Cast Biographies

Cast History

Since its premiere in 2007, The Big Bang Theory has starred Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter, Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, Kaley Cuoco as Penny, Simon Helberg as Howard Wolowitz and Kunal Nayyar as Raj Koothrappali.

Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik, who first appeared in Season 3 as Bernadette Rostenkowski and Amy Farrah Fowler, respectively, were promoted to series regulars during The Big Bang Theory's fourth season and remain members of the cast to this day.

Kevin Sussman, who appeared frequently as Stuart Bloom during Seasons 2 - 5, was promoted to a semi-regular cast member during the show's sixth, eighth and ninth seasons. Laura Spencer, who plays Raj's girlfriend Emily Sweeney, was promoted to a semi-regular during the ninth season.

Sara Gilbert, who had a recurring role as Leslie Winkle in Season 1, joined the cast for the second season. Sara Gilbert made her first appearance since the show's third season in the 200th episode, "The Celebration Experimentation".

Recurring Guest Stars

Carol Ann Susi was the voice of Mrs. Wolowitz in numerous episodes from 2007 until 2014 when she passed away following a short illness. The character of Mrs. Wolowitz was subsequently written out of the show.

John Ross Bowie appeared as Barry Kripke, an annoying colleague of the guys, in twenty-five episodes since the second season.

Wil Wheaton appeared in seventeen episodes as a fictionalized version of himself starting in the third season. His character was initially antagonistic to Sheldon, who considered Wheaton to be one of his mortal enemies, but the pair later become friends.

Aarti Mann had a recurring role as Priya, Raj's sister who had a relationship with Leonard, during the show's fourth and fifth season.

Laurie Metcalf, who previously starred on the TV show Roseanne alongside Johnny Galecki, guest starred in fourteen episodes as Sheldon's mother, Mary Cooper. Her real-life daughter, Zoe Perry, plays the part of a younger Mary Cooper in The Big Bang Theory spin-off series Young Sheldon.

Christine Baranski, who previously worked with The Big Bang Theory co-creator Chuck Lorre on his show Cybill, guest starred in sixteen episodes as Leonard's brilliant but detached mother, Dr. Beverly Hofstadter.

Brian George and Alice Amter appeared as Raj's parents in multiple episodes beginning in the first season. In Season 8, Raj's dad visited Pasadena and was seen "in person" on the show for the first time.

Brian Thomas Smith guest starred in 11 episodes as Penny's former boyfriend and one-time husband, Zack, starting in the third season.

Dean Norris made six appearances in The Big Bang Theory's tenth and eleventh seasons as Colonel Williams, who oversaw the guys' military guidance system project.

Casey Sander played Bernadette's father, Mike Rostenkowski, in six episodes of The Big Bang Theory, starting in Season 5.

Brian Posehn appeared in fifteen episodes since the sixth season as Bert, a geologist at the university.

Judd Hirsch guest starred in two episodes of The Big Bang Theory as Leonard's father, Alfred.

Keith Carradine made five appearances as Penny's father, Wyatt, starting in Season 4. Katey Sagal, who played the on-screen mother of Kaley Cuoco's character in the 2002-2005 sitcom 8 Simple Rules, appeared as Penny's mother in one episode of The Big Bang Theory. Jack McBrayer appeared in one episode of The Big Bang Theory as Penny's brother, Randall.

Kathy Bates guest starred in three episodes in Seasons 11 and 12 as Mrs. Fowler, Amy's mother. The magician Teller also appeared in three episodes as Amy's father, Larry Fowler.

This page has been updated to episode 1224. The Stockholm Syndrome