List of The Big Bang Theory characters The American sitcom The Big Bang Theory, created
and executive produced by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, premiered on CBS on September
24, 2007. The show initially centers on five characters: roommates Sheldon Cooper and Leonard
Hofstadter, two Caltech physicists; Penny, a waitress and aspiring actress who lives
across the hall; and Leonard and Sheldon's friends and co-workers aerospace engineer
Howard Wolowitz, and astrophysicist Rajesh Koothrappali. In Season 3, microbiologist
Bernadette Rostenkowski, and neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler are introduced, and later
become Howard's wife and Sheldon's girlfriend, respectively.
Over time, several supporting characters have been promoted to starring roles: Leslie Winkle
(season 1 recurring; season 2 regular; season 3 guest), a physicist colleague, and, at different
times, a lover of both Leonard and Howard; Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz (season 3
recurring; season 4-present regular), a microbiologist, Howard's fiancée and subsequent wife, and
former part-time waitress alongside Penny; neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler (season 3
guest; season 4 recurring; season 4-present regular), who joins the group after being
matched to Sheldon on a dating website; and comic book store-owner, Stuart Bloom (seasons
2–5 recurring; season 6-present regular), who replaces Howard as Raj's best friend when
Howard is in space. The show also features numerous supporting characters, each of whom
plays a prominent role in a small group of episodes.
Main characters Main characters are divided into two groups,
original main characters and those who have been promoted to main character status since
season two. Original main characters
With the exception of injury to the actors, these characters have appeared in all episodes.
Leonard Hofstadter Dr. Leonard Leakey Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki)
is an experimental physicist with an IQ of 173 who is originally from New Jersey and
received his PhD at age 24, spending at least some of his time at Princeton University.
He shares an apartment in Pasadena with colleague and friend Dr. Sheldon Cooper. Unlike his
equally geeky friends, Leonard is interested and quite adept in building interpersonal
and social relationships with others. Compared to his friends he is relatively successful
with women. The writers have toyed with a romance between him and next-door neighbor
Penny since the pilot, with their unresolved sexual tension being a major force for drama.
Leonard dated Penny for most of Season 3, although they had dated briefly at the end
of Season 1. Aside from Penny, Leonard has had romantic relationships with coworker Leslie
Winkle, physician Stephanie Barnett, an unnamed French literature PhD, and North Korean spy
Joyce Kim. Following his breakup with Penny, Leonard began a relationship with Raj's sister
Priya in Season 4, and it is implied they had a brief sexual encounter before the start
of the series on an occasion when Priya visited Raj. The two attempted a long-distance relationship
after Priya moved back to India, but Leonard eventually broke up with her in Season 5 after
she admitted to cheating on him with her former boyfriend. In Season 5's "The Beta Test Initiation",
Leonard and Penny start dating anew though their relationship is rocky. Leonard's family
includes other accomplished scientists: his mother, Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, is a world-renowned
psychiatrist, his sister is a biologist and his father an anthropologist. Also, his brother
Michael is a Harvard law professor. It is mentioned in the season 2 episode "The Maternal
Capacitance" that Leonard is the least successful member of his family. He is also known to
be lactose intolerant and cannot process corn, as Sheldon states in "Pilot". Leonard also
plays the cello. The cause of the elevator not working is also due in part to Leonard
(and Sheldon) as the experimental rocket fuel he was developing was improperly mixed within
their apartment and Sheldon threw the canister into the elevator shaft right before the explosion.
Sheldon Cooper Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper (Jim Parsons) is a
theoretical physicist, possessing a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, PhD, an ScD,
and an IQ of 187. Originally from East Texas, he was a child prodigy, starting college at
the age of 11, and receiving his PhD at age 16. He is cold and calculating, and refrains
from any form of physical contact if possible. Sheldon exhibits a strict adherence to routine
to the point of exhibiting obsessive–compulsive disorder, performing specific activities on
specific days and specifics times, such as doing the laundry on Saturday night at 8:15.
Any disruption to this routine distresses him enormously. A running gag has him always
knocking on doors or other surfaces in a pattern of three knocks and one call repeated three
times, which he has to complete no matter what. He has forced Leonard into signing an
absurdly exhaustive "Roommate Agreement", and later enters a similar "Relationship Agreement"
with Amy Farrah Fowler. Sheldon has great difficulty identifying sarcasm and irony and
responding in kind, and a recurring topic is his efforts to acquire these skills. He
has also enormous difficulties lying or even keeping a secret, giving himself away with
wild facial tics and implausible statements. He is however fond of occasionally playing
a prank, which he typically punctuates with his trademark exclamation "Bazinga!". Sheldon
has a superiority complex and makes no effort to hide his contempt for other people's intellects,
often making highly inappropriate comments. A common joke is his inability to drive, although
he did receive a learner's permit. Sheldon loves comic books and science fiction like
his friends, but to the point of being obsessed about them, and is a fan of Spock, a fictional
character of the Star Trek franchise. Unlike Leonard and Raj who come from intellectual
families, Sheldon stands out from his own relatives. His father, George, whose death
pre-dates the series, was described as a stereotypical Texan who liked football, skeet shooting,
and heavy drinking, his mother, Mary, is a devout Evangelical Christian, who does not
possess anything near Sheldon's intellect (though she displays a great deal of common
sense); his twin sister, Missy, and as-yet unseen brother, George Jr., were both described
by Mary as being "dumb as soup". His fraternal twin sister who later has a baby boy makes
Sheldon an uncle. He meets Amy Farrah Fowler in the Season 3 finale and starts a highly
unusual and very slowly evolving relationship with her. Previous to this, he has also exhibited
some affinities with Leonard's equally unemotional mother.
Penny Penny (Her surname has not yet been revealed.)
(Kaley Cuoco), is Leonard and Sheldon's neighbor across the hallway. Originally from a small
town outside Omaha, Nebraska, she was a waitress and occasional bartender at the local Cheesecake
Factory until season 7 and is an aspiring actress. Her educational qualifications (she
had dropped out of community college) are a constant source of disparaging comments
from Sheldon. She has dated several men during the course of the series, including Kurt,
Stuart, and Zack, but her recurring love interest is Leonard. Leonard pursued Penny during season
1; they dated briefly at the start of season 2 which led to some awkwardness; they began
dating again and were a couple for most of season 3 but she broke up with him after he
told Penny he loved her and she was not ready to reciprocate. Penny and Leonard begin to
date again "slowly" during the fifth season, though he does upset her by impulsively asking
her to marry him during intercourse. She has a tense relationship with Sheldon, whose nerdy
and obstinate personality often exasperate her, but they are ultimately good friends,
helping each other out in various situations. By season four, Penny also begins to socialize
more with Bernadette and Amy, who frequently hang out in Penny's apartment, go out together
and comfort each other. Bernadette and Amy are both shown to be simultaneously envious
of and threatened by Penny's more outgoing personality. Not much is known about Penny's
family, but it is mentioned in the series that her father, Wyatt (portrayed by Keith
Carradine), raised her like a boy, her mother smoked marijuana while she was pregnant with
her, her sister shot her husband while they were intoxicated and her brother is a meth
addict. Cuoco began being credited as Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, starting with the season seven
episode, "The Convention Conundrum". Howard Wolowitz
Howard Joel Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) is an aerospace engineer at Caltech's Department
of Applied Physics with a Masters in Engineering who often hangs out at Leonard and Sheldon's
apartment. Unlike Sheldon, Leonard, and Raj, Howard has no doctorate, and often gets disparaged
as a result, especially by Sheldon. He defends this by pointing out that he has a master's
degree in Engineering from MIT and that the equipment he designs is launched into space,
unlike the theoretical work of his friends. In the season 5 finale, Howard goes to the
International Space Station on Expedition 31. Howard lives in Altadena with his domineering,
belittling and unseen mother who treats him like a child. While he sometimes expresses
irritation at this treatment, for the most part he appears to prefer it. Howard dotes
on his mother and participates in many of her daily routines. A recurring gimmick in
the series is Howard and his mother communicating with each other from different rooms by yelling,
a habit which Bernadette also adopts in later episodes. His father left them when he was
eleven, and Howard gets visibly distressed when the subject comes up. Howard fancies
himself a ladies' man and attempts pick-up lines whenever a woman is present, which often
come off as inappropriate and disgusting, although he has dropped this habit since he
started going out with Bernadette. He is Jewish, but he is not very serious about his faith,
and does not keep kosher. For example, when the group's favorite Chinese restaurant raised
the price of pork, Howard remarked, "It's getting tougher and tougher to be a bad Jew."
However, he does observe Sabbath and the Jewish holidays. In the pilot episode, it is shown
that he is a polyglot and can speak English, French, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, and Farsi,
along with fictional languages like Klingon and Sindarin. He is asthmatic, allergic to
peanuts, almonds, and walnuts, prone to canker sores and pink eye, succumbs to seasickness,
has an incredibly high genetic risk of heart illness, and has transient idiopathic arrhythmia.
In Season 5 episode 4, it is shown that he knows American Sign Language. Howard dated
Bernadette briefly in season 3. After some difficulties, they resumed their relationship
in season 4, which culminated in their engagement. In the season 5 finale, Howard and Bernadette
are married on the roof of the apartment building shortly before he has to leave for Kazakhstan
where he is to be sent to the International Space Station.
