Professor Proton

The American television sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'', created and executive produced by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, premiered on CBS on September 24, 2007, while the American comedy spin-off prequel television series ''Young Sheldon'', created and executive produced by Lorre alongside Jim Parsons and Steven Molaro, premiered on CBS on September 25, 2017.

''The Big Bang Theory'' initially centers on five characters: Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper, two physicists and roommates; Penny, their neighbor who is a waitress and aspiring actress; and Leonard and Sheldon's friends and coworkers aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz and astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali.

Over time, several supporting characters have been introduced and promoted to starring roles, including physicist Leslie Winkle, neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler, microbiologist Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, comic book store proprietor and friend of the other characters Stuart Bloom. The series also features numerous supporting characters, each of whom plays a prominent role in a story arc. Included among them are parents of the main characters, their dates and their coworkers. Celebrities such as Stephen Hawking appear in cameo roles as themselves.

''Young Sheldon'' initially centers on Sheldon Cooper at the age of nine, going to high school and living with his family in the fictional town of Medford, East Texas, Sheldon's mother, Mary; his father and the head football coach at Medford High, George Sr.; his twin sister, Missy; his older brother, George Jr.; and his grandmother, Constance "Connie" Tucker, also known as "Meemaw". The series also features numerous supporting characters, each of whom plays a prominent role in a story arc. Included among them are Sheldon's present and former classmates, their dates and coworkers, and those of his family. Celebrities such as Elon Musk appear in cameo roles as themselves. Jim Parsons, who portrays the adult Sheldon Cooper on ''The Big Bang Theory'', narrates the series and serves as an executive producer.

Main characters

Cast table

: = Main cast (credited)
: = Recurring cast (2+ episodes)
: = Guest cast (1 episode)

''The Big Bang Theory'' main characters

Leonard

Leonard Leakey Hofstadter (portrayed by Johnny Galecki; seasons 1-12) is an experimental physicist with an IQ of 173. Originally from New Jersey, he received his PhD at age 24, spending at least some of his time at Princeton University. He shared an apartment in Pasadena with colleague and friend Dr. Sheldon Cooper for much of the series. Unlike his equally geeky friends, Leonard is interested and adept in building relationships with other people. Compared to his friends, he is relatively successful with women. Leonard comes from an accomplished family. His mother, Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, is a neuroscientist and world-renowned psychiatrist with whom he has a strained relationship. His sister is a medical researcher. His father, Dr. Alfred Hofstadter, is an anthropologist. And his brother Michael is a Harvard law professor. He and Penny date on and off throughout the series, eventually marrying and finding out that Penny is pregnant in the series finale.

Leonard makes a brief non-speaking cameo as a child in the Season 2 finale of ''Young Sheldon''; he was portrayed by Isaac Harger as a child.

Sheldon

Sheldon Lee Cooper (portrayed by Jim Parsons; seasons 1-12) is a theoretical physicist, possessing a B.S, M.S, M.A, Ph.D, Sc.D, I.Q. of 187, and eidetic memory. Born in East Texas, he was a child prodigy and received his PhD at age 16 from the California Institute of Technology. He is a cold, condescending, self-centered, and immature person but is rarely malicious. He is obsessed with routines and any disruptions distress him enormously. He shows signs of obsessive–compulsive personality disorder, often shown through his compulsive need to knock three times on a door while saying the name of the person behind the door 3 times too and the superiority complex. Despite his lack of social graces, he does care about his friends and family. In seasons 1–9, he shares an apartment in Pasadena with friend and fellow physicist Dr. Leonard Hofstadter. From then after, he moves in with his girlfriend and eventual wife, Amy. It is revealed in ''Young Sheldon'' that they have kids too.

His interest in science fiction and comic books borders on the extreme. He has a particular affinity for Spock from the '' Star Trek'' franchise. Although he has the tendency to take things literally, he is fond of occasionally telling a joke or playing a prank, which he typically punctuates with his trademark exclamation, "Bazinga!"

