Given how smart the characters on the show are, many fans wonder what The Big Bang Theory cast’s IQ is in real life and how their educational background compares to the characters. Science and high intelligence are at the heart of The Big Bang Theory, and the CBS sitcom has charmed audiences with the plucky physicists and aerospace engineers at the center of it. But whereas The Big Bang Theory characters hold multiple Ph.D.s, the cast is varying degrees of academically accomplished.
While The Big Bang Theory cast is very effective at selling their roles as brilliant academics, they are actors and should not be confused with their characters. In fact, even the writers on the show don’t claim to be geniuses on these subjects with UCLA professor David Saltzberg serving as a technical advisor to help with a lot of this material. Though the cast ranges from holding degrees in neuroscience to being high school dropouts, they helped to create some of the most beloved sitcom characters of the 21st century.
Young Sheldon’s stories and casting are, for the most part, perfect. However, there are some glaring inconsistencies throughout the show.
10Johnny Galecki
Galecki Doesn’t Share Leonard Hofstadter’s Academic Background
Johnny Galecki a self-professed “school dropout” at 14 who constantly ditched class, and wanted to pursue his dream of acting
Genius Leonard Hofstadter is a genius of Experimental Physics Ph.D. at 24 from Princeton University. However, actor Johnny Galecki took a much different path with his schoolwork. Born in Bree, Belgium, Galecki’s American parents moved constantly due to his father’s position in the US Air Force. According to the actor himself, Johnny Galecki a self-professed “school dropout” at 14 who constantly ditched class, and wanted to pursue his dream of acting (via Time Out Chicago).
Thankfully, Galecki found early success in his career with a role as Rusty in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. When he started work in the cast of Roseanne, his most famous series outside of The Big Bang Theory, he was in his early teens and living completely on his own. However, he did bring some of his own impressive education to the role of Leonard, including his real talent for playing the cello.
9Kaley Cuoco
The Big Bang Theory Actress Is Actually Smarter Than Penny
Actor Kaley Cuoco has said that she hadn’t picked up on any of the science on The Big Bang Theory even after more than a decade (via Variety). While she is hardly the only cast member on the show that doesn’t have a grasp of science terminology, Cuoco also gets off easier than most of her costars, as Penny is seen as the more average person and one of the gang who is outside the science world.
When it comes to the actor’s own schooling, Cuoco received her general education via homeschooling, enabling her to graduate two years ahead of most of her peers. This freed her up to begin working on series like the 2000s sitcom8 Simple Rules. It also means that Cuoco is likely the only Big Bang Theory cast member who’s smarter than her character, as Penny didn’t fare well academically.
While she studied, Kaley Cuoco also ranked regionally as an amateur tennis player, from the time she was 3 until she was 16.
8Melissa Rauch
The Bernadette Rostenkowski Actress Has A Similar Upbringing To Her Character
Bernadette did grow up in a religious household, something the character shares with Rauch
Bernadette Rostenkowski pursued her degree in microbiology before moving onto her the pharmaceutical world with a job that makes her more financially successful than the rest of the characters. Actor Melissa Rauch confessed that she knew nothing about microbiology prior to joining the cast but enjoyed exploring it through learning about the various experiments (via Huffington Post), citing one about rhesus monkeys as her favorite.
Bernadette did grow up in a religious household, something the character shares with Rauch. While attending Marlboro High School (via NJ.com), Rauch became interested in acting and improvisation, going so far as to make her Bat Mitzvah a “Comedy Club” theme. She graduated from Marymount Manhattan College in New York City with a focus on art and acting, and even produced her own performance piece that toured in Los Angeles.
Melissa Rauch was hilarious as Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz in The Big Bang Theory, but aspects of the sitcom character don’t always make sense.
7John Ross Bowie
The Actor Behind Barry Kripke Is An Accomplished Screenwriter, But No Scientist
Barry Kripke is another brilliant character in The Big Bang Theory, even if he is not as prominent as some of the others. He is a plasma physicist and string theorist, a far cry from the career path of actor John Ross Bowie, who plays Barry. Earlier in life, Bowie almost didn’t pursue acting at all, having grown up in New York City’s theater district and seen so many of his friends struggle. Attempting to find another path in life, he decided to get an English degree from Ithaca College.
Of course, he did eventually admit to himself that he was interested in a career as a performer, and he started in that avenue as a member of the famous Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City, and performed around the country with a sketch comedy troupe. He has several writing credits to his name on IMDb, but he’s best known for The Big Bang Theory and Speechless.
John has worked as writer in Dark Minions, The Mughty B! and Naked Babies.
6Rati Gupta
Minor Big Bang Theory Character Anu Was Played By A Medical Science Whiz
While many of the cast member of The Big Bang Theory have fairly typical paths to becoming an actor, Rati Gupta is certain one of the more interesting and unexpected. Prior to her debut on The Big Bang Theory as Raj’s fiancée Anu, Rati Gupta was on a pre-med track at Northwestern University, where she also double majored in dance and psychology. She was a “medical geek” and was weighing the idea of being a doctor before ultimately deciding that dancing was her true love (via Chicago Tribune).
