The Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik reportedly took a break from acting before joining the series and got herself a PhD in neuroscience.
Actress Mayim Bialik played the role of Amy Farrah Fowler, the equally straight-shooting girlfriend of Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory. The actress reportedly began her career as a child actor and even headlined the sitcom Blossoms before she took a break to focus on her education.
While she played a genius neuroscientist in the sitcom, her real life was not far from that as she had already received a PhD in neuroscience before she joined the show. The actress mentioned that her academic career actually helped her land the role as the writers would ask for suggestions from her to see if they had got the information right.
Mayim Bialik was a child star before she took a break from acting to focus on education
Mayim Bialik is best known for her role as Amy Farrah Fowler in The Big Bang Theory but she was the star of a sitcom way before that. Bialik began her acting career as a child and after multiple jobs, landed an important supporting role in the film Beaches. The actress reportedly played a child version of the lead star Bette Midler.
The film was reportedly Bialik’s first time receiving widespread recognition for her performance as she had a substantial role and gave a terrific performance. In an interview with Variety, she recounted how the reviews of the film made her feel great about her place in the world. She said,
Seeing myself on the big screen was very overwhelming and I remember crying a lot after. They were tears of overwhelming excitement and confusion about my place in the world. Honestly, I had been gearing toward my place in the Jewish world. The attention that I got was sort of an awakening for me.
After her breakout role in the film, she got her first main role in the sitcom Blossom. A coming-of-age comedy of a girl in an all-male Italian home, the sitcom was created by Don Reo and ran for five seasons. While Bialik was reportedly the main choice for Reo, she was also simultaneously working on the pilot for another sitcom Molloy, which ended after six episodes.
In an interview with Yahoo! News, Bialik mentioned that the pilot script for Blossom was the first one that she had read where she actually laughed out loud. She said that she resonated with the sense of humor in the series and that made her all the more excited to work on it. Reo mentioned that he knew Bialik was perfect the moment they approached her,
I never considered anyone else. We did read a couple of other girls we took to the network for the part. But there was never any doubt in my mind, from the moment I first laid eyes on her, that she was the character.
After the sitcom ended, however, Bialik reportedly took a break from acting and went on to pursue higher education. She did her undergraduate studies at UCLA, earning a Bachelor of Science with a neuroscience major. She went on to earn a PhD in neuroscience in 2007 before she returned to acting.
Mayim Bialik claimed that her neuroscience degree helped her get the role in The Big Bang Theory
Mayim Bialik made her debut as Amy Farrah Fowler in the final episode of season 3 of The Big Bang Theory as a potential love interest for Sheldon Cooper. However, by the next season, she was promoted to a regular cast member along with the rest of the gang and stuck it out till the end of the show in 2019.
Bialik’s Amy herself was a neuroscientist and specialized in primates and invertebrates. The character seemed to be the only one who was an intellectual and social match for Jim Parsons’ Sheldon Cooper and even won the Nobel Prize along with Sheldon by the end of the show. The two characters also get married.
Mayim Bialik’s own degree in neuroscience reportedly helped her nab the role back in 2009. She told in an appearance on Conan that she had auditioned for the part and when co-creator Bill Prady saw in her resume her PhD listed under miscellaneous skills, he decided to write into her character when she returned in season 4. She said,
When they brought me back for the fourth season…they figured why not make her what I am so that I can you know, fix small things if they’re wrong. But generally, they get pretty much everything right.
While the actress had an unorthodox journey in her career, everything seemed to lead her toward Amy Farrah Fowler and all worked out in the end.
Jim Parsons reportedly fought to keep Mayim Bialik in the show
Jim Parsons’ Sheldon Cooper is the most popular character from The Big Bang Theory. The genius yet socially inept physicist has a lot of fans due to his wildly entertaining adventures with the nerd gang in the series. And, things got even funnier when Sheldon got a date at the end of season 3, much to the dismay of Howard and Raj.
While the idea of Sheldon having a serious girlfriend was risky for the show’s primary fanbase, creator Chuck Lorre reportedly said that he did not care and fought to have Mayim Bialik reprise her role as Amy in the fourth season. Jim Parsons also reportedly stuck his neck out to make sure that the show had a “Female Sheldon”. He told EW,
And at some point in season four—I don’t know if something caused it or not—I remember saying to Todd, ‘I will not let this character go without a fight.’ That was notable for me, only in that I almost never disagreed with the writers. But at some point I felt a certain way about working with Mayim that I was like, ‘If for whatever reason we seemed to be weaning her off of this show as a character, I would go and talk to them.‘
The decision was good as Amy went on to become a fan-favorite and Bialik was nominated for four Emmy Awards for her performance.
The Big Bang Theory is available to stream on Max.
