Chances are that you know Melissa Rauch for her performance as Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz
on "The Big Bang Theory." But what else do you know about her? Turns out there's much
more to the comedian and actor than you might have thought. Here's the untold truth of Melissa
Rauch.
Playing Bernadette on "The Big Bang Theory" was a huge turning point in Melissa Rauch's
career. And, it turns out, she has her mother to thank! As the star told TV Insider, she
based the character's voice on her own mother, confessing -
"My mother sounds very similar to Bernadette. She's got a very high-pitched voice except
with a New Jersey accent, and I grew up imitating her."
In another interview with The Rubin Report, Rauch went into more detail -
"It's not quite, quite that high, but it's in that tone, in that range."
She went on to explain that fans tend to assume that she must speak like Bernadette in real
life, saying -
"I think like sometimes I'll get recognized and then they'll hear my voice and be like,
'Oh, that's not you.'"
Anyone who has seen "The Big Bang Theory" can probably imagine that the show would be
incredibly fun to make. With larger-than life-characters, hilarious plotlines, and a live studio audience,
it's safe to say that the cast had a blast. For Melissa Rauch, there was one episode in
particular that stood out.
The actress explained to Today -
"The scavenger hunt episode, where all of us paired off, was one of the most fun to
shoot. We laughed the entire way through it, to the point we were in tears, we were laughing
so hard."
Another favorite was the episode with the beauty pageant. She noted -
"Especially since I'm from Jersey, so having any excuse to poof my hair out to those extreme
heights was just a joy."
As Rauch explained to USA Today, she was actually a struggling actor for a few years. Like her
"Big Bang Theory" character Bernadette, she had to work in hospitality to make ends meet,
recalling -
"I worked at a sports bar in New York City during college,"
Apparently, people would come to the bar with notebooks full of fantasy football information,
since this was before it all went online and she once spilled beer "all over someone's
fantasy notebook."
In another interview for Vulture, Rauch recalled a waitressing job that eventually became too
difficult to sustain. In fact, regular customers would come in and tease her about her height
— as Rauch put it, she, quote, "started to crack."
"Look at me, listen to me. I mean the first thought when you see me isn't 'That's a scientist',
it's 'I wonder if her mommy knows where she is.'"
After her years of working in hospitality, Rauch came to realize -
"It does push you to the edge when you're not given an opportunity to do what you want
to do."
Rauch is undeniably hilarious in "The Big Bang Theory." It turns out, she wasn't new
to comedy when she landed the part of Bernadette. Her love of comedy began early as she said
on "Conan" -
"I was kind of obsessed with comedy at a super young age."
Her passion for comedy continued as she got older. She had even dabbled in stand-up comedy
when she was at college and in the years that followed, as she told NJ.com.
Not only did stand-up help to develop her comedy skills, it also introduced her to her
future husband, Winston Rauch. She told RogerEbert.com -
"He came to watch my set. We decided that we should write some sketches together because
we have a very similar sensibility and our favorite thing to do is make each other laugh."
Although Rauch is best-known as a comedian, she also doesn't mind getting serious from
time to time. In 2017, she opened up about her difficult experience with miscarriage
in an essay for Glamour, writing -
"The miscarriage I experienced was one of the most profound sorrows I have ever felt
in my life. It kick-started a primal depression that lingered in me."
As Rauch explained in her essay, she was heartbroken and blindsided by the miscarriage. It left
her struggling to read pregnancy announcements and feeling guilty and jealous. She was grateful
when she became pregnant again in 2017. She shared -
"I hope it will make me a better mother in some capacity when I can finally hold the
child that has been in my heart in my arms."
Rauch ended up having a daughter in 2017 and a son in 2020.
In addition to acting, Melissa Rauch is an avid cook. Apparently there are a few dishes
and ingredients that she simply cannot do without, as she told FoodSided -
"I do my best to just avoid processed foods as much as possible. If you don't have them
in the house — your kids can't make them a part of their daily routine."
Instead, Rauch prefers to fill her fridge with fresh fruits and vegetables. Her secret
to getting her kids to eat healthy snacks? Cutting fruits and veggies into fun shapes
is her go-to strategy.
It turns out, Rauch is so passionate about healthy eating that she even made a free ebook
for kids called "The Tales of Tofu." As she told Green Matters -
"I've always been super passionate about healthy cooking and advocating for kids to get the
best possible nutrition that they can."
Before Rauch became famous for her work on "The Big Bang Theory," she was just another
struggling actress. Sometimes, she'd have to wait months in between acting gigs. As
she told Esquire, she found a pretty unique way to deal with the accompanying anxiety
and stress — riding a rollercoaster. As she said -
"When I was out of work when I first moved to L.A., on-e of the first things my husband
and I did was buy season's passes to Disney, and whenever I was bummed out about work,
we would go to Space Mountain, and it was like a physical injection of anti-depressants."
