JOHN
NY GALECKI (who plays Leonard Hofstadter on The Big Bang Theory) is best known to television audiences for his role as David in the long-running comedy series "Roseanne," for which he won a Young Artist Award. His television series credits also include a recurring role in "My Boys" and guest appearances in "Hope and Faith" and "My Name is Earl."
Galecki's feature film credits include "Crystal," "Bookies," "Vanilla Sky," "Bounce," "Playing Mona Lisa," "The Opposite of Sex," "I Know What You Did Last Summer," "Suicide Kings" and "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation." He recently closed the Tony Award-nominated Broadway play "The Little Dog Laughed," for which he received a 2007 Theatre World Award for outstanding Broadway debut. His other theater credits include "The Drawer Boy" and "Pot Mom," at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, "The Member of the Wedding," for which he was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award and "Galileo."
Galecki was born in Belgium where his father was stationed while serving in the US Air Force. He was raised in Chicago, Illinois, and currently lives in Los Angeles. His birth date is April 30.
LEONARD HFSTADTER, P.H.D. [according to Wikipedia] "is a physicist from Caltech who rooms with Sheldon in their apartment building, in which the elevator always seems to be out of order. He keeps a whiteboard in their living room on which he works on theoretical physics. While Sheldon's genius seems to be focused primarily in math and science, Leonard is insinuated to be proficient in literature and history as well as the sciences; he is able to solve a crossword puzzle in seconds, the answers being mostly literature based, e.g.Vladimir Nabokov. It is also insinuated that Leonard's IQ is not as high as Sheldon's; Sheldon scoffs at Leonard's whiteboard theories as common enough to be "on the wall of any men's room at MIT." Leonard feels at home with his genius colleagues, but wants more socially. He is reluctant to let Penny know about his recreational activities (such as Klingon Boggle) and is probably reluctant to even partake in such activities in the first place, because although he secretly likes them, he doesn't like to be seen as a nerd.
He also dislikes his friends' habit of rattling off different trivial facts, something to which all the other geniuses enjoy both listening and participating. Sweet but sarcastic, Leonard also seems to be the most well-adjusted one of the group; he is quick to try new things apart from his nerd friends and, between Sheldon and him, is the only one who feels that he "should do something" when Penny begins to recount her recent breakup. Despite his attempts to reject his nerd status, he certainly is one, with his "Star Wars" hygiene products and his ability to blurt out the wrong things in front of women, such as when he's trying to invite Penny to lunch and mentions that curry is a natural laxative. He falls head over heels for Penny within seconds of spotting her and while at first it seems like lust rather than love, by the end of the pilot episode he has already announced to Sheldon, "our babies will be smart and beautiful." Sheldon, however, is quick to add, "not to mention imaginary."