Rajesh Koothrappali Dr. Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali (Kunal
Nayyar) is Howard Wolowitz's best friend, and yet another genius of the group; his name
is usually shortened to "Raj". He is originally from New Delhi, India, and he works in the
Physics department at Caltech, where his area of expertise is particle astrophysics. He
lives in an apartment in Pasadena. As with his friends, he is mutually involved with
and obsessed with science fiction and comic books in general, and is usually the one to
propose various real-life questions derived from such works, such as the functions of
the tails of the Na'vi in the film Avatar. He is also a fan of Harry Potter. Raj dislikes
India, Indian food, and Indian music, he also appreciates the Indian lullabies his mother
sang to him and the catchiness of Hindi phrases. Raj is a Hindu and believes in karma (reincarnation),
but eats beef. Raj is very shy around women, and finds himself unable to speak to or while
in the presence of them unless he drinks alcoholic beverages, or he believes he has done so.
When Penny or Bernadette is around, Raj usually whispers what he wants to say to Howard or
Leonard, who then repeats or responds to what Raj says out loud, although at times Howard
will embarrass him by saying something completely different and inappropriate. Despite this,
Raj has sometimes ended up in bed with women, leaving the other guys perplexed. Unlike his
friends however, Raj has many quite feminine interests such as reading Archie Comics and
Twilight and watching chick flicks such as Bridget Jones's Diary. A recurring joke in
the series has people, including his parents and Leonard's mother, speculating that Raj
might be gay due to his feminine interests and his close friendship with Howard, with
whom he has arguments similar to those of a married couple. However, Raj has always
stated that he is straight, but metrosexual. He has had an infatuation with Penny, and
secretly wrote love poems about Bernadette. Raj comes from a very wealthy family in India,
and often communicates with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Koothrappali, via webcam. He has
a younger sister, Priya, who is mentioned to have dated Leonard briefly before the series
timeline began and dates him again in Season 4, breaking up with him in Season 5. After
making a brave speech about not being embarrassed to be single, Raj started seeing a shy and
sweet woman named Lucy. Lucy has many things in common with Raj including her fear of being
in large crowds. In the season 6 finale, Raj finds he can now talk to women without alcohol,
however he never stops talking. Additional main characters
The following characters have been promoted to main character status since season 2. Leslie
Winkle and Stuart Bloom are only credited in episodes in which they appear. Bernadette
and Amy Farrah Fowler were promoted to main character status in season 4, and their images
were included in the main title sequence from the first episode of season 6.
Leslie Winkle Dr. Leslie Winkle (Sara Gilbert) (appeared
in eight episodes total, four credited as main cast) is an experimental physicist who
works in the same lab as Leonard. In appearance, she is essentially Leonard's female counterpart,
equipped with the black framed glasses and sweat jackets. She also happens to have a
lazy eye. She is one of Sheldon's arch-enemies, due to their conflicting scientific theories
and Sheldon's strong misogyny. Though they both consider each other to be intellectually
inferior, Leslie is much wittier than Sheldon, regularly calling him "dumbass" and besting
him in their exchanges. Leslie has had casual relationships with Leonard and later Howard,
considering it a completely physical reaction to her body's cycles - her voice remains emotionless
even during moments of extreme physical intimacy. Leslie's final appearance was in the season
3 finale, as the writers said they did not know how to work in the character full-time.
Leonard, distraught after Penny -- who after having broken up with Leonard got intoxicated,
had intercourse with him, then pushed him away -- asked for intercourse with Leslie.
Leslie responded, "Let me think about it," before slamming the door on him.
Bernadette Dr. (after "The Roommate Transmogrification")
Bernadette Maryann Rostenkowski-Wolowitz (Melissa Rauch): (has appeared in 64 episodes total,
59 credited as main cast) is originally a waitress and coworker of Penny's at the Cheesecake
Factory, which pays the way for her graduate studies in microbiology per "The Creepy Candy
Coating Corollary". A recurring joke in the series is in reference to Bernadette and her
lab team handling dangerous or infectious specimens, leading to accidental by-products
or exposure to diseases. Instances include her trying to remember whether she washed
her hands while she worked with penicillin-resistant gonorrhea or creating a cold medicine that
may cause acidic tears. She is of Polish origin and Catholic upbringing, and is frequently
seen wearing a cross necklace. Most notably, she is one of the only characters in the show
who can control Sheldon, mostly because of her knowledge in dealing with stubborn children.
She is generally a friendly and good-natured individual, quickly making friends with Penny
and Amy, as well as the rest of the gang, but occasionally shows signs of mania, most
notably when she got into a fight with Amy over a parking space Sheldon and Howard were
fighting over, and when she explains her interest in microbiology as being because she feels
like a God to the bacteria she is studying. Bernadette was first introduced to Howard
by Penny after he invoked the "Girlfriend Pact". At first, she and Howard do not get
along, as they appear to have nothing in common. When they find out that they both have domineering
mothers, they feel a connection. Subsequently, Howard realizes Bernadette presents a real
opportunity to develop a lasting relationship and, in an impulsive manner, he proposes to
her. Although Bernadette rejects his offer, they remain a couple for a time after Howard
sings a heartfelt song for her at the Cheesecake Factory, which Penny finds quite embarrassing,
but Bernadette finds romantic. Eventually they break up when she discovers Howard using
his avatar to engage in cybersex with another online character in World of Warcraft. Bernadette
and Howard reconcile and resume their relationship, ultimately culminating in their engagement
in the season 4 episode, "The Herb Garden Germination". In "The Roommate Transmogrification",
she finally obtains her doctorate and is subsequently hired by a pharmaceutical company with a high
salary. This makes Howard jealous, especially after the rest of his friends taunt him about
his lack of a doctorate, and eventually leads to them having an argument after she purchases
a Rolex watch for Howard, which he interprets as her "rubbing in" the fact that she now
earns more than him. Howard later learns that Raj fantasizes about Bernadette and writes
love poems about her. Bernadette almost breaks up with Howard after hearing about his previously
unknown former sexual escapades that came out during his bachelor party from the episode
"The Stag Convergence". Howard and Bernadette are married (by the entire main cast) on the
roof of the apartment the day before he has to go into space. During season 6 the newlyweds
do have some bumps, including Howard readjusting to being back on earth, moving out of his
mother's house, and again when he spends too much on his collectibles hobby.
Amy Farrah Fowler Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik) (has
appeared in 61 episodes total, 55 credited as main cast) is a neuroscientist (which corresponds
to Bialik's real-life Ph.D.), and Sheldon's love interest in the series. She has a Ph.D.
in neurobiology, with a research focus on addiction in primates and invertebrates, occasionally
mentioning such experiments as getting a capuchin monkey addicted to cigarettes or starfish
addicted to cocaine. Raj and Howard found Amy through an online dating site after secretly
setting up an account using Sheldon's name and information. The site matches her to Sheldon,
and the two share many similar traits. Once she and Sheldon meet, she becomes, as Sheldon
puts it, a girl who is his friend, but not his "girlfriend." They briefly ended their
friendship when they got into an argument over whose field of study was superior. The
two initially communicate via computer, but at the encouragement of the group, she starts
hanging out with the gang in person. Early on, Amy is, essentially, a female counterpart
to Sheldon. During this time, she is almost coldly rational while displaying little emotion,
is awkward in social situations ranging from endearing to embarrassing, is sometimes condescending
towards those of lesser scientific knowledge and has little or no desire for physical intimacy.
In Season Five, after Amy went out on a date with comic book store owner Stuart, Sheldon
decided to solidify their relationship as boyfriend/girlfriend with a 31-page "Relationship
Agreement". Amy began a campaign in "The Launch Acceleration" to increase Sheldon's feelings
for her by becoming more involved in his interests like video games and Star Trek, and treating
him as his mother had. During Howard and Bernadette's wedding ceremony, Amy is disappointed when
Sheldon says that he hopes that the two of them are as happy together as he is alone.
Later as Howard is launched into space, Amy is surprised when Sheldon spontaneously takes
her hand for comfort. Despite her best efforts, however, he repeatedly resists all of her
attempts at persuading him to engage in physical intimacy though they are regularly holding
hands at Amy's insistence at the beginning of season 6. By mid-season when Sheldon was
caring for her when she had the flu, Sheldon has some intimate views of Amy pushing him
further toward a normal relationship with her. She has also provided Sheldon with consoling
hugs and was slapped on the rear by an intoxicated Sheldon, telling everyone that she is a great
gal. Amy tried to move into his apartment when Leonard temporarily vacated it. After
being prodded by Barry Kripke about his girlfriend, he lied that they were having sex, though
he admitted to Penny that it might really happen between him and Amy and later admitted
it to Amy while also engaging in Dungeons and Dragons' intercourse game play. Nevertheless,
her frustration is frequently played for laughs from that point onward. In the Season 7 episode
"The Locomotive Manipulation", Sheldon sarcastically says he will give Amy the romance she wants,
then he passionately kisses Amy on the lips for the first time and enjoys it.
