Why Toby From Young Sheldon Looks So Familiar
It seems that Sheldon Cooper has yet another rival to worry about. "Young Sheldon" Season 6, Episode 11, titled "Ruthless, Toothless and a Week of Bed Rest," sees the fledgling genius in a tough spot, as he finds out his college is using his brilliant idea for an advanced digital database without him. Instead, the university has hired Toby, an impressionable computer whiz who finds himself embroiled in the conflict as Sheldon uses some underhanded tactics of his own to work against the school.
Toby isn't necessarily a major player in "Young Sheldon," but some viewers may have found the character to be especially memorable, thanks to the actor's performance. In fact, avid TV fans may be wondering why Toby happens to look so familiar to them. Rest assured, dear viewers, it's not all in your head. Toby's actor, Hermie Castillo, has actually spent years making minor appearances on many of the biggest TV shows of the modern day, and it's quite likely that general audiences will recognize him from one of his numerous other roles.
Superstore (2016)
One of the most amusing long-running gags in the NBC sitcom "Superstore" is that, despite the series being a workplace comedy focusing on a close-knit team of department store workers, viewers don't get to know the vast majority of employees working at the central store. Throughout the series, coworkers with little to no dialogue show up for a gag or two and then they're never seen again, as if the store has an infinite supply of part-time and temporary employees.
Hermie Castillo had a minor recurring role on "Superstore" Season 2 as one of these minor employees. He portrays Darren, a character with few discernibly unique qualities, but who is nonetheless present for some major events in the series. Darren appears in the Season 2 special episode "Olympics," which features the team holding their own store-wide Olympics in honor of the real-life 2016 sporting event. He also shows up in Season 2, Episode 22, "Tornado," when a massive tornado destroys the store. Fortunately, he's left unharmed, but he's never seen again after that point. Sounds like he might have quit.
NCIS (2017)
The next major credit of note for Hermie Castillo saw him discovering a murder on one of the biggest police procedurals out there. The actor guest stars on "NCIS" Season 14, Episode 14, titled "Nonstop," in which he has the dubious honor of happening upon the grisly crime that sets the stage for the rest of the episode.
In the episode, Castillo portrays Zeke, a dutiful employee of the fictional Paco's Pizza who's trying to make a house delivery. The beginning of the episode sees Zeke arrive at the house and attempt to deliver the pizza to no avail, before he looks through one of the front windows and is shocked to find the corpse of a woman laying in plain sight. Unfortunately, while the NCIS team eventually cracks the case, there's no unseeing that traumatic sight for Zeke. He doesn't even end up getting a delivery tip for his troubles either. Bummer.
The Big Bang Theory (2018)
This next credit may be a bit of a mind boggle for those who saw Hermie Castillo on "Young Sheldon." As it turns out, the Sheldon-centric prequel series is not the first time Castillo has appeared in the franchise, nor is Toby the only character he's played. Similar to "Young Sheldon" star Iain Armitage's cameo in "The Big Bang Theory," Castillo also guest starred on the sitcom proper prior to his appearance on the prequel series — as a completely different character, no less.
Castillo appears during the show's twelfth and final season in Episode 5, titled "The Planetarium Collision," as a character named Colin, who serves as one of Amy's test subjects. Now, Colin doesn't really do much of note in the episode and it's a pretty minor role, but it's nonetheless odd to see Castillo appear in a completely different role in "The Big Bang Theory" universe – and in a completely separate time period from "Young Sheldon," no less. Maybe Colin and Toby are related somehow? There's not much deep lore to either of these characters, so it's an easy enough head-canon for those that want to reconcile the discrepancy.
Station 19 (2019)
Jumping once again from sitcom to procedural, Hermie Castillo's next credit of note came in the form of an appearance on the "Grey's Anatomy" spin-off series "Station 19." The actor appears in Season 2, Episode 13, titled "The Dark Night," in which he's rescued by the titular team of firefighters from a particularly life-threatening situation.
In the episode, Castillo plays Graham, a normal citizen who's just having an ice cream snack. Innocuous enough stuff, but when the firefighters come across Graham, they notice that he's exhibiting some strange behaviors that may point to an underlying health concern. Their fears prove to be well-founded, as an inspection of the man's apartment finds that it had filled with gas, thanks to an unfortunate gas leak in his building. Luckily, the team uncovers the issue before Graham faces any more danger, and his life is saved as a result. Add one more to the massive list of people that the Station 19 team has helped.
A bunch of other shows as well
This list thus far may have covered some of Hermie Castillo's more substantial credits across his prolific career, but the actor has also made minor appearances on a heaping handful of other popular shows over the years. Other series that the actor has briefly appeared on include Showtime's dramedy "Shameless," the police sitcom "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," ABC's political thriller "Scandal," the wrestling-centric series "GLOW," the revival for the mystery show "Veronica Mars," and the HBO tech comedy "Silicon Valley."
With how many notable series Castillo already has under his belt, it's likely that his streak of guest starring on various shows will only continue, and it's also possible he could start featuring in more recurring roles as time goes on. Regardless, only time will tell which notable property the actor decides to pop into next — whether it's a sitcom, a procedural, or something entirely different.