Penny

Kindhearted and outgoing, Penny (portrayed by Kaley Cuoco; seasons 1-12) is Leonard and Sheldon's neighbor across the hallway. Originally from a small town outside Omaha, Nebraska, she was a waitress and occasional bartender at the local Cheesecake Factory until season seven, and is an aspiring actress. Sheldon describes her as a "good-natured simpleton" and is critical of her dropping out of community college.

Initially, not much is known about Penny's family, but it is mentioned in the series that her father, Wyatt (portrayed by Keith Carradine,) raised her like a boy, her mother smoked marijuana while she was pregnant with her, her sister shot her husband while they were intoxicated, and her brother is a meth dealer. Her mother, Susan (Katey Sagal), and brother, Randall (Jack McBrayer), are finally seen in the first episode of season ten. Her last name is never revealed during the series. Leonard and Penny date on and off throughout the series which is a big plot point of the show, they eventually marry and find out they're pregnant in the series finale.

Penny makes a brief non-speaking cameo as a child in the Season 2 finale of ''Young Sheldon'', she was portrayed by Quinn Aune as a child.

Howard

Howard Joel Wolowitz, M.Eng. (portrayed by Simon Helberg; seasons 1-12) is an aerospace engineer at Caltech's Department of Applied Physics who often hangs out at Leonard and Sheldon's apartment. Unlike Sheldon, Leonard, and Raj, Howard does not have a doctorate and often gets disparaged as a result, especially by Sheldon. He defends this by pointing out that he has a master's degree in Engineering from MIT and that the equipment he designs is launched into space, unlike the theoretical work of his friends. In the fifth-season finale, Howard goes to the International Space Station on Expedition 31.

Howard lives in Altadena with his domineering, belittling, and unseen mother, who treats him like a child. While he sometimes expresses irritation at this treatment, for the most part, he appears to prefer it. Howard and his mother often communicate with each other from different rooms by yelling, a habit which Bernadette also adopts in later episodes. Howard fancies himself a ladies' man and attempts pick-up lines whenever a woman is present, although he drops this habit once he starts going out with Bernadette. He is a non-observant Jew. Over the course of the series, he and Bernadette marry and have two children.

In the pilot episode, he speaks English, French, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, and Persian, along with fictional languages like Klingon and Sindarin. Howard suffers from asthma, transient idiopathic arrhythmia, allergies to peanuts, almonds, and walnuts, and is prone to canker sores and pink eye.

Howard makes a brief, non-speaking appearance in the Season 2 finale of ''Young Sheldon'', in which he is portrayed as a child by Ethan Stern.

Raj

Rajesh Ramayan Koothrappali, PhD (portrayed by Kunal Nayyar; seasons 1-12) is Howard Wolowitz's best friend. Often called "Raj" by his friends, he is from New Delhi, India, and works in the physics department at Caltech, researching astroparticle physics. Raj comes from a very wealthy family in India, and often communicates with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Koothrappali, via webcam. Like most of the scientists bar Howard he also has a PHD. He has a younger sister, Priya. He lives in an apartment in Pasadena. As with his friends, he is mutually involved with and obsessed with science fiction and comic books in general. He is also a fan of Harry Potter and Indian music, but appreciates the Indian lullabies his mother sang and the catchiness of Hindi phrases. Unlike his male friends, Raj has many feminine interests, such as reading '' Archie'' comics and ''Twilight'' and watching chick flicks such as ''Bridget Jones's Diary''. It is speculated that Raj might be gay due to his feminine interests and his close friendship with Howard, with whom he has arguments similar to those of a married couple. However, Raj has always stated that he is straight, but metrosexual. He was infatuated with Penny, and secretly wrote love poems about Bernadette.

Raj is a Hindu and believes in karma (reincarnation), but eats beef. He is very shy around women outside of his family, and during the first six seasons of the show, found himself unable to speak to women while in their presence unless he drank alcoholic beverages, or believed he had done so. He eventually is able to get over this condition and starts to, unsuccessfully and for short periods, date women.

