Before they became our favorite nerdy gang, these actors were building their careers in various shows and movies. From child actors to stage performers, join us as we explore the fascinating early roles and struggles of these beloved stars before they landed their breakthrough parts in television's biggest sitcom!
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00:00Then tell everybody, thereby overthrowing him and putting you back on top.
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:06Today, we're looking at what the cast of The Big Bang Theory was up to before it all started with the Big Bang.
00:12Bang!
00:13You have to pay your dues.
00:14I worked in the stables and helped in the kitchen.
00:18Number 7. Melissa Rauch
00:21Melissa Rauch is best known for her sweet, high-pitched purr as Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz.
00:26But she was hustling in Hollywood long before that.
00:29Every single person RSVP'd yes.
00:32This is so exciting.
00:34Isn't this exciting?
00:39Yep.
00:40Her screen career began with the 2006 comedy Delirious,
00:44and you might have spotted her in I Love You Man, Kath & Kim, or True Blood.
00:48She's been pretty honest about how challenging it was breaking into the biz,
00:52even missing out on a commercial because of her hands.
00:55I talked about how I lost some jobs early on in my career because of these hands of
00:59people being horrified at commercial auditions when I would show them to the camera,
01:02they'd say, oh god, you're not getting a job, yeah.
01:05But she didn't let that stop her.
01:07Her performance in The Miseducation of Jenna Bush,
01:10which she co-wrote with her husband, helped her land an agent.
01:13And I was in this big hoodie and my fingerless gloves so I could get the pliers out and
01:19my hands were all cracked and this little girl comes out of The Lion King with her mom
01:23and I was like, come see comedy.
01:25She was literally at the unemployment office when she got her TBBT audition.
01:30What began as a one-episode gig in Season 3, turned into nine seasons as a fan favorite.
01:36I was doing all these mock interviews and seminars to qualify for my check,
01:39and I got the audition and I was over the moon, but I was like,
01:41there's no chance I'm gonna get this.
01:43And I got a call saying that I was gonna have a callback, and I was like,
01:46I have another seminar the next day, this is high stakes poker, do I roll the dice?
01:52And I ended up going to the callback, thank god.
01:56Mayim Bialik
01:57Mayim Bialik joined TBBT in the Season 3 finale first as a recurring character,
02:02before becoming a main cast member in Season 4.
02:05But she'd been in showbiz since childhood,
02:08debuting in the 1988 horror flick Pumpkinhead and landing small roles in Webster and MacGyver.
02:14There's the police and the headmaster and-
02:16Lisa please, I really need your help.
02:19But what if I'm caught? What if they stop me?
02:21Well at least you tried, didn't you?
02:24Her big break was playing young Cece Bloom in the 1988 dramedy Beaches.
02:29By 1991, she was headlining Blossom,
02:32inspiring kids everywhere to rock colorful hats and dance.
02:36Fun fact, one of her future co-stars appeared in an episode.
02:40We were both 14, right?
02:43We kissed.
02:45First stage kiss for us both.
02:46Yeah.
02:47Was both your first stage kiss?
02:49Yeah, it might have been my first real life kiss.
02:51She later took on smaller roles and did voice work for series like Kim Possible,
02:55Hey Arnold, and Recess.
02:57Feelings? Only feeling I care about's the empty one in my belly.
03:00You gonna eat that?
03:03That wasn't very thoughtful.
03:04Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what are you gonna do now?
03:07Call me curse the worst like everybody else? Huh? Plump burger?
03:11After a break to earn a PhD in neuroscience, she returned to acting.
03:15Fitting, considering she played a neuroscientist on the show.
03:18What exactly are you doing?
03:20Determining baseline fear levels in capuchin monkeys by
03:23measuring their response to visual stimuli.
03:25So goofing off.
03:26Number five, Kunal Nayyar.
03:28Before landing the role of Rajesh Koothrappali,
03:31Nayyar emigrated to the US to earn a bachelor's in finance.
03:34I never thought I would be up here. That's the truth.
03:37I remember being in your seat a few centuries ago and thinking,
03:43wow, you must have to be really smart to be invited up here.
03:48But along the way, he caught the acting bug.
03:50He started performing in theater, eventually earning a master's in acting.
03:55He kept acting on stage and even landed a one-time role on NCIS.
03:59Now, as the story goes, the Big Bang Theory was Nayyar's first ever pilot audition,
04:04and we'd say it worked out pretty well.
04:06Who in this room discovered a star?
04:09Actually, 2008 NQ sub-17 is a planetary body.
04:12I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about me.
04:14You, my exotic young friend, are my star.
04:18But it wasn't all smooth sailing.
04:20While Chuck Lorre personally backed him for the role,
04:23CBS wasn't convinced.
04:25They weren't even sure about the character,
04:27and actually fired him before the show took off.
04:30Lorre fought to get him rehired,
04:32and honestly, we can't imagine Raj or the show without him.
04:36Are you saying you're just a boy standing in front of another boy?
04:44You're saying you don't want him to leave?
04:50Sure.
04:50Number four, Simon Helberg.
04:53Before becoming Howard Wolowitz, Helberg was popping up all over TV and movies.
04:58You might just not have realized it.
