- published: 01 Feb 2012
- views: 2869536
Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Howard Wolowitz in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, currently in its fifth season. He also appeared on the sketch comedy series MADtv for five episodes. He is also known for his role as Moist in the Joss Whedon-led web miniseries Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.
Helberg was born in Los Angeles, California, He is the son of German-born actor Sandy Helberg. Inspired by the film The Karate Kid, Helberg trained in karate extensively during his childhood, earning a black belt at age 10. He was raised in Judaism, "Conservative to Reform but more Reform as time went on".
Helberg attended middle and high school at the Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California, with Jason Ritter, who later became his roommate at NYU. He attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he trained at the Atlantic Theater Company.
Helberg is married to actress Jocelyn Towne. In January 2012, it was announced that Helberg and Towne were expecting their first child; in May 2012 their daughter Adeline was born.
Kunal Nayyar (English pronunciation: /ˈkuːnɑːl ˈnɛər/; born April 30, 1981) is an actor best known for his role as Rajesh Koothrappali on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.
Nayyar was born in London to a Hindu-Punjabi family and moved to India when he was four years old.
He attended St Columba's School in New Delhi, India, where he played badminton for the school team. In 1999 he moved to the US to earn a Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of Portland. While he was working on his degree he started taking acting classes and appeared in several school plays. After he participated in the American College Theater Festival and won its Mark Twain Prize for Comic Brilliance, he resolved to become a professional actor. He then attended Temple University, where he received a Master of Fine Arts in Acting.
After graduating, Nayyar found work doing American television ads and plays on the London stage. He first gained attention in the US for his role in the West Coast production of Rajiv Joseph's 2006 play Huck & Holden where he portrayed an Indian exchange student anxious to experience American culture before returning home. In 2006, Nayyar teamed up with Arun Das to write the play Cotton Candy, which premiered in New Delhi to positive reviews. Nayyar made a guest appearance on the CBS drama NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) in the episode "Suspicion" (Season 4, Episode 12), in which he played Youssef Zidan, an Iraqi terrorist. His agent heard about a role for a scientist in an upcoming CBS pilot and encouraged him to audition for the part. This led to his casting in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, on which he plays astrophysicist Rajesh Koothrappali.
Robin McLaurin Williams (born July 21, 1951) is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork & Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting. He has also won two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and five Grammy Awards.
Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Laura McLaurin (née Smith, 1922–2001), was a former model from New Orleans, Louisiana. His father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams (September 10, 1906 – October 18, 1987), was a senior executive at Ford Motor Company in charge of the Midwest region. His maternal great-great-grandfather was senator and Mississippi governor Anselm J. McLaurin. Williams is of English, Welsh, Irish, and French ancestry. He was raised in the Episcopal Church (his mother practiced Christian Science). He grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he was a student at the Detroit Country Day School, and later moved to Woodacre, Marin County, California, where he attended the public Redwood High School. Williams studied at Claremont McKenna College (then called Claremont Men's College) for four years. He has two half-brothers: Todd (who died August 14, 2007) and McLaurin.