While early on Amy was ambivalent and often condescending towards Penny and Bernadette,
she later spends more time with them even at the expense of her time with Sheldon. As
her appearances have progressed, she has shed her strident, aloof personality for a much
more feminine and social one; although she retains some social awkwardness. Her feelings
for Sheldon have also grown considerably over time and considers him to be ideal in almost
every way, though she sometimes becomes as annoyed and frustrated by Sheldon's quirks
as his other friends do. Amy also intensely wants her relationship with Sheldon to progress
to include sexual intimacy, a drastic departure from her early days as a member of her circle
of friends. She has come to consider Penny a very close friend, sometimes referring to
her as her "bestie," and, on another occasion, admitting her entire social life revolves
around her. Penny herself is fond of Amy, on one occasion making an effort to salvage
their friendship after she accidentally hurt her feelings. To her dismay, however, Amy
often fails to grasp the concept of "girl talk," by talking about feminine hygiene and
anatomy when in her presence and at times being brutally honest. Also, Amy often demonstrates
an infatuation towards her, and occasionally Bernadette, to whom she is still rather condescending
though still considers a close friend. These including making inappropriate comments about
Penny's body and Bernadette's personality. After attending a science convention with
Bernadette in "The Hofstadter Insufficiency", Bernadette and Amy found common interests
and became better friends. When she feels that Leonard is interested in her, she admits
to Penny that she has a better shot getting her into bed than Leonard. In episode 8 of
the fifth season, she shows a disturbing enthusiasm on the whim that Bernadette's bridal shower
should consist of naked bridesmaids washing each other, and she proposes that the bachelorette
party consist of a Native American sweat lodge and women dancing around painting fertility
symbols on the bride's naked body. Her more arrogant side is shown in "The Pulled Groin
Extrapolation", where she is convinced that Leonard has fallen for her after he accompanies
her to a friend's wedding and gives her a chaste kiss on the cheek, even though he has
no such feelings. In "The Benefactor Factor", it is revealed that she is technically engaged
to Saudi Arabian Prince Faisal who resides in Riyadh, who is the source of much of her
lab's funding. Amy can also play the harp. In "The Scavenger Vortex," it is suggested
that she attended Harvard University. Stuart Bloom
Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman) (appeared in 23 episodes total, seven credited as main
cast) Stuart runs The Comic Center of Pasadena, the comic book store that the guys patronize.
Stuart is characterized by his low self-esteem and loneliness, which result in pathetic attempts
to engage with women and win favor with the main cast. This is despite owning his own
(albeit troubled) business, and being a talented portraiture artist who attended the Rhode
Island School of Design. During Stuart's first appearance, the guys brought Penny to the
store and he managed to ask her on a date. The date went fine until Stuart was dragged
into discussing comic books by Sheldon, leaving Penny bored. On a second date with Penny,
Stuart asked for Leonard's advice, but feeling threatened, Leonard ultimately gave him bad
advice. The date went fine, but when Penny was getting romantic with Stuart she mistakenly
called him "Leonard", leaving him devastated. Stuart was the partner of Wil Wheaton in a
trading card game tournament in which they defeated the team of Raj and Sheldon. As Stuart
runs a comic book store, he has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of comic books and
superheroes. In the Season 4 episode "The Toast Derivation", he mentions that he is
in financial trouble and that the comic book store is now also his home. In "The Justice
League Recombination", he states that he works 70 hours and clears an average of $1.65 per
hour after expenses, so his income per week would be $115.50. At Howard's bachelor party
during the "The Stag Convergence" episode, Stuart uses his toasting turn to tell Howard
how lucky he is by contrast to Stuart's own existence. In the Season 6 episode "The Bakersfield
Expedition," Penny asks Stuart for advice about comics, and he sullenly answers, "Don't
own a store that sells them." During "The Decoupling Fluctuation", Stuart becomes close
friends with Raj and starts hanging out with the gang as a replacement for Howard while
Howard is in space. Before accepting this, Sheldon quizzed Stuart as to where he went
to school (Stuart has an art degree). Sheldon concedes to allow Stuart to be in the group,
calling him "fake-Wolowitz" and equating his past career choice in art to Howard's as an
aerospace engineer as "equally ridiculous". When Howard returns from space Sheldon wants
to dismiss Stuart from the group but Raj objects. Leonard tie-breaks on the basis that they
are receiving a 20% discount in Stuart's store. Sheldon relents after Stuart offers to go
as high as 30%. Initially, Sheldon had stipulated that Stuart must act like Howard while in
the gang's presence. Recurring characters
These characters appear in several episodes. The list is sorted by alphabetic order using
first names. Alex Jensen
Alex Jensen (Margo Harshman): An attractive Caltech graduate student hired by Sheldon
to review his kindergarten and elementary school notebooks for any possible Nobel Prize
winning research. Amy is at first jealous until she sees Alex instead flirting with
an unresponsive Leonard. Later, when Leonard admits his jealousy regarding a writing partner
Penny is working with in a community college class, Alex attempts to flirt with him during
the conversation, then again later in a text message. Leonard appears completely oblivious
to her interest, however. In a later episode that season, Leonard finally realizes that
Alex is making advances toward him. While proclaiming his undying loyalty to Penny,
Leonard is flattered by Alex's interest to the point of giddiness. Alex's interest has
occasionally gotten the guys into big trouble. For example, in the episode titled "The Egg
Salad Equivalency", after Sheldon discovers that Alex has hit on Leonard, he tells Penny,
Amy, and Bernadette about the situation going on between Alex and Leonard, which angers
Penny because she is annoyed at how much Leonard enjoys Alex's attentions. Sheldon subsequently
lectures Alex, which includes relating his late father's offensive joke comparing women
to an egg salad sandwich. This only results in him getting called into Human Resources
after Alex feels offended by the talk and makes a complaint. Eventually, Sheldon has
to apologize to Alex and take a university-mandated online Sexual Harassment course. Sheldon then
forces Alex to take the online course for him, due to him feeling his own time is too
valuable to waste on it. Alex scores some points with Sheldon after he sends her out
to buy Amy a Valentine's Day gift, and Sheldon likes it so much that he keeps it for himself.
Barry Kripke Barry Kripke, Ph.D. (John Ross Bowie): A coworker
of Leonard and Sheldon's who frequently clashes with them. He works in plasma physics. Kripke
has a case of rhotacism in which he pronounces the letters "R" and "L" as "W" in much the
same way as Elmer Fudd from Looney Tunes and Gilda Radner in her "Baba Wawa" sketches.
However, as demonstrated in the season 5 episode "The Beta Test Initiation", Kripke is either
unaware of or unable to modify the way he speaks. In his first appearance, he pits his
robot, the Kripke Krippler, against the men's robot, M.O.N.T.E., in an unofficial robot
fight. On another episode, Sheldon attempts to befriend Kripke in order to gain access
to an open science grid computer to carry out research, but it turns out to be futile,
as Kripke has no control over the computer's usage time. Kripke continues his antagonism
towards Sheldon, when he pulls a prank on Sheldon when the latter is a guest on NPR's
Science Friday. Sheldon tries to befriend Kripke another time when he is feeling excluded
by his friends, but Barry connects more with the others in Sheldon's new proposed group.
Kripke purchases an iPhone with voice recognition technology, but due to his rhotacism, the
device is incapable of understanding his verbal "wequests", prompting him to deride it as
ineffective. In Season 5's "The Rothman Disintegration", Kripke and Sheldon battle over a retired professor's
office. At Howard's bachelor party during the "The Stag Convergence" episode, Kripke
uses his turn toasting to complain that there are no strippers at the party. In the Season
6 episode "The Cooper/Kripke Inversion", Kripke and Sheldon are forced to work together on
a proposal involving fusion reactors, which involves an exchange of work. Sheldon is shocked
to discover that Kripke's work is more advanced than his own, and he tearfully admits as much
to Amy. Kripke assumes that Sheldon is in a sexual relationship with Amy, and that has
led to his work quality declining, and Sheldon does not deny it (although this appears to
be just a convenient excuse since his work is inferior to Kripke's). Kripke likely holds
a doctorate, as he is seen applying for tenure at the university in "The Tenure Turbulence."
Beverly Hofstadter Dr. Beverly Hofstadter (Christine Baranski):
Leonard's overly analytical mother, Beverly is a neuroscientist as well as a psychiatrist.
She is Sheldon's female equivalent regarding neurotically strict speech patterns, lack
of social conventions, and attention to detail. The two of them share an odd non-romantic
attraction to each other, which culminates in her kissing him after becoming intoxicated.
She reveals in one episode that she and Leonard's father "are getting a divorce". She had frequently
implied that the two have not had "coitus" since Leonard was conceived. She diagnosed
Raj with selective mutism and considers Raj and Howard's relationship to be an "ersatz
homosexual marriage". Beverly mentions that Leonard's brother and sister are more successful
in their respective fields than he is. Ironically, as displayed in "The Maternal Congruence"
episode, Sheldon is closer to Beverly than her own son is. In both 2009 and 2010, Baranski
was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for this
role. She returns via Skype for the season 5 premiere, and in the season 7 episode "The
Raiders Minimization." Dr. Eric Gablehauser
Dr. Eric Gablehauser (Mark Harelik): The head of the Physics Department, Dr. Gablehauser
is the group's boss at the university. In his first appearance, he fired Sheldon after
Sheldon insulted his intelligence. Eventually, Sheldon was rehired because Gablehauser became
romantically interested in Mary Cooper, Sheldon's mother. Dr. Gablehauser was also responsible
for introducing child genius Dennis Kim to the university and for hosting the Physics
Bowl. Dr. and Mrs. Koothrappali
Dr. V. M. Koothrappali (Brian George) and Mrs. Koothrappali (Alice Amter): Raj's parents
in India, they communicate with their son via video chat and constantly try to arrange
dates for him. They want their son to marry a woman of Indian descent, and give them grandchildren.