Raj makes a brief non-speaking cameo as a child in the Season 2 finale of ''Young Sheldon'', he was portrayed by Rishabh Prabhat as a child.

Leslie

Leslie Winkle, PhD (portrayed by Sara Gilbert; main: season 2; recurring: season 1; guest: seasons 3 & 9) is an experimental physicist who shares her lab with Leonard. In appearance, she is essentially Leonard's female counterpart, equipped with black-framed glasses and sweat jackets. She suffers from lazy eye. She is one of Sheldon's archenemies due to their conflicting scientific ideas and takes every opportunity to insult Sheldon for mistreating her.

Bernadette Maryann Rostenkowski-Wolowitz

Bernadette Maryann Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, PhD (portrayed by Melissa Rauch; main: seasons 3-12; recurring: season 2) is originally a waitress and co-worker of Penny's at The Cheesecake Factory, using her wages to pay for her graduate studies in Microbiology. She is a smart, short-tempered, ruthless, competitive young woman. Despite her short stature and squeaky voice, she is regarded as being intimidating, largely because of her sharp tongue, aggressive demeanor and tendency to be a bully. A recurring joke in the series references Bernadette and her lab team handling dangerous or infectious specimens, leading to accidental byproducts.

While initially not getting along with Howard’s mother, she eventually becomes like her, domineering and passive aggressive, even adopting her signature yell.

She and Howard have two children, Halley and Neil Michael (who they call Michael), in seasons 10 and 11 respectively.

Bernadette is of Polish origin and Catholic upbringing, and was originally seen wearing a cross necklace.

Bernadette makes a brief non-speaking cameo as a child in the Season 2 finale of ''Young Sheldon'', she was portrayed by A. J. Coggeshall as a child.

Amy

Amy Farrah Fowler, PhD (portrayed by Mayim Bialik PhD; main: seasons 4-12; guest: season 3) is a neuroscientist with a research focus on addiction in primates and invertebrates, occasionally mentioning such experiments involving addiction. (Bialik herself has a PhD in neuroscience.) She is Sheldon's love interest in the series, and they marry at the end of season 11. They are revealed to have children in ''Young Sheldon''.

Early on, Amy is essentially a female counterpart to Sheldon, but later on, she begins a campaign to increase Sheldon's feelings for her by becoming more involved in his interests, including video games and '' Star Trek'', and treating him as his mother did.

In 2020, a year after ''The Big Bang Theory'' went off the air, it was revealed that Kate Micucci, who ultimately got the role of Lucy, had auditioned for the role of Amy Farrah Fowler.

Amy makes two appearances in ''Young Sheldon''. She makes an appearance as a child in the Season 2 finale where she is portrayed in a non-speaking role by Lily Sanfelippo. Bialik returns to play Amy in the narration of the season 4 premiere.

Stuart

Stuart David Bloom (portrayed by Kevin Sussman; main: seasons 6 & 8-12; recurring: seasons 2-5 & 7) runs the Comic Center in Pasadena, the comic book store that the characters often visit. Stuart is characterized by his low self-esteem and loneliness, which often result in pathetic attempts to engage with women and win favor the gang. This is despite owning his own business and being a talented portraiture artist who attended the Rhode Island School of Design.

One of the running gags on the show is Stuart’s medical situation. It is depicted as disastrous, so much so that he can be seen under various medical treatments. He is said to have depression and possible malnutrition, among other problems.
In the last season, Stuart’s life seems to be turning around. His comic store becomes successful and he gets a steady, long-term relationship.

Kevin Sussman was a recurring guest actor from seasons two to five, and was promoted to starring role for the sixth season onwards.