05:00I'm required to inform you that visitthepast.com is not responsible
05:03for the outcome of your trip to the altering of the time-space continuum.
05:05Time travels have been known to experience nausea, vomiting,
05:06and premature hair loss. Taxes and licenses not included.
05:09He had spots in Sabrina the Teenage Witch,
05:11Van Wilder, and A Cinderella Story.
05:14Oh, and get this.
05:15He played a Caltech engineer in Joey, the Friends spinoff.
05:19Talk about foreshadowing.
05:20Sorry I'm late. I had a congratulatory phone call from Stephen Hawking.
05:24An honor, sure, but just...
05:26Helberg also had a foot in the sketch comedy world,
05:29teaming up with Derek Waters to form the duo Derek and Simon.
05:33In 2007, they even had their own web series Derek and Simon the Show,
05:38with Bob Odenkirk helping create it.
05:40Due to characters out in the world.
05:42Do you get what I'm saying? What am I saying?
05:45You said, do you slam Shepard anywhere?
05:48What am I saying?
05:50Comedy legends popped up in their other short films, too.
05:53He was also a regular on MADtv for a season in 2002,
05:57and had a small role in Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip.
06:01We've been looking pretty hard for a baseball, and here's what we've come up with.
06:04This is an orange that props painted to look like a baseball.
06:07And this one explodes.
06:09Number 3. Kaley Cuoco
06:12Kaley Cuoco has been on our screen since she was a child,
06:15making her debut in the 1995 action thriller Virtuosity.
06:19She also appeared in growing up Brady, Ellen, and the Disney Channel movie Alley Cat Strike.
06:24But most of us first saw her comedy chops in 8 Simple Rules,
06:28where she played the popular yet ditzy Bridget.
06:31Then get him to tell you an awful secret about himself.
06:34Then tell everybody.
06:36Thereby overthrowing him, putting you back on top.
06:40I take you to church.
06:43Fine, be a wannabe the rest of your life.
06:45She kept landing roles in TV and film,
06:47even voicing Brandy in Disney Channel's Brandy and Mr. Whiskers.
06:51Are you going to summer camp, too?
06:54No, I'm going to a five-star spa.
06:56To be pampered and spoiled.
06:58Which, come to think of it, is sort of my life anyway.
07:00Her next big gig was playing Billy Jenkins in Charmed,
07:04which allowed audiences to see her dramatic side.
07:06There were even talks of her returning for a spinoff series.
07:10Oh my god!
07:11Billy, what happened?
07:12I cannot believe this.
07:13I cannot believe what just happened.
07:15Honestly, we're kind of glad that never happened,
07:17because if it had, she might not have been free to play Penny.
07:21Number 2.
07:22Johnny Galecki
07:23Another child actor in the Big Bang Gang,
07:26Galecki made his screen debut in the 1987 miniseries Murder Ordained,
07:31acting alongside John Goodman, who he'd later reunite with on Roseanne.
07:35I'm just excited.
07:37It was incredible, wasn't it?
07:40Well, I don't have anything to compare it to, but I think we did pretty good.
07:43There, he played David Healy,
07:45romantic interest to Darlene played by Sarah Gilbert,
07:48who, fun twist, would later play his love interest Leslie Winkle on TBBT.
07:53You may have also spotted him in the short-lived 90s sitcom Billy,
07:57or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
08:00He also appears in I Know What You Did Last Summer and Hope and Faith.
08:04Hope, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but only I get to say order up,
08:08because I'm the boss.
08:09Aye, aye, Captain.
08:12You know, let's just stick with order up.
08:14Despite his Roseanne success,
08:16Galecki admitted his career hit a bump in the road after he took a short acting hiatus.
08:21In fact, not long before landing Leonard Hofstadter,
08:25he had actually enrolled to study plumbing in Wisconsin.
08:28I know, it sounds crazy.
08:30I wanted to open a design studio for bathrooms and spas,
08:35so I had to learn the plumbing on it.
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08:53Number 1.
08:54Jim Parsons
08:55Jim Parsons played Sheldon Cooper so perfectly
08:59that it's hard to believe there was ever a time he wasn't.
09:02I was expecting applause, but I suppose stunned silence is equally appropriate.
09:08He dedicated much of his early years to stage acting,
09:12from co-founding the Texas-based Infernal Bridegroom Productions
09:16to becoming a regular at the stage's repertory theater.
09:19There was more theater on tap than necessarily speech tournaments,
09:22and I just, I thought, well, I'm a natural fit for this.
09:25Still, you might have caught him in a few minor screen roles,
09:29commercials, or even Garden State.
09:31Parsons once shared he auditioned for 15 to 30 pilots a season,
09:36facing rejection or seeing the shows never take off.
09:39Among the roles he reportedly could have had were Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother
09:44and an undisclosed part in the U.S. remake of The Office.
09:48If anything proves the right opportunity will come knocking, it's this.
09:52No one else could possibly fill Sheldon's spot.
09:55It faces the television at an angle that is neither direct,
09:58thus discouraging conversation, nor so far wide as to create a parallax distortion.
10:02I could go on, but I think I've made my point.
10:05Where do you first recall watching the DBBT cast?
10:08Let us know in the comments.
10:10I'm gonna be a star!
10:13Do you agree with our picks?
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