Actress Kaley Cuoco is known the world over as Penny, the sexy antidote to a posse of
nerds on CBS' wildly popular sitcom, The Big Bang Theory.
"Penny, I said 'Right hand red."
"Yeah, I heard you.
I got red."
But before her meteoric rise to fame, Cuoco was just a California kid juggling sports,
school, and a hodgepodge of acting gigs.
Let's take a quick trip down memory lane.
Off with a bang
Like many aspiring showbiz kids, Cuoco got her start doing commercials, appearing in
spots for Barbie and Oscar Mayer.
Cuoco made her film debut at age 7 in the 1992 TV movie thriller Quicksand: No Escape,
alongside Donald Sutherland, Felicity Huffman and Tim Matheson...
"What is that?
Where'd you get that watch?"
"Found it."
"Found it?
Where?"
"I don't know."
If you thought starring in commercials and movies would earn you points in the schoolyard,
think again.
Speaking to Parade in 2012, Cuoco said, she was "definitely a bit of an outcast."
Things got better when she started homeschooling in the fifth grade, and she continued to land
fairly high-profile roles, including acting with Denzel Washington in Virtuosity and playing
a young Claire Danes in an episode of My So-Called Life.
"Daddy's home!"
"Daddy, daddy, daddy!"
Cuoco went on to play the younger version of another future famous face, comedian Ellen
DeGeneres, in her groundbreaking sitcom Ellen.
Cuoco appeared in the episode "The Bubble Gum Incident" in 1996, and then reappeared
on DeGeneres' follow-up sitcom, The Ellen Show, in 2002.
Growing up
In 2000, Cuoco's star continued to rise when she was cast to play Maureen McCormick—the
actress who played famous TV teen Marcia Brady on The Brady Bunch—in the made-for-TV movie
Growing Up Brady.
The movie was based on a tell-all book about the show penned by Barry Williams—Greg Brady
on The Brady Bunch.
Off-screen, homeschooling caused Cuoco to miss out on her own prom experience, but she
got to experience the high school milestone when fellow teen star Ashley Tisdale invited
Cuoco to her dance during her first year on 8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter.
Beyond The Big Bang Theory, Cuoco is best known for her role in the ABC sitcom, starring
John Ritter and Katey Sagal.
"If you guys don't mind, I have a date with Donny, and this skirt is way too long."
The series took a tragic turn during Season 2 when Ritter died unexpectedly, and they
wrote his death into the show.
ABC did its best to keep the show afloat during a sensitive and awkward transition, but when
ratings continued to tumble in Season 3, the network canceled the show for good.
Extracurriculars
If acting hadn't panned out for Cuoco, there's a good chance we might have seen her play
at the U.S. Open.
Cuoco was once a nationally-ranked amateur tennis player.
She began playing the sport at age three and continued until 2002 when acting became a
full-time gig.
Her parents encouraged a wide range of extracurricular activities, with a catch.
As Cuoco puts it, quote, "If I wanted to audition, I had to play tennis.
If I played tennis, I had to be in a dance class.
I always had multiple activities, so I never had to count on any one of them to feel successful."
On the verge
Following the cancellation of 8 Simple Rules, Cuoco was cast in the eighth and final season
of the WB drama Charmed.
Cuoco played Billie Jenkins, a powerful apprentice witch who cons the Charmed ladies into teaching
her their ways.
Right before The Big Bang Theory made her a global superstar in 2007, Cuoco landed a
starring role in Lifetime's made-for-TV movie To Be Fat Like Me.
She played Alyson, an athletic girl who loses out on a college scholarship after an unexpected
injury.
Alyson decides to enter a documentary contest, donning a fat suit to expose what it's really
like to be overweight.
She gradually sheds her preconceived notions about the less popular kids, makes some new
friends, and almost loses them when they discover her secret, but ultimately emerges a better
person by the time the credits roll.
" … fat or skinny, popular or freak, it all comes down to this: The world will tell
you who you are, until you tell the world."
Thanks for watching!
Click the Nicki Swift icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!