Emily Sweeney

Emily Sweeney, M.D., (portrayed by Laura Spencer; main: season 9; recurring: seasons 7-8; guest: season 10) is a dermatology resident at Huntington Hospital, whom Raj finds on an online dating site. Raj enlists Amy’s help to be his “online wingman” and talk to Emily in his behalf. Amy tells Emily about this and it puts her off. Amy and Emily end up hitting it off, having both gone to Harvard and both being into quilting. While Amy and Emily are at lunch together, Raj crashes the lunch. This drives Emily away from both Raj and Amy this time. Later, Raj and Emily meet again, accidentally and hit it off. They eventually double date with Howard and Bernadette, which horrifies Howard. He and Emily had a horrible date, which ended because Howard had gas station sushi, got food poisoning and clogged and overflowed her toilet. Emily is not afraid to stand up for herself or to others when necessary. She is shown to have a slightly alarming personality trait: she delights in the macabre.
Raj ends up breaking up with her before Valentine’s Day so he could be with Claire (Alessandra Olivia Toreson). Unfortunately for Raj, Claire had just gotten back together with her boyfriend. So, he eventually lost them both. Emily attempted to get back into Raj’s good graces and did manage to sleep with him one last time, but it didn’t last.

Laura Spencer was a recurring guest actress on the series in seasons seven and eight. During production of season 9, she was promoted to a "fractional" starring role; the upgraded status ensured her availability on an as-needed basis, without requiring her in every episode. She returned as a guest in season 10.

''Young Sheldon'' main characters

Sheldon Lee Cooper

Sheldon Lee Cooper (portrayed by Iain Armitage; seasons 1-present) is a child prodigy who finishes primary school before his twin sister, Missy, and joins the same high-school class as his older brother, Georgie, at the age of nine. He reads widely and possesses an eidetic memory. He prefers to learn topics that interest him on his own—such as Faraday's law of induction and gravitational lensing—than the standard curriculum of grade school. In this series, the origins of his interests in the sciences, engineering, computers, trains, comic books, and science fiction (especially the character Spock from ''Star Trek'') are revealed. Sheldon moves on to college while Missy remains in middle school. Despite their rivalry, Sheldon and Missy are closer than they first appear.

Mary Cooper

Mary Cooper (''née'' Tucker) ''Young Sheldon'' episode "Jiu-Jitsu, Bubble Wrap, and Yoo-Hoo"(portrayed by Laurie Metcalf in ''The Big Bang Theory''; recurring: seasons 7 & 9-12; guest: seasons 1 & 3-5 and by Zoe Perry in ''Young Sheldon''; seasons 1-present) is Sheldon's loving and deeply religious mother from Texas. She is able to control Sheldon, with Leonard once describing her to Penny as "Sheldon's kryptonite". A devout Southern Baptist, she also has two other children — Sheldon's twin sister, Missy, and brother, Georgie, who is five years older than the twins. Her husband, a rambunctious alcoholic, was also named George, but he later died in Sheldon's childhood. To Mary's relief, her other children do not share Sheldon's precociousness, even once commenting to Leonard, "I thank the good Lord my other kids are as dumb as soup". Mary herself is not intellectual but is quite wise, though she is prone to making outdated and insensitive remarks. She is nevertheless kind at heart and is tolerant of other faiths. Leonard wishes his mother were as loving as Sheldon's mother, although Sheldon himself appears at best ambivalent about her parenting. Sheldon mentions that Mary once hit him with a Bible because he refused to eat his Brussels sprouts. She apparently thought something was wrong with her son while he was growing up since Sheldon will often remark after someone calls him crazy, "I'm not crazy; my mother had me tested!" Mary confirms this, though she wishes that she had taken him to Houston for further testing.

A younger version of Mary is a main character in the prequel series ''Young Sheldon''. Perry is Metcalf's real life daughter.

George Cooper Sr.

George Cooper Sr. is the father of Georgie, Sheldon, and Missy and the husband of Mary Tucker-Cooper. In ''The Big Bang Theory'', it is established that he died when Sheldon and Missy were fourteen years old. He is portrayed by Lance Barber (seasons 1-present), who previously portrayed Jimmy Speckerman in one episode of ''The Big Bang Theory'' (guest: season 5). George works as a football coach.

