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.
Jim Parsons was born to play Sheldon
CBS
“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.
Johnny Galecki was a favourite on Roseanne
CBS
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.
Simon Helberg is a multi-talented actor and musician
CBS
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.”
Kunal Nayyar nearly missed out on taking part in Raj Koothrappali
CBS
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.”
