Mayim Hoya Bialik (/ˈmaɪəm biˈɑːlɨk/, my-im bee-ah-lik; born December 12, 1975) is an American actress and neuroscientist.[1] From early January 1991 to May 1995, she played the title character of NBC's Blossom. Since May 2010, she has played Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler on CBS's The Big Bang Theory. She was nominated twice for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on The Big Bang Theory.[2]
Contents[]
[hide] *1 Early life and education
- 2 Career
- 3 Personal life
- 4 Filmography
- 5 Awards and nominations
- 6 Bibliography
- 7 References
- 8 External links
Early life and education[edit][]
Bialik was born in San Diego, California, to Barry Bialik and Beverly Winkelman.[3] Her grandparents emigrated from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. Israel's national poet Hayim Nahman Bialik was Barry's patrilineal great-great-granduncle. Bialik was raised as a Reform Jew.[4]
Bialik attended Walter Reed Junior High School and graduated from North Hollywood High School in North Hollywood, California as part of the class of 1993.[5] At the end of Blossom, she chose to attend UCLA, although she also had been accepted to both Harvard and Yale.[6][7] She stated that she wanted to stay close to her parents and did not want to move to the East Coast. She earned a B.S. degree in Neuroscience, Hebrew studies, and Jewish studies,[8] and went on to obtain a doctorate in neuroscience. She took a break from studies in 2005 to return to acting.[9] Bialik obtained her Ph.D. degree in 2007.[10] Her dissertation was an investigation ofhypothalamic activity in patients with Prader–Willi syndrome, titled, "Hypothalamic regulation in relation to maladaptive, obsessive-compulsive, affiliative, and satiety behaviors in Prader-Willi syndrome."[11][12][1]
Career[edit][]
Bialik started her career as a child actress in the late 1980s. Her early roles included the horror film Pumpkinhead (1988), her first acting job,[13] and guest appearances on The Facts of Life and Beauty and the Beast. It was for her Beauty and the Beast work, in which she played a sewer-dwelling girl named Ellie who had about 10 lines of dialogue, that Bialik obtained her Screen Actors Guild (SAG) card.[14] She appeared in three episodes of MacGyver as Lisa Woodman. She appeared in Beaches (1988), playing Bette Midler's character as a young girl. She also appeared in the video for the song "Liberian Girl" by Michael Jackson.
[1][2]Bialik at the rehearsal for the 1989 Academy Awards
In 1990, Bialik was tied to two television pilots, Fox's Molloy and NBC's Blossom. Molloy at first produced six episodes for a tryout run, followed by the shooting of the pilot special forBlossom. The latter actually aired two weeks before Bialik's Fox series and ultimately garnered higher ratings than it. When Molloy folded after its six episodes, Blossom was pursued as a regular series, airing until 1995. She had a major part in the Woody Allen comedy film "Don't Drink the Water" in 1994.
Between 1995 and 2005, Bialik mostly did voice-over work for cartoons, such as The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and Recess.
She appeared in the feature film Kalamazoo? (2005) and appeared in three episodes of the HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm as Jodi Funkhouser, the lesbian daughter of a friend of Larry David. Bialik also made guest appearances as a fictionalized version of herself in the series Fat Actress, and made a guest appearance in an episode of Saving Grace.[15] She had a recurring role as the high school guidance counselor in ABC Family's The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
In 2009, Bialik was nominated by Clinton Kelly for a makeover on TLC's What Not To Wear.[16]
She joined the cast of The Big Bang Theory as Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler. Her first appearance was in the season 3 finale as a potential love interest for the character of Sheldon Cooper(Jim Parsons). In Season 4, she began as a recurring character playing Sheldon's "friend that's a girl, but not a girlfriend." Beginning with Season 4, Episode 8, she became part of the main cast.[17] Amy is a neurobiologist, or neuroscientist, which corresponds to Bialik's real-life educational pursuits. Bialik's performance in The Big Bang Theory earned her Emmy Award nominations in 2012 and 2013 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Bialik was one of seven actresses who had a "quirky" personality to audition for the role.[18]
Prior to her joining the cast, in the episode "The Bat Jar Conjecture", Raj suggests recruiting the real-life Bialik to their Physics Bowl team, saying "You know who's apparently very smart, is the girl who played TV'sBlossom. She got a Ph.D. in Neuroscience or something." She is cast as one of the guest stars on the Steve Carell 2014 improvisational sketch show Riot.[19][20][21]
On March 6, 2012, her book, Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way, was released.[22]