George "Georgie" Marshall Cooper Jr.

George "Georgie" Cooper Jr. (portrayed by Jerry O'Connell as an adult; recurring: seasons 11-12 and Montana Jordan as a youth; seasons 1-present) is Sheldon and Missy's older brother who resides in Texas and runs a car tire business. Often at odds while growing up, the Cooper brothers later reconcile their differences. George Jr. is a laid-back character who likes to make money. By season 12 of ''The Big Bang Theory'', it is revealed that he has been twice married and divorced.

Melissa "Missy" Cooper

(Courtney Henggeler as an adult; guest: seasons 1 & 7 & 11 and Raegan Revord as a child; seasons 1-present) is not as academically accomplished as her twin brother but displays better social skills. In season three of ''Young Sheldon'', Missy joins the baseball team in the fictional town of Medford. While Sheldon finishes high school and matriculates at university, Missy navigates the ordinary challenges of adolescence. Despite their differences, the twins are pretty close; they are both atheists.

As an adult in ''The Big Bang Theory'', Missy is a tall, attractive woman who promptly catches the attention of Leonard, Howard, and Raj. She occasionally visits Sheldon, whom she calls a "rocket scientist" to her friends, much to his annoyance.

Constance "Connie" Tucker ("Meemaw")

Constance "Connie" Tucker (June Squibb in ''The Big Bang Theory''; guest: season 9 and Annie Potts in ''Young Sheldon''; seasons 1-present) is Mary's mother, George Sr.'s mother-in-law, and maternal grandmother to Georgie, Sheldon, and Missy, who call her "Meemaw". Like Sheldon's other family members, she is also native to Texas and is their next-door neighbor in the town of Medford. Sheldon sees himself as her favorite grandchild, whom she affectionately calls " Moonpie". Sheldon, in turn, is very affectionate toward and protective of her. Meemaw is often mentioned by Sheldon but did not appear on the series until episode 14 of season nine, "The Meemaw Manifestation".

In ''Young Sheldon'', a recurring theme is her significant gambling habit.

Pastor Jeff Difford

Pastor Jeff Difford (portrayed by Matt Hobby; main: seasons 3-present; recurring: seasons 1-2) is the upbeat lead pastor of a local Baptist church in Medford that Sheldon's family attends in ''Young Sheldon''. Like Mary, he, too, sometimes has friction with Sheldon's atheistic side but often recommends Sheldon explore his own ideas logically.

Billy Sparks

Billy Sparks (portrayed by Wyatt McLure; main: seasons 5-present; recurring: seasons 1-4) is a boy who lives with his parents and sister next to the Coopers and Meemaw. He has been mentioned in ''The Big Bang Theory'' as one of Sheldon's childhood bullies, although in ''Young Sheldon'', he is rather good-natured and at times is friends with Sheldon but is shown to be extremely dim-witted.

Supporting characters

The following list is sorted in alphabetical order by first name:

Cast table

: = Recurring cast (2+ episodes)
: = Guest cast (1 episode)

''The Big Bang Theory''

Alex Jensen

Alex Jensen (Margo Harshman) is a Caltech graduate student who appears in season six. Sheldon hires her to review his kindergarten and elementary-school notebooks for any possible Nobel Prize-winning research and attend to the tasks that Sheldon perceives as a waste of his own valuable time, such as buying Amy a Valentine's Day gift.

Alex takes an interest in pursuing a relationship with Leonard (despite his involvement with Penny), though he is oblivious to her romantic overtures. After she asks him out on a date, to which Leonard is flattered and Penny is jealous, Sheldon views this as an unacceptable distraction from her job. Alex files a harassment complaint against Sheldon after he attempts to give her a "talking to" involving unthinkingly sexist language and showing her a picture book of sexually diseased genitals. After Sheldon apologizes to Alex for his behavior, he tasks her with taking an online sexual harassment course he was mandated to take by the Human Resources department.