Mrs. Koothrappali is especially worried that, despite Raj being old enough to marry, the
closest they have to a daughter-in-law is "that little Jewish boy Howard". Although
in many episodes Raj mentions that he grew up in poverty, his friends remind him of the
contrary by pointing out that Dr. Koothrappali is a gynaecologist, drives a Bentley and employs
servants, for which Raj replies that the Bentley is leased and that some of the servants are
children. The Koothrappalis enjoy Doogie Howser reruns, which are apparently new to India.
Other than Raj, they also maintain contact with Priya Koothrappali via video chat whenever
she is out of India. They also had some anger towards Leonard when it became apparent that
he was dating Priya without their knowledge. According to Sheldon, they are Richie Rich
rich. Lucy
Lucy (Kate Micucci): A woman who shows up at the party at the comic book store on Valentine's
Day for people who had no dates. She and Raj hook up and subsequently start dating. She
has social anxiety issues, which allows her and Raj to connect. On their date, she text
messages with Raj and, at the end, she offers to kiss him, but chickens out at the last
second. Raj and Lucy make up at the end of the episode and continue to date. In the sixth
season finale, Raj and Lucy start to get closer and Raj tries to introduce her to his friends.
Lucy feels too pressured and breaks up with Raj in a text message at the end of the episode.
She returns in the season 7 episode "The Itchy Brain Simulation" to apologize to Raj for
breaking up with him via email. This leads Raj to believe the two of them will get back
together, but Lucy tells him she is with someone else.
Mary Cooper Mary Cooper (Laurie Metcalf): A devout fundamentalist
Christian from Texas, Mary is Sheldon's mother. She has two other children besides Sheldon;
Sheldon's twin sister, Missy and his brother George, who is shown via a family tree in
"The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification" to be three years older than Sheldon and Missy.
To Mary's relief, her other children do not share Sheldon's hyper-intelligence, once commenting
to Leonard "I thank the good Lord my other kids are as dumb as soup". She appeared in
the fourth episode of the first season, the season three premiere, the third episode of
season four, the sixth episode of season five and the eighteenth episode of season seven.
Mary herself is not intellectual but is quite wise, though she is prone to making insensitive
comments such as referring to "kung fu letters" when Leonard takes her to a sushi restaurant,
or saying that "I thought it was our Indians that had the occasional drinking problem"
when she sees Raj inebriated. Despite her extreme religious views, she is tolerant of
other faiths, as evidenced by her serving Raj a dish of chicken after making sure it
was not something Indians considered "magical". She also struggles to follow her beliefs sometimes,
shown through her affair with another churchgoer in "The Mommy Observation". She is a loving
mother and the only one who has ever been able to control Sheldon, with Leonard describing
her as Sheldon's "Kryptonite" to Penny. When Penny and Sheldon engaged in a fierce dispute,
Penny called for Mary's help, who subsequently called and scolded Sheldon about his actions.
Leonard wishes his mother was as loving as Sheldon's mother, although Sheldon himself
appears at best ambivalent about her parenting. It is once mentioned by Sheldon that Mary
once hit him with a Bible because he refused to eat his Brussels sprouts. She apparently
thought something was wrong with her son while he was growing up, as Sheldon will often remark
after someone calls him crazy, "I'm not crazy; my mother had me tested!" though Mary Cooper
wishes that she had taken him to Houston for further testing.
Priya Koothrappali Priya Koothrappali (Aarti Mann): Raj's younger
sister, introduced in the fourth season. Having graduated at the top of her class at Cambridge,
she is one of the lead attorneys at India's biggest car company. It is disclosed upon
her first appearance in "The Irish Pub Formulation" episode that she and Leonard had a relationship
five years earlier (without her parents' or Raj's knowledge) when she was in town, and
that Leonard had been much more invested in the relationship than she. Leonard even offered
to relocate to Delhi to be with her. He tries to keep their relationship a secret from the
guys, but Sheldon discovers Priya in their apartment. Leonard eventually reveals to the
rest of the guys that he has spent the night with Priya, as he is unable to bear the burden
of keeping the secret. Priya returns to Los Angeles for business in "The Cohabitation
Formulation" and she and Leonard decide to try and have a real relationship, over the
protests of Raj. It upsets Raj to know that his sister is having sex with one of his best
friends (sometimes in Raj's bed). Priya soon becomes jealous of Penny and asks Leonard
to stop spending time with her, but Leonard is unable to do so. Priya contests Sheldon's
roommate agreement with Leonard, employing her legal background to deny Sheldon power
over Leonard, but Sheldon drafts a new agreement. Sheldon then blackmails Leonard into signing
it by threatening to tell Priya's parents she is dating Leonard, which she cannot bear
because they want her to either date an Indian (although her father would accept her dating
Howard due to his belief Jews are financially savvy and do not drink much). In the fourth
season finale, it is revealed she is moving back to India and has not told Leonard, which
Leonard interprets as the end of their relationship, leading him to expose their secret relationship
to her parents. During Season 5, although they are separated, with Priya moving back
a month earlier than expected, they nonetheless remain in-touch via webcam, having a cyber-dinner
date/breakfast date. At Howard's suggestion, Leonard and Priya also attempt to simulate
intercourse via webcam, but when it comes time for her to remove her clothing, Leonard's
screen freezes up because of exceeding the bandwidth. Leonard later manages to get cue
cards to help himself with a seduction speech to Priya, but while delivering it to her,
he inadvertently reveals to her parents that they are cyber-dating (they were in the same
room as she when he called), with them acidly asking for him to continue with the speech.
After Leonard tells Priya about his attraction to a comic book enthusiast named Alice, Priya
admits to cheating on him with her former boyfriend, which visibly upsets Leonard. She
claims that it is not a competition, to which he replies that it is and that she won. Then
he switches off his laptop. In the next episode, Leonard refers to himself as single, indicating
he and Priya have broken up as a result of their last conversation.
Stephanie Barnett Dr. Stephanie Barnett, MD (Sara Rue): A doctor
and highly distinguished surgical resident at Fremont Memorial, Stephanie is picked up
in a bar by Howard but when his plan to let her drive the Mars rover fails, she leaves
Howard's office with Leonard and the two immediately show an attraction to each other. Sheldon
begins meddling in Stephanie and Leonard's new relationship in an effort to strengthen
it, since in his eyes, Stephanie is the only "tolerable" mate Leonard has had. After several
weeks of dating, Stephanie officially begins living with Leonard in his and Sheldon's apartment.
However, after much hesitation, Leonard tells her to move out because he is uncomfortable
with the pace of the relationship. They are not seen breaking up on camera. Series co-creator
Bill Prady said of the relationship: "Stephanie was a chance for Leonard to learn that just
because someone loves you, doesn't mean you'll love them back". Stephanie did her medical
internship at Lawrence Memorial in Galveston, Texas, which is where Sheldon was born.
Wil Wheaton Wil Wheaton (a fictionalized version of the
real actor of that name): In the season three episode "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary",
Sheldon enters a trading card game tournament (Mystic Warlords of Ka'a) to confront Wil
Wheaton over an incident that occurred in 1995 when Sheldon was devastated because Wheaton
(Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation) failed to show up at a fan convention that
Sheldon took a 10-hour bus ride to attend (in which he had to "twice violate his personal
rule of no relief on a moving vehicle"). In the final match, Sheldon is about to defeat
his hated rival, but Wheaton tells Sheldon that the reason he missed the convention was
because his grandmother had died. In sympathy, Sheldon deliberately messes up his next move
in order to benefit Wheaton. Wheaton reveals that he lied about his grandmother, then wins
the game by taking advantage of the opening Sheldon left him. Wil Wheaton makes a second
appearance in the episode "The Wheaton Recurrence", where he uses gamesmanship again, breaking
up Leonard and Penny's relationship in order to win a bowling competition against the main
characters. In "The 21-Second Excitation", Wheaton appears at a screening of Raiders
of the Lost Ark and uses his celebrity status to go to the front of a long line. This antagonizes
Sheldon, who derides him as the "Jar Jar Binks of the Star Trek universe." Wheaton and his
entourage effectively prevent Sheldon and the guys from attending the screening when
the last seat in the theater goes to the person directly in front of them in line. Ultimately,
Sheldon steals the prints of the film and Wheaton leads a mob of angry Raiders fans
after Sheldon. In the season five episode "The Russian Rocket Reaction", Wheaton appears
to be genuinely sorry for his past actions and gives Sheldon a signed Wesley Crusher
action figure as a way of thanking Sheldon for being a fan. His gesture is met with a
renunciation of his "mortal enemy" status, and a hug from Sheldon. With Wheaton, LeVar
Burton, Leonard Nimoy, Brent Spiner and George Takei also having appeared on the show, Star
Trek is the most represented franchise on the show in terms of guest appearances. At
Howard's bachelor party during the "The Stag Convergence" episode, Wil films the toasts
and uploads them to the Internet, getting Howard and Raj in trouble with Bernadette
and showing that he has not lost all of his "evil" quirks. In the season six episode "The
Habitation Configuration", Wheaton appears in a Star Trek-themed episode of Sheldon's
webseries Fun with Flags, and insults Sheldon's girlfriend (and the webisode's director),
Amy. After he ditches Amy to hang out with Wheaton, Amy gets angry at Sheldon; he later
unknowingly becomes inebriated and tries to start a fistfight with Wheaton, demanding
an apology. Mrs. Wolowitz
Mrs. Wolowitz (voiced by Carol Ann Susi): Howard's controlling, belittling Jewish mother.
