“The Big Bang Theory” is chock-full of minor recurring characters, from the scheming Barry Kripke (John Ross Bowie) to the goofy yet kindhearted Zack Johnson (Brian Thomas Smith). However, few can claim to be loved by the majority of fans despite only popping up now and again. One of these individuals is the mother of the Ph.D.-less Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg), Mrs. Debbie Wolowitz (Carol Ann Susi), who makes her presence felt throughout the show’s run. Her loud, raspy voice bellowing through the halls of the Wolowitz household is one of the show’s hallmarks, even though fans never get a look at her face.
But while Mrs. Wolowitz might not appear in the flesh on “The Big Bang Theory,” it’s not hard to figure out what the actor behind her looks like. From the start of her career in the ’70s until her death in 2014, Susi appeared on a variety of television shows and in a fair number of movies. Among her most notable credits are TV projects like “Cheers,” “Seinfeld,” and “Something So Right” and film productions such as “The Secret of My Success,” “Coyote Ugly,” and “Cats & Dogs.”
The Big Bang Theory hints that Carol Ann Susi’s face isn’t that of Mrs. Wolowitz
Of course, in one of the show’s longest-running gags, viewers never got to see Mrs. Wolowitz on “The Big Bang Theory,” which likely led to fans wondering what she looks like. When taking into account some eyebrow-raising background details, the answer gets a little complicated.
Mrs. Wolowitz debuts in “The Big Bang Theory” Season 1’s “The Dumpling Paradox,” kicking off a string of vocal appearances that only concludes with her death in Season 8. She also has lines in a couple of flashbacks in Season 11’s “The Bitcoin Entanglement” and on “Young Sheldon,” specifically in the episode “A Swedish Science Thing and the Equation for Toast” from Season 2, via archival recordings. Suffice it to say that Carol Ann Susi is the definitive actor behind Mrs. Wolowitz. That said, “The Big Bang Theory” has teased a different look for the character.
Aside from the odd limb or shot of only a small portion of her head and body, the best look the show has ever given at Mrs. Wolowitz is seemingly through pictures — it can be theorized that she is the woman with dark hair and thick-rimmed glasses in the photographs seen on the walls of the Wolowitz home. However, this woman doesn’t appear to be Susi. Therefore, either these pictures are of Mrs. Wolowitz and she doesn’t resemble Susi, or these pictures are of other members of the Wolowitz family and it can be assumed that Howard’s mom looks like Susi after all.
