10+ Details Fans Didn't Know About The Cast Of 'The Big Bang Theory'

It was all the way back in Season 4.

Amy and Sheldon were supposed to have this big important moment and it went off pretty well (at least on TV).

Darn, he played that off pretty well!

It must have been really hard to work and have the flu at the same time.

Did you know that Leonard and Penny actually dated in real life?

Yes, Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco actually had a secret romance for a couple of years during the early years of the show.

While the character of Bernadette is quite the firecracker on the show, the actress who plays Bernadette, Melissa Rauch, is actually pretty... well, chill.

They really had to push her to get aggressive.

We now know that Sheldon and Leonard wear superhero T-Shirts and other pop culture references as costumes, but in the original pilot apparently they wore a bunch of old-fashioned clothing.

Near the end of the series' run, the show started to focus on some of the character's marital problems.

Well, an issue that Penny and Leonard had was inspired by real life.

Just like Leonard and Penny!

Man, that sucks. I would be so sad if that happened to me.

Not in the show, he's pretty decent, but the actor who plays Howard (Simon Helberg) has openly admitted that sometimes he isn't the best husband to his real-life wife.

We know how you feel, Howard.

Yeah, you remember the Hollywood writer's strike, don't you?

Well, it was going on during the show's first season. So they had eight episodes, but they had to be played continually until the strike was over.

They're not separating or anything, so don't worry about that.

No, she and her husband equestrian Karl Cook have plans to live together in the future, just not right now.

Alright so try and stay with us here, because things get briefly confusing.

In the show's original pilot, the character of Penny was named "Katie" and wasn't going to be played by Kaley Cuoco.

But a year later they changed the character and she got the part!

And thank goodness for that.

Yes, it was just supposed to be Leonard and Sheldon.

But once the actors who play the two entered, the people loved their chemistry so much they had to have them on the show.

Before she was even on the show!

In the season 1 episode “The Bat Jar Conjecture", Raj mentions the girl who starred in the movie Blossom.

Mayim Bialik was the star of that movie.

Unlike Kaley, Chuck Lorre was so impressed by Parsons' audition that he immediately asked him for another one.

And, as you can probably guess, he got the job after the second audition.

A lot of people have diagnosed Sheldon with things like autism and Asperger's Syndrome, but Jim Parsons has a different take.

He doesn't want to diagnose his character, and prefers to call him "just another human".

When the show was on the air, and especially near the end of the show's run, Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco were two of the highest-paid actors on television.

In case you didn't know, Chuck Lorre was kind of a big deal before The Big Bang Theory.

He owned many leather-bound books, smelled of rich mahogany, and also created Two and Half Men years prior.

As he puts it:

“I did not know Chuck Lorre at the time. I thought he was talking about Chuck Woolery [the game show host]. I thought, why are they so excited about it? We should see what the man has to offer before we’re like, ‘It’s a new Chuck Woolery pilot!'”

On a show where everyone is a doctor, you'd be surprised to find out that only one of the cast members is a real doctor.

Yes, it's Mayim Bialik: she has a Ph.D. in neuroscience.

Never say that social media can't get you some work!

One day, Wil Wheaton was posting on Twitter about how much he liked the show, and the producer called him up to do a part on the show.

Want to know why Jim Parsons thinks the show works better than other sitcoms? In his own words:

“There’s not anything to keep up with…You can enjoy our show without a weekly appointment.”

Not only is Kaley a talented person, but her sister, Briana, is also talented.

Remember that flash mob the cast participated in? Well, Briana Cuoco was the one who choreographed that dance.

Sure it's one of the funniest catchphrases of all time, but where did it come from?

Well, one of the writers on the show, Stephen Engel used to use it whenever he would prank someone.

Ever wonder what Sheldon himself loves the best about The Big Bang Theory?

Well, as it turns out, we have three of his favorite scenes right here!

When Penny gives Sheldon a napkin that was signed and used by Leonard Nimoy, when Sheldon gives Amy his relationship agreement, and finally when Sheldon first tries a Long Island Iced Tea.

It might be hard to believe, but the man who plays Howard is actually a very talented musician.

As a matter of fact, he got his role in Florence Foster Jenkins because the producer knew how well he could play the piano.

Until five years after it was released. In her own words:

“I used to drive myself crazy by thinking, three days later, ‘Ugh, why didn’t I play it like that? Ugh, now that line makes sense to me. In five years, I have found that I’ve let it go. I’ve forgotten the lines. I watch episodes of Roseanne now where I don’t even know what the ending’s going to be.”

At Comic-Con, Kevin Sussman talked about how he had to face his greatest fear on the set of The Big Bang Theory: getting his head submerged underwater.

But he did it, so good for him.

Heck, before she was in 8 Simple Rules, she apparently starred in several Barbie commercials as a child.

How many is several? Well, as far as we know, at least six.

While it may be sad, Jim Parsons and John Galecki have experienced similar hardships: they both lost their fathers in different car accidents.

That's got to bring two people together, right?

Before she was on The Big Bang Theory, Melissa Rauch tried several times to launch a stand-up comedy career.

She even had a one-woman show called "The Miss Education of Jenna Bush".