Why Melissa Rauch From The Big Bang Theory Looks So Familiar

"The Big Bang Theory" may be the show that launched Melissa Rauch to global stardom, but it isn't the only hit series where she can be spotted. From the successful "Night Court" reboot to the popular supernatural series "True Blood," Rauch's small-screen footprint is rich and fascinating. She had a recurring role in a short-lived American version of the high-profile Australian series "Kath & Kim." Another lesser-known fact about Melissa Rauch is that she was in one episode of "The Office." 

After "The Big Bang Theory," Rauch headlined her own show, "Night Court," and has successfully brought two of her "The Big Bang Theory" castmates over. In Season 2, she reunited with Kunal Nayyar (who played Raj in "Big Bang") on-screen and played out a "Big Bang" fantasy in which Nayyar's character, Martini, is a love interest of Rauch's Abby Stone. Season 3 then saw Mayim Bialik (who played Amy and is friends with Rauch in real life) as a stalker. In an interview with CinemaBlend (via Screen Rant), Rauch promised more "Big Bang" Easter eggs to come. "They are my brothers and sisters," she said about her castmates. "I love them so much, so anyone and everyone is welcome, but I'm excited to get some more mini Big Bang reunions happening." 

On the movie side, she has also been in some very interesting projects alongside big names, such as Meryl Streep and Sebastian Stan, and has lent her voice to a few charming animated characters.

For Melissa Rauch, success didn't come overnight. Like many successful actors who struggled during the early stages of their careers, Melissa Rauch has undergone quite a transformation. Though she had gotten off to a solid start, it was followed by a long and rocky road. One of Rauch's first acting gigs was in three episodes of the 2008 HBO series "12 Miles of Bad Road," joining comedy legend Lily Tomlin as a cast member. However, the show only lasted six episodes before its cancellation. A year later, she landed her first series regular role in the U.S. version of the Australian high-profile series, "Kath & Kim," playing Kim's best friend Tina for six episodes. But similar to the fate of "12 Miles of Bad Road," the show ended up axed after 17 episodes. 

"I'd get some traction going, though, and then, bam, nothing," Rauch told NJ.com. "I remember being at the unemployment office in LA and coming home and calling my agent and saying, 'Isn't there anything you can send me out on?'" Movie-wise, Rauch didn't have much luck either. She was in projects that barely anyone had ever heard of. Her first role on the big screen was for the 2006 black comedy "Delirious." In 2009, she appeared in "I Love You, Man." Fortunately, a few months after "Kath & Kim," she landed "The Big Bang Theory." "I was so grateful when 'Big Bang' happened," she told Backstage. She was supposed to be a one-time guest star but ended up becoming a series regular.  

In 2010, Melissa Rauch started a six-episode arc on the hit HBO vampire series "True Blood," in which vampires can live among humans thanks to the invention of synthetic blood. Rauch debuted the role of Summer in Season 3, serving as Hoyt's (Jim Parrack) potential love interest. Brought together by Hoyt's mother, Summer, who is human, was an obstacle between Hoyt and his true love Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll), who is a vampire. Sadly, despite Summer's affection for Hoyt, he doesn't reciprocate her interest, though Rauch's character successfully stirs up the old-fashioned jealousy in Jessica, which also plays into Hoyt's intention of dating her in the first place. 

Unaware of their history, Summer confesses to Hoyt that she wants to be his girlfriend, and after suggesting they take things to the next level in a later episode, Hoyt breaks things off with Summer. It's later revealed that Rauch's seemingly sweet human girl has been conspiring with Hoyt's mother all along to steer him away from getting involved with Jessica. 

In an interview with the "True Love" fan blog, Rauch talked about her brief time working with the cast. "I seriously adore those guys," she referred to Parrack and Woll in the interview (via Looper). "It was such a blast to work with them!" "The Big Bang Theory" star recalled being welcomed with warmth and hospitality on set in addition to being blown away by their skills as actors. "[T]hey are unbelievably nice," she said.

Melissa Rauch is all about creating her own destiny in Hollywood. One of the takeaways for Rauch from her success in "The Big Bang Theory" is After January Productions, a production company that she co-runs with her husband Winston Beigel. In 2016, Melissa starred in the lead role of the comedy "The Bronze," which she co-wrote and also produced. The film featured some big names, including "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" star Sebastian Stan, "Silicon Valley" lead Thomas Middleditch, and "NCIS" star Gary Cole. Rauch played Hope Ann Gregory, a former Olympic gymnastics bronze medalist, whose life took a sudden turn after a career-ending injury. 

