Kaley Christine Cuoco-Sweeting(/ˈkeɪliː ˈkwoʊkoʊ/ KAY-lee KWOH-koh) is an American
actress.
She first came to attention for her role as Bridget Hennessy on the ABC sitcom 8 Simple
Rules.
Cuoco later starred as Billie Jenkins on the final season of the supernatural drama series
Charmed.
She has gained recognition for her role as Penny on the CBS comedy series The Big Bang
Theory for which she won a Critics' Choice Television Award.
Cuoco has also appeared in the films To Be Fat like Me, The Penthouse, and Hop.
Early life Cuoco was born in Camarillo, California, to
realtor Gary Carmine Cuoco and homemaker Layne Ann Wingate.
Gary is of Italian descent while Layne is of English and German descent.
As a child, Cuoco was once a nationally ranked amateur in tennis, a sport she took up when
she was 3 years old; she stopped playing at 16 in 2002.
Career Cuoco made her first feature film appearance
as the young Karin Carter in the 1995 action thriller Virtuosity.
In 1999, Cuoco appeared on the CBS sitcom Ladies Man and in 2000 she portrayed former
Brady Bunch star Maureen McCormick in the TV movie Growing Up Brady as well as starring
in the Disney Channel Original Movie Alley Cats Strike.
In September 2002, Cuoco began a starring role as Bridget Hennessy on the ABC sitcom
8 Simple Rules.
Bridget was the oldest child, despite Cuoco being 6 years younger than Amy Davidson, who
played her younger sister.
Due to low ratings, ABC cancelled the series on May 17, 2005.
In addition to the final season of 8 Simple Rules, Cuoco had starring roles on the NBC
miniseries 10.5, the ABC Family original movie Crimes of Fashion, the independent film Debating
Robert Lee, and in the film The Hollow.
She also voiced the character of Brandy Harrington, a 14-year-old anthropomorphic mixed-breed
dog, on the Disney Channel cartoon Brandy and Mr. Whiskers.
Cuoco voiced the character of Kirstee Smith in Bratz from 2004 to 2005.
In the eighth season of the TV show Charmed, Cuoco appeared as Billie Jenkins, a powerful
young witch with the powers of telekinesis and projection.
Executive producer Brad Kern stated that Cuoco's character was initially brought in as a possible
spin-off.
In September 2007, Cuoco began starring in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, playing
Penny, a Cheesecake Factory employee and aspiring actress who lives across the hall from scientists
Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper.
Prior to the 2010–2011 season, she earned $60,000 an episode for the series, the same
as her co-stars.
In 2010, the cast negotiated a raise for each actor to make $200,000 per episode.
On September 13, 2010, she broke her leg in a horse-riding accident and missed two episodes
of the series.
In late October 2012, Cuoco enlisted the help of her sister Briana to organize a flash mob
on the set of the show, in which she and the cast and crew surprised the studio audience
by suddenly lip-synching and dancing to Carly Rae Jepsen's song "Call Me Maybe".
A video of the event was posted on YouTube and became a viral success.
A clip from the performance was also played during Cuoco's January 8, 2013 appearance
on the late night talk show Conan.
As of August 2013, Cuoco and her co-stars from The Big Bang Theory Johnny Galecki and
Jim Parsons, each earn $325,000 an episode.
Cuoco starred in the Lifetime film To Be Fat Like Me, which premiered on January 8, 2007.
She played a minor role in the Prison Break episodes "The Message" and "Chicago", as well
as starring in the comedy horror spoof Killer Movie in 2008.
She also appeared in the 2010 film The Penthouse.
In 2011, Cuoco appeared in Allure magazine's annual "Naked Truth" feature.
That same year, she appeared in the films Hop and The Last Ride.
She was also chosen to host the Teen Choice Awards in 2011, as well as the People's Choice
Awards in 2012 and 2013.
Cuoco became a regular on priceline.com commercials as the daughter of William Shatner's character.
Personal life While working on The Big Bang Theory, Cuoco
privately dated co-star Johnny Galecki for roughly two years until December 2009 while
their characters on the show were also dating.
She told CBS Watch in September 2010 that they have remained on good terms since ending
their relationship.
She became engaged to addiction specialist Josh Resnik in October 2011, but they had
ended their engagement by March 2012.
Cuoco subsequently became engaged to professional tennis player Ryan Sweeting in September 2013,
after three months of dating.
They married on December 31, 2013, in Santa Susana, California.
Filmography Film
Television Awards
References
External links Kaley Cuoco at the Internet Movie Database
Kaley Cuoco at Rotten Tomatoes