Out of all the characters on Young Sheldon, Mary is definitely the one under the most pressure from trying to hold family life together. Whilst she definitely has her softer moments, she certainly seems quite tense for most of the show and would never be caught dead slouching at the dinner table. Compared to how she appears in Big Bang Theory, Mary in Young Sheldon is a lot more patient with Sheldon, which is partly why he behaves how he does later in life.
Actress Zoe Perry has admitted that playing Mary for all those seasons certainly started to take its toll on her body, as she revealed what her least favourite thing about her character was. In fact, the physical effect of playing her got so bad she even developed back pain from it!
Via Channel 4
In an interview with Mashable, Zoe was asked what her least favourite thing about her character was, to which she replied: “Least favourite is probably her rigidity, because it is not only metaphorical but literal! I find that I am constantly tense when I am playing her. So at the end of the day, I’m a little sore!”
Still, although the back pain sounds horrible I bet the actress must have an absolutely immaculate posture now.
Mary’s posture in Young Sheldon was influenced by her mannerisms in Big Bang Theory, and it turns out Zoe Perry’s own mum actually played the older version of the character! While Zoe insists she didn’t get the audition because of nepotism, Zoe admits knowing her mother’s mannerisms on the show and being able to easily imitate them helped her in the audition process. And it turns out it’s not even the actress’s first time playing a younger version of her mother’s character either, so she’s a dab hand at it.
Via Channel 4
Chuck Lorre who produced both Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon was familiar with both of the actress’s work as Zoe previously played her mother’s character during flashbacks on Roseanne, which he also produced. Zoe’s mother encouraged her to audition for the role of Mary in Young Sheldon and she made a point of watching her mother’s episodes on Big Bang Theory in order to “carve out an original Mary but one that is grounded in what my mom did.”
As for how she felt about playing an already loved younger version of a character, Zoe admitted: “I guess there’s no pressure. It’s a gigantic and wonderful show. And with that comes some stakes, so hopefully, I live up to that. I had to audition like everybody else. I didn’t go in there thinking, ‘I’ve got this.’ I always think, ‘Wouldn’t that be nice but probably won’t happen.’ Which is frankly how I went into this one. So it’s pretty marvellous that I have the opportunity.”
Young Sheldon is available on Netflix now – For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes about Mary, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.
