Who Plays Pastor Jeff In Young Sheldon?

"Young Sheldon," one of the best TV prequels of all time, looks back at the childhood of "The Big Bang Theory" protagonist Sheldon Cooper — played by Jim Parsons in the latter and Ian Armitage in the former. This means that the majority of the characters on "Young Sheldon" were new introductions to the "TBBT" universe, with the primary exception, of course, being members of Sheldon's family. Sheldon often spoke of his religious upbringing on "TBBT," which plays heavily into "Young Sheldon." Enter Pastor Jeff Dillard.

Pastor Jeff appears in all seven seasons of "Young Sheldon," either as a main or recurring character. He's the pastor at Sheldon's family's church, and though he's trying to get Sheldon to embrace religion and God, Pastor Jeff also tries to be a supportive figure for Sheldon on whatever journey he chooses to go on, religious or otherwise. Apart from that, he's not a generally well-liked character, and has a much less friendly relationship with the other Coopers — while some of his own personal failings manifest in negative ways over the course of the series.

As for who played Pastor Jeff on "Young Sheldon," it's comedian and actor Matt Hobby. Though "Young Sheldon" is his most substantial role thus far, Hobby has definitely appeared in several other high-profile TV shows as well as a handful of films. 

After a few small film and TV roles, Matt Hobby scored his first major mainstream project when he was cast as Philip, the Thomas family's house servant, in the HBO drama series "Boardwalk Empire." Though he only appeared in five episodes, it still proved to be a pivotal stepping stone in Hobby's acting career. He had a slightly more substantial recurring role on "Hart of Dixie" a couple years later, playing Rudy Truitt for 10 episodes across Seasons 2-4. That was followed by five episodes of the single-season Fox legal drama "The Grinder." 

During and since his Pastor Jeff stint, Hobby also appeared in an episode each of the shows "Fresh Off The Boat" and "Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell." He then reprised the role of Pastor Jeff in guest spots on two episodes of the "Young Sheldon" spin-off "Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage." Beyond acting, Hobby is also a stand-up comedian and hosts a podcast called "Smackers" (formerly "Pay or Request").

One thing that hasn't been mentioned very often is that Pastor Jeff is married. Well, he's on his second marriage, after first being hitched to a woman named Selena (Zuleyka Silver). But Selena was out in Season 1 of "Young Sheldon," and Pastor Jeff met a police officer named Robin (Mary Grill) in Season 2 during a traffic stop — with the two eventually getting married. Art imitated life in this case, because Matt Hobby and Mary Grill were already married for eight years in real life when Mary joined the cast of "Young Sheldon."

Grill is a stand-up comedian herself, and she and Hobby sometimes perform together as a joint act. They also used to host a web series together, but it seems to have ended and doesn't appear to currently be hosted online anywhere. Grill also has an acting career herself, apart from playing Robin Tifford and other projects she shared with her husband, having appeared on the shows "Veep," "Mad Men," and "The Mindy Project," to name a few.