Biography of Amy

Amy Farrah Fowler, a Harvard graduate with a degree in neurobiology, is single and lives in an apartment in Glendale, California. When younger, she threw coins into a wishing well and wished for friends who never materialized. Her life recalls “The Ugly Duckling,” a classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen.

Her relationship with the others in the group shows her different sides: with Penny, best friends (or, at least, its closest thing); with Bernadette, a fellow scientist and friend; with Howard, a shared affinity for Neil Diamond music discovered during a scavenger hunt when they were paired up; with Raj, with whom she shares, after they compared notes, much in common in terms of social interactions; with Leonard, her guy pal who accompanied her to a wedding; and, most significantly, with Sheldon, who initially characterized her as “a girl who is a friend but not my girlfriend,” and then changed her official status to girlfriend.

“The Ugly Duckling” story ends with the swan, a former duckling, saying, “I never dreamed there could be so much happiness.”

Amy Farrah Fowler, in short, blossomed.

Biography of Mayim Bialik

Name: Mayim Hoya Bialik

Birth date and place: December 12, 1975, San Diego, California Height: 5'4”

Vocation: Actress, neuroscientist

Residence: Los Angeles, California

Education: UCLA, BS in neuroscience, Hebrew studies, and Jewish studies (2000), PhD in neuroscience (2007)

Official Web site: mayimbialik.net

Trivia: On the show she’s a neurobiologist, and in real life she’s a neuroscientist. She is the only cast member of The Big Bang Theory who can properly be addressed “Doctor.”

Twitter verified account: @missmayim (358,000 followers as of July 2014)

Marital status: Divorced

Mayim: A Storied Career

In 1990 she was in two pilots (Molloy and Blossom), but after the former folded, the latter took bloom and ran for 114 episodes, with her in the title role as Blossom Russo, who was named after the jazz singer Blossom Dearie. The show ended in 1995.

Her casting as Amy Farrah Fowler on The Big Bang Theory was a happy accident. As she told Arsenio Hall (Nov. 18, 2013), “I had just gotten my PhD, and I had just had my second kid. And I just started going on auditions because I needed health insurance. And SAG [Screen Actors Guild] has great health insurance.”

An Odd Couple: A Meeting of Minds, But Not Bodies

In retrospect, it seems apt that Amy and Sheldon met in such fashion online, and not by their own devices, because on their own, they would never have met. Both of them, secure in their walled-off worlds, would otherwise continue to live their lives without the active company of the opposite sex on a personal level. For both of them, the prospect of dating is a brave, new world, and one into which they ventured carefully.

When Penny, in “The Cooper/Kripke Inversion” (6-14), asks Sheldon, “Are you ever going to sleep with Amy?” he explains: “Penny, all my life, I have been uncomfortable with the sort of physical contact that comes easily to others: hand-shaking, hugging, prostate exams. But I’m working on it, you know. . . . It’s a possibility.”

He concedes the possibility, but at least for now, nothing more.

A Penny for Amy’s Thoughts

Every girl needs her bestie, but until Amy became part of the inner circle, her only confidant was her mother. Ironically, Amy’s “bestie” (as she terms the relationship with Penny) is her, not Penny’s, characterization. In truth, Amy is Penny’s good friend, but Bernadette, with whom she worked at the Olive Garden, is logically her bestie. Still, Penny preserves this gentle fiction, since Amy is sensitive and takes offense on social matters too easily. Penny sees Amy as a good friend, and prefers to leave it at that.

Amy now confides in Penny, who patiently listens and gives advice. The irony, of course, is that Penny admits that, when she was in high school, she was one of the “in” crowd and bullied girls like Amy. Jazzed to be a friend of someone like Penny, who enjoyed higher social status in high school, Amy seeks her approval: she now looks up to, and respects, Penny.

The Quotable Mayim Bialik

Personal growth of Amy Farrah Fowler: When I was brought on, I had no idea what was going to happen with my character or even if I’d be in more than one episode. I think we’ve been through a lot of interesting aspects of Amy’s romantic personality: her affection for Sheldon, despite him being so bizarre in their relationship, her love for Penny. But I think it’s really sweet that when it comes down to it, she has learned to have a lot of those same basic desires that many women have. She wants to be special to Sheldon and she wants to know that she’s important to him. (Eleni, “Interview with The Big Bang Theory’s Mayim Bialik,” thecomedynetwork.ca/blogs, June 14, 2013)

Vintage superheroes “who stand for good and the American way”: I believe so strongly in comic book culture, even for my kids. Superman is known for being fast, strong, and powerful, and he can fly. Those are some of the most dominant desires that humans have. They’re kind of amazing things, and even as an adult, I get misty-eyed, because those are very powerful notions of what we can achieve. (Lauren Le Vine, “The REDBOOK Rundown: Mayim Bialik,” redbookmag.com)