Despite her seemingly bright outlook, Hope is far from the kind of likable character that moviegoers might normally expect from a protagonist. She's bitter, foul-mouthed, and villainous. "I think it is a little harder for women to have more of a free pass with being unlikable on camera [and there is] this pressure on female characters to be more likable than males," she told The Washington Times. However, Rauch has a soft spot for female antiheroes. She explained that Hope's anger and bitterness had everything to do with the life-changing injury that stole her bright future. In the same way that Hope's gymnastic background was tailored to Rauch's physique, some parts were inspired by Rauch's personal experience. She recalled going back to New Jersey after the show "Best Week Ever" was canceled, where the manager of the mall she went to pretended not to remember her. "We just talked about celebrity in a small town and what that can do to your psyche in general when you're not in a good place." 

At the beginning of "Ice Age: Collision Course," Francine is hard to miss. Voiced by the one and only Melissa Rauch, the high-pitched squeaky-voiced sloth broke Sid's heart when the poor sloth poured his heart out in a confession of love. To be fair, Francine had her reasons. As Rauch detailed in an interview, Sid may have come on a little too strong. "It really scares Francine," she said (via TV Guide). As a stage-five clinger, Sid went about the whole situation the wrong way, which the New Yorker-like sloth took as a major red flag. Luckily for Sid, he eventually found love in a sloth who's just like him. "Sid meets Brook, and she comes on even stronger than he did." In the end, Sid's story comes full circle, and Rauch was glad to be part of this.

As a longtime "Ice Age" fan, she was overjoyed to be included in the cast. "I think what they did so beautifully is they have these incredibly hilarious films that also have so much heart to them." Similar to Sid's arc, the movie saw Manny and the main gang facing possible extinction when a giant asteroid threatened to collide with the Earth, which ended up bringing them closer together as a family. Speaking on how she approached voice work, Rauch admitted it was just like any other acting role. "Except for the fact you don't have to wear makeup and you don't have to wear Spanx." 

While Margot Robbie has most recently played the DC character Harley Quinn in live-action movies, Melissa Rauch's signature high-pitched voice was in Bruce Timm's "Batman and Harley Quinn," directed by Sam Liu, an animated feature in which she teamed up with Batman and Nightwing to prevent two supervillains' worldwide threat to humanity. "I love that Harley is a badass, and beyond that, that she uses her humor as another weapon in her arsenal," she told Empire when she joined DC in 2017 to star in the animated movie. "She knows just how to diffuse a situation with her humor, and how to incite a situation with her sarcasm." The actor, who took the role in between filming seasons of "The Big Bang Theory," shared that Harley Quinn was her dream role, and playing Bernadette Rostenkowski on "Big Bang" warmed her up to her part in a nice way. "I knew Harley had a higher-pitched tone."

In addition to her New York accent, Rauch wanted to bring something from home to the character similar to the way she modeled Bernadette's voice after her mother's. "I come from a New Jersey family where everyone could be former gun molls. So I wanted to give a nod to my background without being shrill." Playing Harley Quinn helped her reconnect to her past self, who used to speak like Harley Quinn in the animated series before going to acting school.

In addition to playing her favorite DC antihero Harley Quinn, "The Big Bang Theory" actor Melissa Rauch also got to voice a Marvel superhero. Two years after Paul Rudd's debut as Scott Lang (aka Ant-Man) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the character got his own animated series, also titled "Ant-Man," and led by "Hercules" actor Josh Keaton. Rauch lent her voice to Scott Lang's better half, Hope Pym, aka The Wasp, whose live-action version is portrayed by Evangeline Lilly. While the character uses her mother's surname, van Dyne, in the movie, Rauch's version retained the character's comic book identity. The limited animated series was only one season long and consisted of six episodes. Rauch appeared in two of them.

