What The Cast Of The Big Bang Theory Is Doing Now

After it first hit television screens in 2007, the CBS sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" dominated the ratings, won numerous awards, and made the cast some of the highest-paid television actors in the world. For 12 seasons, the show charted the lives of four genius nerds and a down-to-Earth waitress who spend all their free time together, but all good things have to come to an end eventually. 

Season 12 proved to be the end of "The Big Bang Theory," with the stories of Sheldon, Leonard, Penny, Amy, Raj, and the others wrapped up in a satisfying way. Yet, many viewers might wonder what the cast has been up to since the show ended in 2019. After all, the likes of Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco have become household names thanks to their roles in the series, so many people may want to know what they're working on now. Here are the details on every major actor from "The Big Bang Theory" and what they're doing today.

Melissa "Missy" Cooper is another important "Big Bang Theory" character who has a very limited number of appearances in the show. Although she's mentioned many times, she's only directly involved in three episodes, with one just being a voice role. She's first introduced in the Season 1 episode "The Porkchop Indeterminacy," in which she visits Sheldon, but her next in-person appearance doesn't come until "The Bow Tie Asymmetry" some 10 seasons later. The pregnant Missy returns to attend the wedding of her brother and Amy. Despite being Sheldon's sister, she is in many ways his opposite.

Outside of "The Big Band Theory," actor Courtney Henggeler will be familiar to fans of the Netflix series "Cobra Kai," in which she plays "Karate Kid" protagonist Daniel LaRusso's wife Amanda. She's also had recent roles in Tyler Perry's romantic comedy "Nobody's Fool" and in the 2019 horror film "Do Not Reply." Additionally, Henggeler has had recent guest parts in shows like "Jane the Virgin," "Fuller House," and "Into the Dark."

Sara Gilbert's Leslie Winkle is a regular character through the early seasons of "The Big Bang Theory," appearing for the first time in Season 1, Episode 3. She appears throughout the second and third seasons before largely disappearing from the show, other than a brief return in Season 9. A scientist at Caltech, she works with Leonard and dates both him and Howard for short periods of time. She can often be seen using lab equipment to cook her food and is friendly toward basically everyone except for Sheldon.

Like her fellow "Big Bang Theory" co-star Laurie Metcalf, Gilbert has been a regular on both "Roseanne" and its more recent spin-off "The Conners," playing Darlene Conner-Healy. Her performance across the two shows has earned her several Primetime Emmy Award nominations. She has also had recurring roles in "Atypical" and "Living Biblically," along with the 2023 comedy movie "80 for Brady."

Laura Spencer's Emily Sweeney is one of the major characters in "The Big Bang Theory" outside of the main group. She makes her first appearance in "The Friendship Turbulence" as a woman who contacts Raj through an online dating site. Over the course of the next few seasons, she appears in a total of 17 episodes, dating Raj and then Gary. A self-confessed fan of horror films, she has a dark sense of humor and prefers the original gruesome fairy tales to the modern, family-friendly Disney movies.

Spencer began her film career in 2009, with roles in smaller projects like "Barking Water" and "Funnel of Darkness." She went on to appear in 34 episodes of the web series "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries." She became a regular on television during her tenure on "The Big Bang Theory," as she simultaneously portrayed intern Jessica Warren on "Bones." Her work has seemingly been limited over the last few years, with the actor only appearing in a single episode of "Reservation Dogs" and the post-apocalyptic film "13 minutes" in 2021.

Early on in "The Big Bang Theory," it appeared as if Sheldon would never find love. After all, he's such an eccentric and anti-social individual that maintaining a relationship with anyone would never be easy. But then came Amy Farrah Fowler, played by Mayim Bialik – his match in almost every sense. A neurobiologist, she makes her debut in "The Lunar Excitation" in Season 3 and quickly becomes a regular. Appearing in more than 200 episodes of the show, Amy has a strong relationship with Sheldon from the very beginning, and the pair eventually marry during the Season 11 finale.

Bialik, who has a Ph.D. in neuroscience in real life, was nominated for a series of awards for her performance on the show and has been in high demand since. She stars in the Fox sitcom "Call Me Cat" and has returned as the voice of Amy in "Young Sheldon." Following the death of Alex Trebek, both Bialik and Ken Jennings were announced as new permanent hosts for the popular game show "Jeopardy!" following temporary stints behind the lectern. She also hosts her own podcast, "Mayim Bialik's Breakdown," every Tuesday, in which she discusses mental health.

Rajesh Koothrappali, more often known simply as Raj, is one of the five primary characters who are present from the very beginning of "The Big Bang Theory." Played by Kunal Nayyar, he's Howard's best friend and works at Caltech as an astrophysicist. Coming from a well-off family, Raj generally shows little interest in his heritage and often finds himself physically incapable of speaking to women. This causes him to struggle in establishing meaningful relationships until the later seasons of the show.

As one of the world's highest-paid television actors, Nayyar certainly didn't need to find work after the end of "The Big Bang Theory." However, that didn't stop him from landing a number of roles. He's provided the voice of Guy Diamond in the "Trolls" franchise series since 2016 and had a role in "Think Like a Dog" in 2020. He is set to appear in the upcoming Netflix film "Spaceman" with Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan on Netflix, with the actor announced as part of the cast in 2021. Nayyar also starred in the 2022 film "The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry" and the Apple TV+ series "Suspicion."

Arguably the most popular character from "The Big Bang Theory," as evidenced by the facts that actor Jim Parsons won numerous awards and the character got his own spin-off show, Sheldon Cooper is a socially inept genius. He lives with Leonard and is an unashamed nerd who loves everything from "Star Trek" to "Boggle." A theoretical physicist at Caltech, he has a high intelligence but consistently shows a lack of understanding of basic human traits such as humor and empathy. He also struggles in his relationships until he meets Amy Farrah Fowler, who he eventually marries in Season 11.

Fans of "The Big Bang Theory" will know that Parsons has continued to be a part of the fictional universe as the narrator of the show "Young Sheldon," a series that chronicles the life of his character as a child. Outside of his role as Sheldon, the actor has appeared in the miniseries "Hollywood" as talent agent Henry Willson, the 2022 romantic drama "Spoiler Alert" alongside Ben Aldridge, and 2020's "The Boys in the Band." He's also worked as an executive producer on a number of shows, from his former co-star Mayim Bialik's "Call Me Kat" to "Young Sheldon" and others.

Although he is part of the main group of characters on "The Big Bang Theory," Howard is notable for the fact that he's actually an aerospace engineer rather than a scientist. He has the distinction of also being a former NASA astronaut and travels to the International Space Station during his career. Best friends with Raj, he studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and works at Caltech with the rest of the group. A fan of comic books and geek culture in general, Howard has a collection of novelty belt buckles and little luck with women until he begins dating Bernadette.

Like many of his former co-stars, Simon Helberg has voiced his character in a single episode of "Young Sheldon." However, he has also had roles in several other projects in the last few years. The actor had a supporting role in the musical film "Annette" and starred in "As They Made Us," a movie written and directed by Mayim Bialik. Helberg has also had parts in "Space Oddity" and Rian Johnson's crime drama series "Poker Face," as well as voicing the Squirrel in the "Up" spin-off series "Dug Days."