She moved to Los Angeles and decided to become a hip-hop dancer, and her work can be seen in videos for Flo Rida and Lupe Fiasco, among others. Her commitment to excellence certainly reflected the all-business no-nonsense hotel concierge that Raj’s parents arranged for him to marry.
5Kevin Sussman
Stuart Bloom Is Played By A Real Life Comic Book Enthusiast
While there are clearly some big differences between some of the characters on The Big Bang Theory and the actors who play them, it didn’t take much for Kevin Sussman to relate to his character of Stuart Bloom. Stuart is introduced as another one of the characters on the show who is not in the science circle. However, he is friends with the gang through their love of geek culture as he is the owner of a comic book store. Sussman himself used to work at New York City’s JHU Comic Books during his college years (via Instagram).
Sussman attended the College of Staten Island for a year before he went on to graduate from Manhattan’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts. His theater training was finalized by studying under acting coach Uta Hagen for an additional four years, before he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his love of acting, cast soon after as Betty’s boyfriend Walter on Ugly Betty.
4Kunal Nayyar
Nayyar Play’s Raj Koothrappali But Doesn’t Share His Academic Brilliance
Astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali has one of the more impressive careers by the end of The Big Bang Theory which grew gradually over the course of the series. He made the very big move from his home in India to study at Cambridge University and ended up working at CalTech alongside the likes of Leonard and Sheldon. Actor Kunal Nayyar also achieved some academic accomplishments on his way to becoming an actor.
Nayyar pursued his higher education at the University of Portland, Oregon, earning a BA in Business Administration. He got bitten by the acting bug and, after participating in the American College Theater Festival, decided to attend Temple University in Philedelphia, where he received a Master of Fine Arts in theater. He’s also a published author, and his book Yes, My Accent Is Real is out now.
While The Big Bang Theory’s finale left Raj single, the way his best romance ended proved that this might not have been a bad fate for the character.
3Simon Helberg
Howard Wolowitz Shares Several Talents With The Actor Who Plays Him (Just Not Engineering)
Howard Wolowitz is an engineer on The Big Bang Theory with a master’s degree from MIT, something that he loves to bring up as often as possible. Despite the fact that he lived with his mother for long into his adult years, Howard also goes into space. Actor Simon Helberg has admitted in interviews (via Star Talk) that in order to get Howard’s space dialogue down, he had to study the scripts very carefully, and get the help of real engineers on the set.
Herlberg studied acting at New York University’s famous Tisch School of Arts, and trained with the Atlantic Theater Company. Outside of his acting skills, Herlberg is also a talented pianist, and like his costar Johnny Galecki with his cello abilities, Howard shared the talent and highlighted Helberg’s own playing on the show.
2Jim Parsons
The Sheldon Cooper Actor Found The Dialogue Incredibly Confusing At Times
Sheldon Cooper is likely the smartest character on The Big Bang Theory and, sure of that, tells everyone that fact, so they know. The prequel series Young Sheldon gave further insight into his brilliance, including his graduation from high school at the age of 11. Sheldon may have been known for rattling off extensive monologs overflowing with polysyllabic science jargon, but Jim Parsons doesn’t have a degree in science, and had to study his dialogue like a foreign language he recited without knowing its meaning (via Inside the Actors Studio).
Parsons has long been found on the stage, returning to Broadway in 2018
Parsons received his undergraduate degree from the University of Houston, and received his master’s degree from the University of San Diego in classical theater. A well-respected Thespian, Parsons has long been found on the stage, returning to Broadway in 2018 for the new revival of “The Boys in the Band,” which is produced by Ryan Murphy and David Stone.
The best Sheldon Cooper quotes are some of the most famous lines from The Big Bang Theory, not to mention some of the funniest ones as well.
1Mayim Bialik
The Actress Behind Amy Farrah Fowler Comes Closest To Her Character’s Intellect
Bialik was a child star, appearing on the ’90s hit series Blossom
Amy Farrah Fowler may become the ideal romantic match for Sheldon Cooper, but she is also a match intellectually. The pair even won a Nobel Prize together in the series finale of The Big Bang Theory. Of all the cast, actor Mayim Bialik is the only one to have an actual degree relevant to her character. Bialik has a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California and was able to understand a great deal of the dialogue she was given to recite, making her expertise grounded in reality.
Prior to pursuing higher education, Bialik was a child star, appearing on the ’90s hit series Blossom. When she’s not on The Big Bang Theory, she can be found discussing neuroscience and the behavioral hormone bonding between mothers and infants. Her impressive intellect also made her an ideal temporary host of Jeopardy.