The character is not shown on-screen with the exception of one episode in season 6 in
which her body, but not face is briefly shown. Mrs. Wolowitz's raspy voice is heard usually
in scenes at her house, which she shares with Howard. She talks to Howard always by yelling
at him from another room, which results in awkward conversations with Howard yelling
back at her. In an early episode, when the guys hear her yelling in a masculine voice,
they ask Howard if that was his father, to which Howard replies "If she grows any more
hair on her face, yes". She is also described as being enormously
obese (especially in the arms), and wearing a wig and painted-on eyebrows. Mrs. Wolowitz
seems to be oblivious about Howard's work as an engineer and treats him like he is still
a child. She frequently refers to Leonard, Sheldon, and Raj as Howard's "little friends"
(as in, "I made some cookies and Hawaiian Punch for you and your little friends!") and
often refers to Caltech as a "school". Howard often makes references to his mother as being
a "crazy old lady", but deep down, he is deeply attached to his mother and quite happy to
be treated like a child. However, in one episode, Howard attempts to move out after a fight
with his mother, but has serious delusions that she is trying to force him to stay, when
in actuality, she is urging him to move out, which leads to him staying. In the penultimate
episode of season 4, she wants to "play doctor" with Raj when he asks to sleep over.
When Howard reveals that he has proposed to Bernadette and she has accepted, she collapses,
causing Howard to panic (and dislocate his shoulder while trying to barge into the bathroom
to help her). The timing leads him to believe that she may not like Bernadette (who is Catholic)
and has suffered a heart attack from the shock of the news. In actuality, her fainting was
due to food poisoning from the food she ate while meeting Bernadette, and was completely
unrelated to Howard's news. She has graciously accepted Bernadette as her future daughter-in-law
and loves that she is a doctor. She attended Howard and Bernadette's wedding on Leonard/Sheldon/Penny's
apartment building roof and can be seen in the satellite picture of the event. The episode
"The Spoiler Alert Segmentation" is a major episode in Mrs. Wolowitz's character as she
appears on screen for the first time; first walking across the kitchen through the kitchen
doors, and then her hands are seen pulling Raj back into the house. Her face is not seen
at all, but her appearances in the kitchen scene make her out to be an extremely obese
woman. It is often implied that the relationship
between Howard and his mother comes close to that of Norman Bates and his mother from
the film Psycho. Zack
Zack Johnson (Brian Thomas Smith): A dim-witted beefcake-type whom Penny dates after her second
break-up with Leonard. Leonard invites Penny and Zack up to the roof to watch his experiment
of bouncing laser beams off the moon; Zack misunderstands what is happening. Later, he
and Penny go out on a date, but she is so put off at how stupid he is that she runs
back to Leonard to have sex, saying that Leonard has ruined her ability to date stupid men.
In a later episode, he runs into Penny, Bernadette, and Amy at a restaurant, and Amy becomes physically
attracted to him. Unlike Penny's other boyfriends, he considers Leonard, Howard, Sheldon, and
Raj (whom he calls "the science guys") to be "cool" and makes a genuine effort to get
to know them, considering them to be his friends. After accompanying them on a trip to the comic
book store (where he and Raj bond over a mutual fondness for Archie comics), he enters a New
Year's Eve costume party with them, portraying Superman in their version of the Justice League.
He works as the menu designer for restaurants that are owned by or which have hired his
father's company to design their menus. In "The Toast Derivation", Sheldon invites him
over for a party, where he bonds with Barry Kripke and Stuart as well. It is revealed
in season 7's "The Thanksgiving Decoupling" that he was unknowingly married to Penny for
three years, after they got intoxicated and attended a wedding chapel in Las Vegas.
Minor characters These characters appear in fewer episodes,
most in just one. The list is in alphabetic order by first name.
Abby (Danica McKellar) and Martha (Jen Drohan): With Leonard and Howard busy on a double date
with Penny and Bernadette, Raj and Sheldon attend a university mixer where they meet
Abby and Martha. Abby takes a liking to Raj, while Martha surprisingly seems to connect
with Sheldon. While Raj and Abby end up kissing, Sheldon completely ignores Martha, who even
tries to go to bed with him. Like series regular Mayim Bialik, McKellar exists within the Big
Bang Theory universe independently of Abby, having been mentioned alongside Bialik in
ep. 1.13, "The Bat Jar Conjecture". Like Bialik, McKellar is a scientist in real life.
Alice (Courtney Ford): An attractive comic book enthusiast who meets Leonard at the comic
book store, who thinks he's cute and takes him to her apartment and tries to hook up
with him. This date occurs during the period when Leonard is having a long distance relationship
with Priya. Leonard initially gives in to temptation, but at the last minute pulls away.
He tells Alice about Priya, that his super power is being a good guy, and then gets thrown
out of her apartment. The next time he communicates, via the webcam, with Priya, he confesses his
weakness. To his surprise, Priya has no problem with it. Upon questioning, Priya reveals that
she has not been faithful to Leonard. They then break up.
Alicia (Valerie Azlynn): A young woman who moves into an apartment above Leonard and
Sheldon in the Dead Hooker Juxtaposition. Penny displays a fit of jealousy at this turn
of events, thinking that Alicia is supplanting herself in the boys' attention. Alicia is
an actress, although slightly more successful than Penny, having landed a role on CSI as
a (dead) prostitute. Eventually, to Howard's delight, she and Penny get into a catfight
over her treatment of the guys. After the altercation, Penny says Alicia is a "dead
whore on TV; live one in real life" just before the gang hears Alicia having loud intercourse
with a CSI producer. Althea (Vernee Watson) A character who makes
an appearance in the pilot episode as an attendant at a sperm bank, and then makes three appearances
as an emergency room nurse in "The Peanut Reaction" episode (Season 1) and "The Robotic
Manipulation" episode (Season 4), and as a ward nurse in "The Werewolf Transformation"
(Season 5). The name of the character is never used on the show, but is included on her nametag
and in the credits. She is also the only character besides Leonard and Sheldon to be carried
over from the original unaired pilot. Arthur Jeffries (aka Professor Proton) (Bob
Newhart): The star of the science show that Sheldon and Leonard watched as children. After
the show was cancelled, Jeffries was not taken seriously as a scientist and resorted to doing
children's parties as his persona. Sheldon hires him to do a private party for Leonard
and himself (and Penny), and he ends up having a heart attack after climbing the apartment
stairs with his equipment. He asks Sheldon to take his place at a party for a Korean
family, which Sheldon agrees to do as Professor Proton, Jr.
Bert (Brian Posehn): A socially awkward geologist. His first appearance was in Season 6, Episode
18, "The Contractual Obligation Implementation", when he meets Raj and Lucy in the library
during their date. Later in Season 7, Episode 13, "The Occupation Recalibration", he is
found having a crush on Amy and tries to ask her out on a date to a Geology Rock Show.
Bethany (Molly Morgan), Sarah (Sarah Buehler), and Skeeter (Andy Mackenzie): Characters who
appear in "The Gothowitz Deviation" episode. Bethany and Sarah are a couple of women that
Wolowitz and Raj meet in a Goth club. They then go to a tattoo parlor, where Skeeter
is the tattoo artist. The name "Skeeter" is not used on the show, but appears in the credits.
Captain Sweatpants (Ian Scott Rudolph) and Lonely Larry (Owen Thayer): Two men that are
sometimes seen at the guys' favorite comic book store. Captain Sweatpants is a middle-aged
bald man who wears grey sweatpants and a City of Heroes T-shirt. Lonely Larry wears a brown
suit and is extremely thin. They are also friends with Wil Wheaton. Both attend Howard's
bachelor party. Chen (James Hong): The owner of a Chinese
restaurant (Szechuan Palace) which is regularly frequented by Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, and
Rajesh. He appears most significantly in Season 1 Episode 17, where Sheldon engages in an
argument concerning his belief that he is being served Orange Chicken rather than Tangerine
Chicken. This leads to the exchange of several nonsensical remarks made by Sheldon (due to
his lack of ability to speak Mandarin). Cheryl (Erin Allin O'Reilly): Apparently a
friend of one of Penny's friends (because it is subtly suggested she may not know many
of the people at the party), who attends Penny's Halloween party in Season 1, Episode 6, "The
Middle Earth Paradigm." Cheryl is the very talkative, short-haired brunette dressed as
a ladybug, who hits it off with Raj. She is not identified within the episode, but is
listed in the credits. She appears again as a Cheesecake Factory waitress in "The Pancake
Batter Anomaly". Christy (Brooke D'Orsay): An acquaintance
of Penny's from Nebraska who had slept with enough of her relatives to make her "family",
Christy suddenly moves in with Penny when she comes to California. Christy ends up having
sex with Howard, forcing Penny to sleep on Leonard's couch. Howard then invites Christy
to move in with him (and his mother). Mrs. Wolowitz and Christy end up having a fight,
and the latter leaves. She also presents the guys other problems by reducing their foursome
to three when playing Halo and dividing up their Chinese food order.
