5 Actors Who Have been Virtually Solid As The Massive Bang Idea’s Penny Earlier than Kaley Cuoco

Followers of “The Massive Bang Idea” know that, for twelve seasons and the identical variety of years, Kaley Cuoco introduced some much-needed levity to the position of Penny, the attractive and outgoing aspiring actress who strikes into the house throughout the corridor from Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) and Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki). Penny is principally an viewers surrogate who hangs out with a bunch of intensely nerdy guys with a ton of esoteric information about science and popular culture. 

Because the resident “normie,” Penny interprets their nonsense for the viewers and, inside the universe of the present, helps all the guys evolve. Leonard, Penny’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, is a a lot better individual after he spends years as Penny’s associate. Penny in the end breaks Sheldon’s obstacles all the way down to the purpose the place he considers her one in all his finest mates on the planet. When Penny first meets Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg), he is a lecherous, irritating man; after she introduces him to his future spouse Bernadette Rostenkowski (Melissa Rauch), Howard grows up. Even Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar), who cannot even converse round Penny at first as a consequence of debilitating nervousness, is modified for the higher, turning into one in all Penny’s closest confidantes.

Penny’s affect on “The Massive Bang Idea” is due largely to Cuoco’s humorous, lived-in, and sincere portrayal of the character, so it is likely to be shocking to be taught {that a} bunch of individuals had been thought of earlier than Cuoco was lastly solid — together with an actress who filmed an complete pilot episode for the collection that in the end received scrapped. Listed below are 5 actors who virtually performed Penny on “The Massive Bang Idea.”

You is likely to be stunned to be taught that Academy Award successful actress Marisa Tomei virtually performed Penny in “The Massive Bang Idea,” but it surely’s true! As Tomei instructed Enterprise Insider in 2022, “I believed it was an ideal script, and that is why we went as far as to test it out. And it is such an iconic sort of setup, all these archetypes, the scientists, after which the sort of little hottie and the entire thing.” Nonetheless, she ended up passing on it: “I actually did not comprehend it was going to go on that lengthy. It wasn’t actually the fitting match for me on the time, however I actually did benefit from the script itself.”

The method went additional than you would possibly suppose, although. In Jessica Radloff’s guide from the identical yr, “The Massive Bang Idea: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Collection,” Jim Parsons revealed he even learn with Tomei. After saying he knew he already had the position of Sheldon, Parsons instructed Radloff:

“I learn with Marisa Tomei. Johnny [Galecki] was solid by then, however he was doing a play in New York. I had come again to learn together with her. I keep in mind going to the snack room after we had been performed and telling Ken [Miller, a casting director] and Nikki [Valko, another casting director], ‘I’ve by no means been in another person’s audition earlier than!’ They usually stated, ‘Nicely, she was sort of actually auditioning you.’ And I went, ‘Oh, that is sensible.’ However oh my gosh, what a distinct world that might have been.”

As everyone knows, Tomei did simply advantageous regardless of not enjoying Penny on “The Massive Bang Idea.” Through the years, Tomei has appeared in Oscar fare like “The Wrestler,” big romantic comedies like “Loopy, Silly, Love,” and joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Aunt Might to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, making her debut look within the 2016 crossover movie “Captain America: Civil Conflict.”

Again when individuals had been nonetheless auditioning for the feminine lead on “The Massive Bang Idea,” the character’s identify was Katie (extra on that shortly) and as co-creator Invoice Prady recalled, Tara Reid went out for the position. Prady did not share anything about Reid’s audition, however clearly, it did not work out … so what has Reid been doing since she auditioned for “The Massive Bang Idea?”

After incomes fame and approval for roles in movies like “The Massive Lebowski,” “American Pie,” and “Josie and the Pussycats,” Reid ended up showing in a number of direct-to-video releases on the finish of the aughts, together with “If I Had Identified I Was a Genius” and “Clear Break/Unnatural Causes.” Fortunately, in 2013, an enormous break got here within the type of “Sharknado,” the Syfy unique film that unexpectedly grew to become a camp traditional. She reprised her position of April Wexler in all six of the “Sharknado” films and even appeared in “The Boys” in 2019 and “Ghosts” in 2023, enjoying herself in each.