Personal life[edit][]
Bialik married Michael Stone on August 31, 2003, in a Victorian-themed ceremony with traditional Jewish customs.[23] Michael was born into a Mormon family and converted to Judaism. Several years later, his mother converted to Judaism as well.[24][25] Bialik and Stone have two sons:
- Miles Roosevelt Bialik Stone (born 2005)
- Frederick Heschel Bialik Stone (born 2008)[26]
In 2010, Bialik returned to television so that she could spend more time with her children and stated, "I'm glad that I completed my PhD and I'm very proud of it, but the life of a research professor would not have suited my needs in terms of what kind of parenting I wanted to do."[18] In November 2012, her marriage ended in divorce.[27]
In a 2012 interview, Bialik stated that she would call herself "aspiring Modern Orthodox".[28] Bialik also has described herself as a "staunch Zionist".[4] She has appeared in several YouTube cameos as Blossom and Amy Farrah Fowler[29] asking questions about Jewish beliefs. The videos are produced by Allison Josephs, Bialik's Judaism study partner, whom she met with the help of Partners in Torah.[30] Bialik has been criticized for supporting views that go against the findings of science, including anti-vaccine and homeopathy.[31]
Bialik is a celebrity spokesperson for the Holistic Moms Network.[32]
Bialik is a vegan[33] and a founding member of the Shamayim V'Aretz Institute.[34]
Filmography[edit][]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Beaches | Young Cecilia "CC" Carol Bloom | |
| 1988 | Pumpkinhead | Wallace kid | |
| 1994 | Don't Drink the Water | Susan Hollander | |
| 2005 | Kalamazoo? | Maggie Goldman | |
| 2011 | The Chicago 8 | Nancy Kurshan | |
| 2011 | The Dog Who Saved Halloween | Medusa | Voice only |
| 2012 | Scooby-Doo! Music of the Vampire | Maria | Voice only |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Beauty and the Beast | Ellie | Episode:
|
| 1988 | The Facts of Life | Jennifer Cole | Episodes:
|
| 1988–1989 | Webster | Frieda | Eight episodes |
| 1989–1990 | Empty Nest | Laurie Kincaid | Episodes:
|
| 1989–1990 | MacGyver | Lisa Woodman | Episodes:
|
| 1990 | Doogie Howser, M.D. | Candace | Episode:
|
| 1990 | Molloy | Molloy Martin | Canceled after seven episodes |
| 1990 | Murphy Brown | Natalie | Episode:
|
| 1990–1995 | Blossom | Blossom Russo | *114 episodes |
| 1991 | Sea World's Mother Earth Celebration (on Nickelodeon) | Herself | |
| 1992 | The Kingdom Chums: Original Top Ten | Petey | |
| 1993 | The Hidden Room | Jillie | Episode:
|
| 1994 | Don't Drink the Water | Susan Hollander | |
| 1994–1995 | The John Larroquette Show | Rachel | Episodes:
|
| 1995–1996 | The Adventures of Hyperman | Brittany Bright | Episodes:
Voice only |
| 1996–1999 | Hey Arnold! | Maria | Episodes:
Voice only |
| 1996 | The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest | Lucy | Episode:
Voice only |
| 1996 | The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest | Julia/French Woman | Episode:
Voice only |
| 1997–2001 | Recess | Kirsten Kurst | Episodes:
Voice only |
| 1997 | Johnny Bravo | Tour Guide | Episode:
Voice only |
| 1997 | Extreme Ghostbusters | Girl in Future | Episode:
Voice only |
| 1998 | Welcome to Paradox | Rita | Episode:
|
| 2003 | 7th Heaven | Cathy | Episode:
|
| 2003–2004 | Kim Possible | Justine Flanner | Episodes:
Voice only |
| 2005 | Katbot | Paula | Voice only |
| 2005 | Fat Actress | Herself | Episodes:
|
| 2005–2007 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Jodi Funkhauser | Episodes:
|
| 2009 | Saving Grace | Esther | Episode:
|
| 2009 | What Not To Wear | Herself | |
| 2009 | Bones | Genie Gormon | Episode:
|
| 2009 | 'Til Death | Herself | Episodes:
|
| 2010 | The Secret Life of the American Teenager | Dr. Wilameena Bink | Episodes:
|
| 2010–present | The Big Bang Theory | Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler | Guest role: Season 3 Main role: Season 4–Present |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | X2: Wolverine's Revenge | Bush Pilot, May Deuce | Voice only |
Awards and nominations[edit][]
| Result | Category | Award Show | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Won | Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Fantasy | Young Artist Award |
| 1990 | Nominated | Best Young Actress Guest Starring in a Television Series | |
| 1992 | Nominated | Best Young Actress in a New Television Series | |
| 1993 | Nominated | Outstanding Young Comedian in a Television Series | |
| 2012-2013 | Nominated | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Primetime Emmy Award |
| Nominated | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Screen Actors Guild Award | |
| 2012 | Nominated | Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Satellite Award |
| 2014 | Nominated | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series | Screen Actors Guild Award |
| Nominated | Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Critics' Choice Television Awards |