Cole (Ryan Cartwright) : An English student who works with Penny in the history class
in Pasadena City College, introduced in the episode The 43 Peculiarity (S6E08). His appearance
in Penny's life leads to Leonard's anxiety about his relationship with Penny.
Dr. Crawley (Lewis Black): An entomologist at the University, Dr. Crawley is visited
by Sheldon, Howard, and Raj in order to identify the species of a cricket they found. He is
agitated at losing his position at the university, his lab, and, as a result of an extended research
trip, his wife. After his wife left him, he was forced to move in with his daughter, who
lives in Oxnard, California "in the onion fields" (as opposed to its more glamorous
beach areas). Dr. David Underhill (Michael Trucco): A MacArthur
Genius Grant recipient, David is an experimental physicist like Leonard, who is excited to
be working with him. With his leather jacket and handsome looks, Penny is shocked to know
that David is a scientist and starts dating him. They break up when she finds out he is
married. Dale (Josh Brener): Dale works as a replacement
for Stuart at the comic book store when he went on a date with Amy "The Flaming Spittoon
Acquisition", and also appears in "The Tangible Affection Proof" at Stuart's Valentine's Day
party. Dennis Kim (Austin Lee): Dennis is a 15-year-old
child prodigy from North Korea who Dr. Gablehauser hopes to recruit into their Ph.D. program.
Dennis and Sheldon have an antagonistic relationship when the former excels Sheldon in every way.
The guys make arrangements so Dennis can meet girls of his age and get distracted from his
own research. The plan succeeds and Dennis is seen kissing with a girl in the park, no
longer an intellectual threat to Sheldon. Dimitri Rezinov (Pasha Lychnikoff): A Russian
cosmonaut who is Howard Wolowitz's colleague on his Soyuz mission to the International
space station. Dmitri (Adam Gregor) He is the janitor of
third floor in Caltech. But before he was a janitor, he was a physicist in Leningrad
Polytechnical. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he lost his job and had to move to
the US. He seems to know a lot about physics. A question in the Physics Bowl about quantum
electrodynamics stumped everyone but him. Dr. Elizabeth Plimpton (Judy Greer): A renowned
cosmological physicist from Princeton University known for her work in quantum cosmology who
comes as a personal guest of Sheldon in "The Plimpton Stimulation" episode. She first appears
absent-minded, but then exhibits a strong sexual libido, winds up having sex with Leonard
and Raj, and expresses a desire for a foursome with Leonard, Raj, and Wolowitz.
Emily (Katie Leclerc): (Season 5) A deaf woman who Penny sets up with Raj. Since she is deaf,
Raj finds that he can communicate with her despite his selective mutism. She shows interest
in Raj when he spends a lot of money on her. Then Raj's parents get the bill, and force
him to break up with her. Although Raj resists, he does tell Emily that all the gifts he gave
her have to go back. She then loses interest in Raj.
Emily (Laura Spencer): (Season 7) A cute redhead who Raj meets online on a dating website.
Initially he coaxes Amy to be an intermediary between them, because of his passive and shy
nature. Amy agrees to help but eventually ends up arranging a meeting in a cafe with
Emily herself, after finding out that they share same interests. Raj shows up at the
cafe and makes a fool out of himself driving Emily away ("The Friendship Turbulence").
Some time later he again bumps into Emily in the cafe and apologizes for his behavior.
She and Raj go out on a date afterwards ("The Indecision Amalgamation"). Howard wants to
meet Emily before Raj drives her away and finds out that he had a very embarrassing
date with her causing him to run out on her ("The Relationship Diremption").
Gretchen: Penny's former friend who stole her boyfriend and is at the same restaurant
and Leonard and Penny which thoroughly annoys Penny especially after her ex- proposes to
Gretchen. Gretchen is played by Kaley Cuoco's sister Briana.
Mrs. Janine Davis (Regina King): A human resources representative working at the university who
handled a sexual harassment complaint against Sheldon. Sheldon, in his attempt at defense,
rats out "worse behavior" by Raj, Howard, and Leonard, prompting Mrs. Davis to summon
them to her office as well. In a later episode, Mrs. Davis serves on the tenure committee
that is considering Raj, Sheldon, Leonard and Kripke for a vacant tenured position,
causing each of them to try to "butter up" Mrs. Davis. In season 7's "The Hofstadter
Insufficiency", Mrs. Davis is revealed to be recently divorced, and Raj attempts to
strike up a conversation with her at a university mixer.
Jesse (Josh Peck): A comic book store owner who is supposedly a rival of Stuart's comic
book store. Stuart and Bernadette visit his store searching for a rare comic book, belonging
to Howard, which Bernadette wants replaced after she accidentally brands it with her
curling iron. Even though he appears smart and charismatic, he behaves as a jerk who
belittles and humiliates Stuart in front of Bernadette inside his store; From Season 7,
Episode 13 "The Occupation Recalibration". Jimmy Speckerman (Lance Barber): a former
high-school jock who used to bully Leonard on a regular basis. He later contacts Leonard
in "The Speckerman Recurrence", with an idea of inventing glasses that turn all movies
into 3D. He is oblivious to the bullying nature of his actions against Leonard, having believed
that they were "having fun" and describing him and Leonard as having been "a comedy team".
Joy (Charlotte Newhouse): An exercise-freak woman who Leonard meets on a blind date set
up by Bernadette via the "Girlfriend Pact" with Howard. Although Leonard finds Joy's
mannerisms to be repulsive, he agrees to go out with her again based on hints she gives
that she is easy. Joyce Kim (Ally Maki): A previously unseen
character who appears in "The Staircase Implementation", Joyce Kim was mentioned as a former girlfriend
of Leonard; their relationship only lasted a month, after which she defected back to
North Korea. However, in The Staircase Implementation, Leonard admits that she was not a girlfriend,
but a North Korean spy who attempted to get secrets from him by seducing him.
Kevin (Blake Berris): A man who Penny meets during her 'non-date' with Leonard. He is
writing a screenplay about his roommate who threw him out of their apartment for the evening.
Kurt (Brian Patrick Wade): A tall, intimidating bodybuilder, Kurt is Penny's ex-boyfriend
at the beginning of the series. In the pilot-episode, Leonard and Sheldon went to his apartment
and tried to retrieve Penny's television set from him, but they did not succeed and Kurt
apparently found them so irritating that they returned home without pants. Penny left him
because he cheated on her, but he was still invited to her Halloween party, for which
he dresses up as a caveman. In season 2, ep14, Penny experiences financial difficulties,
Leonard and the guys confront Kurt over $1,800 in legal fine money Penny had lent him. Immediately
refusing, Kurt shortly thereafter pays Penny and the two have dinner, but is never seen
again. Lakshmi Choudry (Chriselle Almeida): a woman
with whom Raj's parents set him up when he asks for a date to take to his cousin's wedding.
He develops strong feelings for her and is willing to marry her, and she him. She tells
him she is lesbian and is willing to marry him because she thinks he is gay and the ruse
will fool her parents. Lalita Gupta (Sarayu Rao): A childhood acquaintance
of Raj who bullied him, she is now a dental student at USC. Raj's parents set up a date
for their son with her. During the date, Raj can only speak to her after drinking an alcoholic
beverage (a "grasshopper") and acts very obnoxious, such as commenting on her childhood weight
problem. Sheldon insists she bears a remarkable resemblance to Princess Panchali, an Indian
princess in a children's story. Lalita is flattered at Sheldon's comments and attention.
Eventually, Lalita leaves the obnoxious and drunk Raj to have dinner with Sheldon. Sheldon
does not see her again because he "already has a dentist".
Mrs. Latham (Jessica Walter): A wealthy widowed benefactor who takes a shine to Leonard at
a donor/faculty get-together. She asks him out with the implication that he have sex
with her in order to get the lab equipment his department needs. He at first resists,
but after she says that she is going to fund his project anyway, he relents. Everyone at
the University congratulates him for selling himself out for the money.
Missy Cooper (Courtney Henggeler): Missy is Sheldon's twin sister who is intellectually
and socially very much unlike him. Confident, tall and attractive, she immediately catches
the attention of Leonard, Howard, and Raj. Sheldon realizes that within Missy's eggs
lies the potential for another "superior mutation" like him. He temporarily elects himself as
a guardian to Missy in order to choose the best mate for her (she rejects Leonard and
Howard in favor of Raj, but his mutism derails any chance he might have with her). Missy
objects to Sheldon deciding who she can sleep with, refers to Sheldon as "Shelly", and despite
their differences she loves him and is proud of his accomplishments. She is mentioned in
the 7th season as an unseen character, where she gives birth to a son, and it is also mentioned
that she is married. President Siebert (Joshua Malina): The president
of the California Institute of Technology; he is married and has a teenage daughter.
Siebert sends Sheldon on an expedition to the North Pole at the end of Season 2. In
Season 4, he organizes a get-together with wealthy donors and faculty in order to garner
funds for the university's programs. He urges the guys to make an appearance to schmooze
the donors so that they will give to their projects. Seeing Sheldon's behavior toward
the donors, he asks that he not appear again. A recurring gag is that President Siebert
bumps into Sheldon when he is using the urinal. Professor Glenn (Rick Fox): A former professor
of Bernadette's, who she reveals to Howard that she dated for a year. At 6'7", dark and
handsome, Glenn is physically the polar opposite of Howard, leading the insecure Howard to
feel like he will never measure up (literally as much as metaphorically).