By the point she went out for the position of Katie on “The Massive Bang Idea” — which she did, in line with Invoice Prady’s interview in Jessica Radloff’s guide — Elizabeth Berkley was already well-known for taking part in Jessie Spano on “Saved by the Bell,” starring in Paul Verhoeven’s now-reconsidered traditional “Showgirls,” and flicks like “The First Wives Membership” and “Any Given Sunday.” In response to Prady, “Elizabeth Berkley went to community for the position, too. She was terrific.” Clearly, Berkley did not guide the position, however she saved performing anyway, discovering success elsewhere on the small display.

In 2008, Berkley joined the solid of “CSI: Miami” within the recurring position of Julia Winston from season 6 to 7. A yr later, she booked one other recurring position on “The L Phrase” throughout its sixth season as Kelly Wentworth. Within the years that adopted, Berkley appeared in exhibits like “New Woman” earlier than becoming a member of the “Saved by the Bell” reboot to reprise her position as Jessie Spano from 2020 to 2021. She was speculated to play a task in HBO’s controversial collection “The Idol,” however sadly, Berkley was a part of the present’s unique iteration led by Amy Seimetz, which ended up on the slicing room flooring.

Here is a wild story: Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, who performed the imply fashionable woman Taylor Vaughan within the 1999 teen comedy “She’s All That,” was solid as Katie on “The Massive Bang Idea” — after which all of a sudden fired. O’Keefe did not converse to Jessica Radloff for her guide, however individuals concerned with the present shared their recollections. Radloff notes that producers did not really feel a number of chemistry between O’Keefe, Johnny Galecki, and Jim Parsons, and as Parsons recalled, they had been all heading out to dinner (with Iris Bahr, an actress solid within the position of Gilda which was in the end lower) when Galecki known as him and stated O’Keefe had been let go. “I imply, we had simply performed the desk learn thirty minutes earlier. Johnny, Iris, and Jodi had been already there when Jodi received a name from her agent saying she was being let go. I hadn’t performed a ton of desk reads in my profession by that time, however I am not an fool — I do know when somebody’s not good. And Jodi was nice. I used to be surprised.”

Casting director Nikki Valko provided an evidence: “Jodi Lyn O’Keefe was so good within the unique pilot as Katie, but it surely was only a completely totally different character. [Jodi] introduced a darkness, which simply did not work, so she was changed after the desk learn.” 

From there, the casting workforce needed to discover somebody new in three days. O’Keefe ended up showing on the present later as a intercourse employee who meets Howard in Las Vegas (within the season 2 episode “The Vegas Renormalization”), and she or he’s additionally popped up on TV exhibits like “Misplaced,” “Fortress,” and “Lucifer.” You may also acknowledge her as Josette “Jo” Laughlin from the favored supernatural primetime cleaning soap “The Vampire Diaries.”

At this level, the unique pilot of “The Massive Bang Idea” is pretty notorious contemplating that it was so dangerous that it by no means made it to air, Sadly, actress Amanda Walsh was a casualty of that first try. After Jodi Lyn O’Keefe was let go, Walsh was employed promptly, however the position of Katie was so harshly written that even her dedicated efficiency could not promote it to check audiences.

As Invoice Prady instructed Leisure Weekly in 2022, Walsh “did an ideal job enjoying that character” — that means Katie, not Penny — and Chuck Lorre chimed in to say that the issues with the pilot and Katie’s character had been their fault, not hers. “She was terrific within the position, however the position was misconceived,” Lorre admitted. “It was our duty.” 

So what was the issue? Apparently, check audiences simply actually hated her as a result of they instantly felt protecting of Sheldon and Leonard, each of whom Katie spends the pilot antagonizing. “Yeah, we did not notice early on that the viewers seen them as youngsters,” Lorre stated. “They had been very naive and childlike, no matter how clever they had been. They had been very susceptible, and the viewers did not need a poisonous presence round them. That is why we rewrote Katie to turn into Penny [Kaley Cuoco] and made her far more charmed by the blokes and sort to them, versus a lady who would make the most of them.”

Prady additionally shared that Walsh needed to audition for the re-tooled position of Penny, but it surely simply did not work out, and Kaley Cuoco ended up enjoying Penny. For her half, Walsh went on to look in exhibits like “Fortress,” Lorre’s different hit collection “Two and a Half Males,” and ultimately, she grew to become a author on “Schitt’s Creek” — so all’s effectively that ends effectively. 

“The Massive Bang Idea” is presently obtainable to stream on Max.