Anu

Anu (Rati Gupta) is the woman with whom Raj's father wants him to marry. She first appears in season 12. She works in a hotel as a concierge.

Arthur Jeffries

Arthur Jeffries, or Professor Proton (Bob Newhart), is the star of a fictional in-universe science show that Sheldon and Leonard watched as children. The character is a homage to Mr. Wizard. After the show was cancelled, Jeffries was not taken seriously as a scientist and resorted to doing children's parties as his persona. When Sheldon asks for his wisdom, Jeffries tells Sheldon to appreciate everything in life, including his friends, and never take it for granted.

For his role as Jeffries, in 2013, Newhart won his first Primetime Emmy Award. Newhart plays the same character on ''Young Sheldon''.

Barry Kripke

Barry Kripke, PhD (John Ross Bowie) is a colleague working in plasma physics who frequently clashes with Sheldon. Kripke has a case of rhotacism in which he pronounces the letters "R" and "L" as "W" in much the same way as Elmer Fudd from '' Looney Tunes'', Jimmy Five from ''Monica's Gang'' and Gilda Radner in her "Baba Wawa" sketches.

Bert Kibbler

Professor Bertram Kibbler (Brian Posehn) is a geologist at Caltech, who met Amy while she was working there in her own lab in "The Occupation Recalibration". He made various other appearances, including forming a band with Raj and Howard in which he sang a song from the point of view of the boulder seen near the beginning of the movie '' Raiders of the Lost Ark''. After Raj stopped accepting his father's money to become financially independent, he moved into the room above Bert's garage.

Beverly Hofstadter

Beverly Hofstadter ( Christine Baranski) is Leonard's unloving and overly analytical mother who works as a neuroscientist, as well as a psychiatrist. She is Sheldon's female equivalent regarding neurotically strict speech patterns, disregard for social conventions, and compulsive attention to detail. The lack of Beverly's maternal feelings and actions toward Leonard has led to him having an obsessive need to please. Mrs. Hofstadter and Mrs. Cooper do not get along.

For her role as Beverly, in both 2009 and 2010, Baranski was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

Claire

Claire (Alessandra Torresani) is a writer for a children's science fiction series whom Raj and Howard meet in the comic book store in season 9. Claire wants to collaborate with Raj on the science portions of a movie script.

Dan

Dan (Stephen Root) is a senior member of staff at Zangen, who first appears in "The Locomotion Interruption" when he interviews Penny for a pharmaceutical sales representative position as a favor to Bernadette.

Dave Gibbs

Dave Gibbs (Stephen Merchant) is a tall British man who dates Amy after she breaks up with Sheldon. He is recently divorced, his wife having had an affair with a French chef, which he remains bitter over. To Amy's horror, he is an avid fan of Sheldon's work, constantly asking questions about him after learning that he and Amy dated.

Denise

Denise (Lauren Lapkus) is the assistant manager at Stuart's comic book store introduced in season 10. She is quite a comic book geek. At first, Sheldon does not like the change that her hiring brings to the store but starts to like her because of her comic book knowledge and her ability to figure out his preferences in comic books. By Season 12, she and Stuart enter into a relationship after he takes her as his plus-one to Sheldon and Amy's wedding.

Eric Gablehauser

Eric Gablehauser (Mark Harelik) is the head of the Physics Department, making him the boss of the guys. Gablehauser later hosts the Physics Bowl, and gives Raj attention when he is featured in a ''People'' article for discovering a planet.

V. M. Koothrappali

V. M. Koothrappali (Brian George) is Raj's father in India. His wife and he communicate with their son via Skype and constantly try to arrange dates for him. They want their son to marry a woman of Indian descent and give them grandchildren.

Mrs. Koothrappali

Mrs. Koothrappali (Alice Amter

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