Ramona Nowitzki (Riki Lindhome) and Kathy O'Brian (Emily Happe): A couple of graduate
students, who both have a crush on Sheldon, and become his 'groupies.' Sheldon exploits
them to get free food and perform personal services. Ramona is the first, first meeting
Sheldon after he introduced his work to incoming graduate students. She finds Sheldon's work
very stimulating and him very cute to the utter confusion of his friends and arranges
to have dinner with him in his apartment. The next few days she becomes a permanent
presence in his life, pressuring him to concentrate on his research and avoid distractions such
as video games, science-fiction television shows and weekend paintball expeditions. Sheldon
gets tired of her, but is unable to dissolve their "relationship". Eventually, Sheldon
reaches a breakthrough in his work to which Sheldon acknowledges that he could not have
completed without her personal and mathematical assistance. Sheldon kicks Ramona out when
she asks to share credit for the discovery. Kathy comes into Sheldon's life after he kicked
Ramona out. Mike Rostenkowski (Casey Sander): Bernadette's
father, a retired police officer who has a rough and abrasive personality. He is not
very accepting of Howard until he learns that Howard will be going into space as an astronaut
(coincidentally at the same time Howard was considering backing out of the expedition).
After an aborted weekend fishing trip, Howard and his father-in-law bond over learning to
play craps at an Indian casino. Mrs. Rostenkowski (Meagen Fay) : Bernadette's
mother. She is a woman of few words, like her husband. She displays a lot of the same
characteristics of her daughter. Apparently she dominates her husband. When Howard first
met Bernadette, they bonded over the similar personalities of their controlling mothers.
Siri (Becky O'Donohue): embodies Siri (software), the voice-recognition system used on certain
smartphones and on which Raj developed a crush, because of its seductive voice. To which Howard
jokingly states that "there is finally a woman in your life you can talk to." Raj has a dream
about meeting her, represented by a beautiful woman, but he cannot speak to her in person
due to his selective mutism, which causes him to awake from the dream screaming "NOOOOO!".
Special Agent Angela Paige (Eliza Dushku): an FBI agent investigating Howard Wolowitz's
background for a security clearance in "The Apology Insufficiency" episode. While interviewing
the guys, Raj vomits on her shoes, Leonard hits on her, and Sheldon reveals too much
information about Howard, and to add insult to injury, reveals too much information about
Leonard. Spock (Leonard Nimoy): Sheldon's action figure
Spock, the voice of Leonard Nimoy, appears to him in a dream convincing him to open his
mint in-box 1975 Star Trek Transporter toy. After Sheldon breaks his toy and steals Leonard's,
Spock reappears to Sheldon and convinces him to give Leonard his toy back.
Summer (Sierra Edwards): Howard's "date" for the reception for Dr. Gablehauser in Season
1, Episode 4, "The Luminous Fish Effect." She is quite a bit taller than Howard and
makes it apparent that the "date" is strictly a business event by telling Howard that "touching
is extra". Toby Loobenfeld (DJ Qualls): A research assistant
with a double major in Physics and Theater, Toby was used by Sheldon to play his fictional
first cousin "Leopold Houston" from Denton, Texas, a character Sheldon invents as part
of an elaborate lie told to avoid going to see Penny sing. Cousin "Leo" is a recovering
drug addict who ends up cuddling with Penny on the couch, much to the chagrin of Leonard.
He was also willing to argue with Sheldon on the subjects regarding drug use, showing
knowledge on the subject. Todd Zarnecki (Christopher Douglas Reed):
Appears in "The Zarnecki Incursion" episode as a hacker who "steals" Sheldon's possessions
in the World of Warcraft online game. Being physically much larger and more intimidating
than the four main characters, they back down from confronting him. Penny picks them up,
takes them back to Todd's house and sets Todd straight with a swift kick to the groin. He
also shows up at Howard's bachelor party (as an unnamed attendee), and in the Season 6
episode "The Tangible Affection Proof", he is in attendance at Stuart's party on Valentine's
Day. Venkatesh Koothrappali (Frank Maharajh): Raj's
cousin, a lawyer in India, who tries to negotiate a deal for Raj's part of the One Ring prop
from Lord of the Rings. He, by his own admission, is a bad negotiator, and does not get Raj
the two jet skis that he wanted. Wyatt (Keith Carradine): Penny's father. He
comes to visit and Penny feels compelled to involve Leonard in a ruse to make him think
that they are still together. (Wyatt reveals that he favors the successful Leonard over
Penny's other "loser" boyfriends.) When the plot is revealed, he gets mad at Penny and
feigns anger at Leonard. But after Penny leaves the room, he encourages Leonard to keep trying
to get Penny back (because he wants his grandkids to "grow up in a house without wheels on it").
Strangely though in the first episode where Leonard's mother visits, Penny tearfully reveals
her rough childhood, saying that Wyatt wanted a boy and would call her "slugger". She does
an imitation of what she wished her mother would say to her father: "'Bob, get over it,
she's a girl, move on,' but she didn't not one word!"
Characters that appeared in only a single scene
Angelo (Peter Onorati): A barber who substitutes for Sheldon's regular barber, Mr. D'Onofrio,
when Mr. D'Onofrio falls into a coma. Mrs. Fowler (Annie O'Donnell): Amy Farrah
Fowler's mother. She appeared in a webcam conversation with Amy and Sheldon in which
they lie to her about the nature of their relationship, telling her that they are in
a romantic relationship that includes coitus. Joan (Amy Tolsky): The court clerk that comes
out to say there is only enough time for three more weddings, meaning Howard and Bernadette
would not be able to get married before Howard left for his launch to the ISS.
Louis (Ajgie Kirkland) A former occupant of the apartment in which Penny lives. He is
a cross-dresser who Leonard mistakenly runs into in "The Staircase Implementation" episode,
and who refers to Sheldon as "the crazy guy across the hall". The name Louis is used by
Sheldon, referring to him/her as Louis/Louise. Octavia (Octavia Spencer): a clerk working
at the California Department of Motor Vehicles who hands Sheldon a drivers permit after he
refuses to take the test, but instead points out inaccuracies in the test. The name of
the character is not used on the show, only in the credits.
Sandy (Yeardley Smith): A bureaucrat who interviewed Sheldon for a menial job in The Einstein Approximation.
episode. Smith had a recurring role on Dharma and Greg as Marlene (both characters have
similarities) a show previously co-created by Chuck Lorre. The name "Sandy" was not used
on the show, but appeared in the credits. Smith also voiced the character of Lisa Simpson
on The Simpsons. Sebastian (Steven Yeun) Sheldon's former roommate
who left Sheldon on bad terms. Sebastian makes a single appearance in "The Staircase Implementation",
where he tells Leonard to "run fast, run far" from Sheldon. His name is not used in the
episode, but is listed in the credits. Notable guest stars appearing as themselves
A number of Hollywood celebrities and famous scientists have made appearances as themselves.
The list is sorted by alphabetic order using last names.
LeVar Burton (Season 4, "The Toast Derivation" and Season 6, "The Habitation Configuration"):
Sheldon invited Burton to a party via a tweet. Upon opening the door and seeing the other
guests at the party, Zack, Kripke, and Stuart (who at that moment was wearing nothing but
a towel) singing karaoke, Burton leaves and when starting to walk down the apartment block
stairs utters that he is "so done with Twitter". He appears again at the end of "The Habitation
Configuration", taping an episode of "Fun With Flags" with Sheldon and Amy. Amy says
"cut", followed by complaining that "this guy is worse than Wil Wheaton" (referring
to Wil's appearance earlier in the episode). Sheldon then tells Burton that because Amy
is his girlfriend, he is obligated to agree with her. Burton asks "I still get lunch,
right?", to which Sheldon nods. Along with Brent Spiner and Wil Wheaton, Burton makes
Star Trek: The Next Generation the most represented franchise on the show in terms of guest appearances.
Summer Glau (Season 2, "The Terminator Decoupling"): When the guys travel by train to a conference
in San Francisco, they realize Summer Glau (who was in two science fiction television
shows, Firefly and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) is sitting in the same passenger
car. Raj, Howard, and Leonard take turns talking with her. Raj cannot talk without drinking
beer (which turned out to be non-alcoholic), Howard is his usual creepy, over-the-top self,
and Leonard cannot start a conversation before she has to get off the train.
Stephen Hawking (Season 5, "The Hawking Excitation", Season 6, "The Extract Obliteration" and Season
7, "The Relationship Diremption"): After Sheldon's much-anticipated meeting with Hawking, he
discusses Sheldon's research and points out a mistake. Sheldon protests by saying that
he does not make mistakes, to which Hawking replies "Are you saying that I do?" When Sheldon
realizes his research does in fact contain a math error, he faints in embarrassment,
prompting Hawking to remark "Oh, great, another fainter." Hawking later talks to Sheldon on
the phone in "The Extract Obliteration", after beating him in a game of Words with Friends.
James Earl Jones (Season 7, "The Convention Conundrum"): After Sheldon tries to form his
own Comic-Con, he approaches Jones in a restaurant. After realizing Sheldon is a fan of Star Wars
(where Jones voiced the famous Darth Vader), Jones invites him to have dinner with him,
much to Sheldon's pleasure, and then Jones suggests spending the whole night together.
