who, regardless of usually being baffled by her son’s scientific tasks, adores him anyway. Metcalf has a long-standing connection to “The Huge Bang Concept,” as a result of her daughter, Zoe Perry, performs the identical character on the foremost spin-off and “The Huge Bang Concept” prequel, “Younger Sheldon,” the solid of which has drastically remodeled.

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For those who’re unfamiliar with Metcalf’s physique of labor, you might wish to change that. This honored actress has 4 Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards to her identify and earned her first Oscar nomination in 2018 for Greta Gerwig’s semi-autobiographical directorial debut “Woman Chook,” and she or he’s been an trade heavyweight for many years. Metcalf, like Johnny Galecki, was an enormous a part of “Roseanne,” the place she performed Jackie Harris. She additionally appeared in Emmy-nominated roles in exhibits like “third Rock from the Solar,” “Monk,” “Determined Housewives,” and “Getting On,” simply to call a couple of. On the massive display screen, apart from “Woman Chook,” you might have additionally seen Metcalf in “Scream 2” and “Desperately Looking for Susan.”

Christine Baranski’s Beverly Hofstadter, who holds a PhD and an M.D. and is each a psychiatrist and a neuroscientist, is definitely probably the most intimidating member of the family we meet on “The Huge Bang Concept.” Once we meet Beverly, we perceive why Leonard has such a troublesome relationship along with her, as she tends to psychoanalyze him as an alternative of parenting him (and even used his childhood to check him and write bestselling books). Finally, Penny helps deliver Leonard and Beverly nearer collectively.

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First issues first: Baranski appeared in each “Mamma Mia!” and its sequel “Mamma Mia 2: Right here We Go Once more,” in addition to enormous movies just like the live-action model of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Merciless Intentions,” “The Birdcage,” and an Oscar winner for finest image, “Chicago.” After taking part in lawyer Diane Lockhart on “The Good Spouse,” she acquired her personal spin-off, titled “The Good Battle.” She additionally seems on the hit Julian Fellowes HBO sequence “The Gilded Age.”

Baranski, who gained her first Emmy for taking part in the titular “Cybill” on the sequence (created by Chuck Lorre!) from 1995 to 1998, can be a serious Broadway star and has carried out in every thing from “Follies” to “A Little Evening Music.” Baranski is an absolute legend, and it is fairly superior that “The Huge Bang Concept” was capable of snag such a powerhouse performer to sometimes present up as Leonard’s mother.

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