While Melissa Rauch is best-known for "The Big Bang Theory," she is also an accomplished
screenwriter. She and her husband, Winston Rauch, wrote and made the 2015 film "The Bronze,"
which follows a one-time Olympic gymnast with a dying career and a foul vocabulary. As Rauch
told We Are Movie Geeks -
"I'm super unathletic and very uncoordinated, but I've always [loved] gymnastics. My husband
and I love watching the Olympics together."
The pair got the idea when Rauch was out of work. Apparently, a guy at her local mall
gave her a free pretzel because he recognized her from a show. After the show was canceled,
Rauch returned to the pretzel stall and the same guy ignored her. Talking about the lack
of recognition, she said -
"That got us talking about how fickle fame is and celebrity in a small town especially
and then the idea just grew from there."
Even though Rauch didn't have a gymnastics background, she certainly did her research.
As she told RogerEbert.com, the pair were given passes to a gymnastics competition at
UCLA. There, she and her husband would watch meets and pay attention to the gymnasts.
Nabbing a recurring role on "The Big Bang Theory" would be a dream come true for any
actor — but for Melissa Rauch, it was especially exciting, as she was actually a huge fan of
the show. When RogerEbert.com said that the show was the first to put "geeks" center stage,
Rauch replied -
"Before I joined the cast, I was a fan of 'The Big Bang Theory' for the same reason."
She added that the show appealed to her so much because she considered herself to be
a "nerd" and added -
"We can all relate to feeling like an underdog at some point in our lives."
Rauch was born in Marlboro, New Jersey. As she told New Jersey Monthly, she's remained
loyal to her home state, saying -
"I am still very much a Jersey girl. I had a very thick New Jersey accent when I first
went to study theater, which did not impress my Shakespeare professors."
Eventually, Rauch learned to speak with a more neutral New York accent — but, she
clarified, the old accent has a tendency to come back when she's "tired or upset."
As Rauch told NJ.com, losing the New Jersey accent was a big deal, and apparently, her
voice and movement teacher had to train it out of her.
Even though Rauch eventually made a career in comedy, she has a much more serious acting
background. As she told New Jersey Monthly, she actually did a BFA in classical acting
when she was younger. Of course, she never gave up her love of comedy. As she put it
-
"I would be doing Ibsen and Chekhov during the day and then doing stand-up all night."
When it came to doing "The Big Bang Theory," Rauch actually felt quite at home thanks to
her theater training. As she told Parade, the show's multi-cam format means the show
is, quote, "essentially a filmed play, which I absolutely love."
It sounds like her exhausting schedule of theater by day and comedy by night was actually
the perfect mixture to get her ready for the popular show that would essentially define
her career.
It's no secret that the acting industry can be difficult. For Melissa Rauch, there were
times when it was particularly tough. In fact, she was seriously struggling to find a job
before landing the role of Bernadette on "The Big Bang Theory." As she said in an interview
with Stephen Colbert, she was literally in the unemployment office the day before her
audition going through practice interviews and seminars.
"And I got the audition, I was over the moon but I was like 'there's no chance I'm going
to get this' and I got a call saying that I was gonna have a callback and I was like,
'I have another seminar…'"
She also recalled to Parade -
"I thought this was going to be a one-time guest star and I got the audition praying
that I would get this job and be there for a week."
Of course, things turned out a little differently. Not only was she on set for a week, she was
there for ten whole years, and said of the fortunate break -
"There's not a day that goes by that I haven't been eternally grateful for that and it's
amazing. They always say that you're one job away and it's so true."
For Rauch, Bernadette ended up being exactly what she needed to get her career going again.
Thank goodness she kept persevering through difficult times.
Rauch told RogerEbert.com that she started writing with her husband practically from
the moment they met. And by the sounds of things, this writing relationship is still
going strong. In 2016, Rauch told We Are Movie Geeks that they were working on a film called
"The Meter Maid." They also wrote a pilot for HBO about the Girl Scouts, explaining
the plot as -
"They were the best Girl Scout troop ever at age 12 but then they all reunite when they're
in their 30s and realize they have really screwed up lives."
As of 2021, it's unclear whether these projects will ever get made, but it looks like the
pair have turned their attention to another project, this time as co-producers. In 2020,
Deadline announced that the two were co-producing a reboot of the '80s sitcom "Night Court."
In addition to co-producing, Rauch is also set to star in the show. Rauch told Hollywood
Life -
"We definitely want to honor the original while bringing a fresh take to it, but we
are just hashing that all out right now."
So, how did Melissa Rauch get so into comedy at such a young age? Well, as the actress
confessed on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," she was so obsessed with comedy shows, that she
refused to play outside. Instead, her parents would tape late-night comedy shows for her
to watch when she was just 7 years old. She also confessed to Ellen that the comic was
actually one of Melissa's idols growing up, telling the host -
"I had your 'Carson' tape and I wore it out. Your 'Phone Call to God' bit is one of my
— it's the best stand-up routine of all time. It is."
Apparently, Rauch was so obsessed with DeGeneres' routine that she performed it for her class
during show and tell, saying -
"I did your bit, but I was taking those great comedic pauses that you had while you're waiting
on the line and I just had this room full of second-graders staring at me."
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