The two later eat ice cream, go on a Ferris wheel, do Karaoke, pull a childish prank on
Carrie Fisher, go to a strip club and a sauna, before Sheldon becomes disturbed by Jones
and tells him his plan. Jones then offers to take Sheldon and his friends to Comic-Con
with him, Sheldon's pleasure. The final scene ends with Jones reminiscing about a prank
he did with old celebrities, and ends with Sheldon asking Jones who one of the celebrities
was. In addition to Vader, Jones's role as Mufasa from The Lion King is also mentioned.
Mike Massimino (Season 5, "The Friendship Contraction", "The Countdown Reflection",
Season 6, "The Decoupling Fluctuation and "The Re-Entry Minimization"): An astronaut
who appears as a future colleague of Howard who is set to join NASA's astronaut corps.
Massimino reveals that his nickname is "Mass". Howard assumes the nickname is derived from
Newton's second law, which states that force = mass times acceleration, but Massimino reveals
that "Mass" is simply short for Massimino. Raj and Howard concoct an elaborate scheme
to plant a seed in Massimino's mind to give Howard the nickname "Rocket Man" by having
Howard set up the song "Rocket Man" as his ringtone on his cell phone, and Raj calling
the cell phone during Howard's Skype conversation with Massimino. Their plan is thwarted when
Howard's mother shouts to him that he needs to finish his Froot Loops, which triggers
Massimino (and Dimitri) to give Howard the nickname "Froot Loops". He is heard on the
phone in "The Launch Acceleration" and seen in the Soyuz capsule with Howard and cosmonaut
Dimitri Rezinov, serving as their mission commander in "The Countdown Reflection".
Katee Sackhoff (Season 3, "The Vengeance Formulation" and Season 4, "The Hot Troll Deviation"):
Howard fantasizes about taking a bath with Katee Sackhoff (Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
in Battlestar Galactica). However, in his own fantasy Sackhoff scolds him and tells
him to get a real girlfriend instead of imaginary ones. Sackhoff reappeared in a different fantasy
of Howard's in The Hot Troll Deviation, where she and George Takei help Howard realize that
he still has feelings for Bernadette. George Takei (Season 4, "The Hot Troll Deviation"):
During one of Howard's fantasies, Takei, along with Katee Sackhoff, help Howard realize that
he still has feelings for Bernadette. Takei's real-life homosexuality is twice referenced
in the episodes: once, when he first appears in Howard's fantasy, Sackhoff asks Howard
if Takei's presence implies that Howard has homosexual tendencies, and the second reference
occurs when Takei advises Howard about women's love preferences. Sackhoff asks Takei "How
would you know?" and he responds "I read." Neil deGrasse Tyson (Season 4, "The Apology
Insufficiency") Appears as a colleague of Raj. Upon being introduced to Tyson, Sheldon
tells him that he (Sheldon) is upset at Tyson's role in the demotion of Pluto from planet
status. Initially, Tyson explains that he had no role in the demotion, but later attempts
to apologize to Sheldon. Sheldon declines the apology, immediately after he himself
apologized to Howard, who declined Sheldon's apology.
Wil Wheaton first appeared in the season 3 episode "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary".
See his entry in the recurring character section for more information.
Cameo appearances Buzz Aldrin (Season 6, "The Holographic Excitation"):
Raj sends Howard a link showing a video that features Buzz Aldrin handing out candy to
kids on Halloween. Aldrin gives space related candy, such as Milky Way, Mars bar, and moon-pies.
He brags to the kids about his amazing achievement of being an astronaut who walked on the Moon,
then taunts them with the line, "what have you done with your life?"
Ira Flatow (Season 3, "The Vengeance Formulation"): Sheldon is invited to talk about magnetic
monopoles on Flatow's radio show, Science Friday. However, Barry Kripke pulls a prank
on Sheldon, and Sheldon is publicly humiliated to a nationwide audience. Flatow's appearance
was voice only. Ira Flatow (Season 7, "The Discovery Dissipation"):
Sheldon attends Ira Flatow's Science Friday radio program in person to be interviewed
about Sheldon's recent semi-accidental discovery of synthesizing a new stable heavy element.
While Ira is attempting to praise the nature and significance of the seemingly monumental
discovery, Sheldon considers the accidental nature of it to be an extreme embarrassment
and storms out of the radio studio leaving Ira speechless. On a later return visit to
the Science Friday program with the invited Leonard and the uninvited Sheldon, Ira attempts
to interview Leonard about his research which disproved Sheldon's discovery, but is interrupted
by Sheldon who commandeers the interview and devolves it into an autobiography and yodeling
demonstration. This causes Amy & Penny, who are listening to the program at home, to start
a drinking game based on the embarrassing comments made by their respective boyfriends.
Carrie Fisher (Season 7): While Sheldon is with James Earl Jones, the two go to Fisher's
house in secret, where Jones warns Sheldon that Fisher has gone crazy in her old age;
Jones then knocks on her door and runs off with Sheldon before Fisher exits her house
and shouts, "It's not funny anymore, James!" While Jones replies, "Then why am I laughing?"
Brian Greene (Season 4, "The Herb Garden Germination"): Sheldon and Amy attend a book signing event
of Greene's popular science book, The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws
of the Cosmos. At the event, Sheldon initially ridicules Greene in private conversations
with Amy, but then he gets up and publicly ridicules Greene, asking Greene why does not
he do something more useful with his time than write popular science (only to turn around
and state he was kidding). Stan Lee (Season 3, "The Excelsior Acquisition"):
When Sheldon has to miss Lee's appearance at the comic book store because he ends up
in traffic court after running a red light, Penny tries to make it up to him by taking
him to Lee's house, uninvited and unannounced (acquiring Lee's address from Stuart). Lee,
not impressed by the unexpected intrusion, sarcastically remarks "why don't you just
come in and watch the Lakers game with me?" only for Sheldon, not understanding sarcasm,
to rush into the house. Lee, annoyed, decides to sue for a restraining order. When Sheldon
announces his "autographed" restraining order to Leonard, Howard, and Raj, he comments it
will look great hanging next to his restraining order from Leonard Nimoy.
Howie Mandel (Season 6, "The Re- Entry Minimization"): When Howard returns to earth he hears shouts
of "Howie" and believes that the paparazzi is here for him until he learns that they
were there for Mandel who had arrived at the airport at the same time as Howard. Mandel
thinks Howard is delusional, proclaiming to his driver that during the entire flight,
"he kept telling me he's an astronaut." Bill Nye (Season 7, "The Proton Displacement"):
After Sheldon's childhood hero Professor Proton (Bob Newhart) contacts Leonard for assistance
on an experiment, a jealous Sheldon befriends Nye "The Science Guy".
Charlie Sheen (Season 2, "The Griffin Equivalency"): When Raj discovers a celestial body he is
very excited about it. At Penny's restaurant, Raj says to the patron at the next table over,
"Hey, buddy. I'm going to be in People magazine!"; Charlie Sheen turns around, takes his sunglasses
off and says "Yeah? Call me when you're on the cover." (At the time, Sheen was starring
in Two and a Half Men, also produced by Chuck Lorre.)
George Smoot (Season 2, "The Terminator Decoupling"): After a train ride to a conference in San
Francisco, Sheldon presents his paper to 2006 Nobel Prize laureate George Smoot, and proposes
joint research; Smoot abruptly rejects his idea by asking "With all due respect, Dr.
Cooper, are you on crack?" Brent Spiner (Season 5, "The Russian Rocket
Reaction"): Sheldon shows up at a party thrown by his "mortal enemy", Wil Wheaton, only after
he hears that Spiner will be there. After Wheaton gives Sheldon a signed, in-the-box
Wesley Crusher action figure, Spiner grabs it and opens it, thus putting him on Sheldon's
Mortal Enemies List immediately after Wheaton was removed from the list. Along with LeVar
Burton and Wil Wheaton, Spiner makes Star Trek: The Next Generation the most represented
franchise on the show in terms of guest appearances. Analeigh Tipton and Samantha Potter (Season
2, "The Panty Piñata Polarization"): Howard and Raj visit the America's Next Top Model
house pretending to be cable television repairmen. Tipton and Potter made appearances, opening
the door for Howard and Raj. Tipton greeted Howard and Raj, caught them in a lie as the
house does not receive cable television (it receives satellite), but allows them in regardless
when Howard "corrects" his error with another lie when he says that they are satellite television
repairmen. Potter did not get a speaking role. Steve Wozniak (Season 4, "The Cruciferous
Vegetable Amplification") Dines in Penny's restaurant at the same time that the guys
are there. He compliments Sheldon for his "virtual presence device" (using Sheldon's
name for the device without having heard how Sheldon calls it) and in turn Sheldon (having
previously referred to him as "the Great and Powerful Woz") compliments Wozniak telling
him that he ranks 15th on his list of favorite technological visionaries. When Wozniak feigns
disappointment, Sheldon tries to console him by stating that the ranking is six places
ahead of Apple founder Steve Jobs. Sheldon then tells Wozniak that the Apple II was rather
"nifty" and is one of his proudest possessions. Wozniak promises Sheldon that he would autograph
the computer if Sheldon brought it to him. In the haste to get the Apple II to Wozniak
for signing, Sheldon trips and falls down the stairs, breaking the computer. Wozniak's
wife also appeared in the scene, dining with Wozniak, but she was not credited.