The "Ant-Man" series finds the dynamic superhero in his usual modes, battling villains, teaming up with The Wasp and helping Cassie with her homework. While Sheldon and his friends' love for comic books in "The Big Bang Theory" might seem like the more obvious link between Rauch and these roles on the surface level, there's a whole hidden layer to it. Rauch has done quite a lot of voice work under the Disney banner. She voiced a fairy godmother in "Sofia the First" and a different fairy godmother in "Star vs. The Forces of Evil." She also lent her voice to "Jake and the Never Land Pirates." 

2019 marked a good year in movies for Melissa Rauch, who appeared in two alongside some of the biggest names in the industry. "The Laundromat" featured her amid a star-studded cast that includes Meryl Streep ("The Devil Wears Prada"), Jeffrey Wright ("Westworld"), Gary Oldman ("Slow Horses") and David Schwimmer ("Friends"). She played Melanie, the daughter of Streep's character, Ellen Martin, a Michigan grandmother who steps into the giant web of insurance fraud. Despite being the main character's daughter, Melanie isn't as quirky as the eccentric, scene-stealing characters played by Oldman, Schwimmer, Wright, and others. Instead, she is very relatable. The movie received mixed reviews from critics after its release. Some appreciated the film's bold take on tackling corruption in the global financial system with a satirical tone, while others found it too lighthearted for the subject matter.

In the Martin Freeman-led romantic comedy "Ode to Joy," also released in 2019, Rauch was among movie stars like Morena Baccarin and Jake Lacy but similarly found herself in a supporting role. Rauch admitted that starring in "The Big Bang Theory" had some effects on her acting career. "[After being cast in 'Big Bang'] I'd gotten smaller roles in movies," she said in her Backstage interview. "But I do feel Hollywood loves to — and I think this is true in any career when people know what's proven — that's what they want to hire you for." In "Ode to Joy," Rauch played one of Freeman's character's love interests, whom he found less appealing to date but useful to inflict jealousy on the one woman he was really interested in.

In 2022, Melissa Rauch appeared as a contestant on Season 1, Episode 7 of "Celebrity Jeopardy!" hosted by Mayim Bialik, who joined the series as a guest host in 2021 and transitioned into a more permanent role before her firing in 2023. In the episode, Rauch competed with Ray Romano ("No Good Deed," "Everybody Loves Raymond") and Joel Kim Booster ("Fire Island," "Loot") in the Quarterfinal #6. Though Booster won the game and got to advance to the semi-final alongside John Michael Higgins and Wil Wheaton, Rauch certainly didn't go home empty-handed. 

In the postgame talk with Bialik, Rauch was asked how she felt about the experience in comparison to her elementary school experience, to which the actor and comedian replied, "You know what? I learned a lot." She further reshaped her answer to a message addressing the show's younger viewers: "Kids at home — I learned a lot." Unlike the other two contestants, who couldn't agree on whether the "Jeopardy!" spin-off had harder or easier questions, Rauch admitted to having guessed a lot of questions wrong, which was a humble experience. "I've made a lot of mistakes, so all the learning." 

Knowing all the right answers to the questions wasn't her only takeaway from the show. Playing "Celebrity Jeopardy!" also taught her to take chances on herself. As she reflected on answering the Daily Double, which she could've gotten right if she trusted her instincts: "Had I just believed in myself a little bit more ... "

"Night Court" marks the first major role that Melissa Rauch took after finishing "The Big Bang Theory." She not only headlines the reboot series of the long-celebrated 2023 sitcom but also acts as an executive producer alongside her real-life partner. Growing up, Rauch was a big fan of the original "Night Court," and being involved in the reboot series was like a dream come true. "It was shows like 'Night Court' that made me fall in love with sitcoms," she told Glamour. 

She first signed onto the reboot project as a producer, and her acting role as Abby Stone, daughter of the original lead character, Harry Stone, came much later — but not without some convincing. After "The Big Bang Theory," Rauch thought she'd take a break from being a regular on another popular series, and "Night Court" original cast member John Larroquette, who played Dan Fielding in the original series, pitched Rauch the role. "[H]e asked if I would play Abby and I said that wasn't in the cards." 

Larroquette reprised his role in the reboot and also serves as an executive producer. While his words gave Rauch pause, what really convinced her to audition for the role was the character. "Abby's optimism is something that I personally admire," she told NBC Insider in 2023. Abby Stone followed her father's path to become a night court judge, a seemingly depressing job for a young woman with a bright future. But for her, it was the place she was meant to be to give those who needed a second chance.