what does mayim bialik have a phd in

The Truth About Mayim Bialik's Education

Mayim Bialik is potentially best known for playing Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler in the cult classic TV series  "The Big Bang Theory." The immensely popular show followed the trials and tribulations of a group of scientists, and Bialik's background gave her a perfect stepping stone into the role. So, here's the truth about Mayim Bialik's education. National Geographic points out that with a PhD in neurosciences under her belt, Bialik was one actor on set who really knew what she was talking about.

One of the funniest things about Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler is how she intellectually stands toe to toe with Sheldon Cooper (played by Jim Parsons). The Guardian details that, like Amy, Bialik has a PhD. She told the publication that her research was in "Obsessive-compulsive disorder in a population of individuals with a genetic syndrome called Prader-Willi syndrome." Impressive, right?

She told USA Today that she studied at UCLA while raising her children — no small task. "I studied neuroscience as my undergraduate degree. I did a minor in Hebrew and Jewish studies, which kept my GPA up and therefore my morale because science was still really hard for me. I was a late bloomer," she said. "So I did my undergrad for five years and then I went directly to the grad program, the PhD program at UCLA."

Mayim Bialik's PhD helped her play Amy

Mayim Bialik told Neil deGrasse Tyson in National Geographic that her background in the sciences helped her play Amy but has also informed her career after the show. She still works in TV but also has a YouTube  channel and is a big advocate for women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

"It's really neat that I get to play a neuroscientist on TV, but I think every student is inspired by something different. That's why it's important for us as teachers — and people in the position to mentor — to be able to provide girls with as many realistic science situations as possible," she told Forbes . "To show them that not everyone starts as a scientist but you can still be interested in it later in life."

While Bialik's scientific background came in handy while she was learning her lines, she told  The Guardian that she was far from the only qualified person on set. "We actually have a physics consultant, Dr. David Saltzberg. He is from UCLA and he's the one who is in charge of all that. It is very important for our show and for our producers that we do that," she said. "A lot of our writers have science backgrounds and everything is Google-able so a lot of their stuff comes from the internet too. All of our writers are really bright."

Mayim Bialik

Who Is Mayim Bialik?

American actress Mayim Hoya Bialik was born in San Diego, California, on December 12, 1975, to first-generation Jewish-American parents who raised her in Reform Judaism. She grew up in Los Angeles, and attended both public and religious schools.

Acting Career

'pumpkinhead,' 'macgyver,' 'beaches'.

Bialik began acting in the late 1980s. Her first acting job, in the horror film Pumpkinhead, was followed by numerous guest appearances on some of the most well-known shows of the 1980s and '90s, including MacGyver , The Facts of Life and Webster . In 1988 Bialik played Bette Midler's character as a young girl in the film Beaches , and she later appeared in a music video for the song "Liberian Girl," by Michael Jackson .

Bialik's breakout role was that of Blossom, the main character on the TV show of the same name. From 1990 to 1995, Bialik enjoyed Blossom 's success, as the show garnered high ratings: Her character, Blossom, was known as "the quirky girl with the signature flower hat."

After Blossom ended, Bialik did some voice-over work for cartoons and appeared as a guest star on several television shows, including Curb Your Enthusiasm , Fat Actress , Saving Grace and What Not To Wear .

'The Big Bang Theory'

Rededicating herself to acting, Bialik appeared in the season 3 finale of The Big Bang Theory in 2010, before joining the regular cast of the hit sitcom for season 4. Her character of neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler, the girlfriend and eventual wife of Jim Parsons ' Sheldon Cooper, mirrored Bialik's real-life educational interests. Her performance on the show garnered her several Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

After her run on Blossom , Bialik took a step back from acting to focus on her school work: She attended the University of California, Los Angeles, despite gaining acceptance to both Harvard and Yale, in order to stay close to her parents and remain on the West Coast. Bialik earned a bachelor's degree in neuroscience, Hebrew and Jewish studies in 2000, and then went on to the university's Ph.D. program in neuroscience, which she completed in 2007.

Parenting and Religious Views

Having returned to the acting world's spotlight and asked about her religious views, Bialik confirmed that she aspired to be Modern Orthodox. She began writing for the Jewish parenting blog Kveller.com , and is a founding member of the Shamayim V'Aretz Institute, a center for Jewish spirituality.

In her book Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way , released in March 2012, Bialik presented her views on "attachment parenting," and provided insight into the way she and now ex-husband Michael Stone — who converted to Judaism prior to marrying Bialik in 2003 — raised their two sons, Miles and Frederick, together.

Just months later, in November 2012, Bialik announced that she and Stone were splitting in a blog post on kveller.com , writing: "After much consideration and soul-searching, Michael and I have arrived at the decision to divorce due to 'Irreconcilable Differences.'" The couple finalized their divorce in May 2013, after nine years of marriage.

Car Accident and #MeToo

Following an August 15, 2012, car accident in Los Angeles, Bialik suffered severe lacerations to her left hand and thumb. The media frenzy that ensued speculated that she could lose a finger as a result, but, using social media, Bialik confirmed that she would keep all of her fingers.

Following the explosive revelations of Harvey Weinstein 's behavior that sparked the #MeToo movement, Bialik in October 2017 penned an op-ed in The New York Times in which she discussed her experiences in an industry that objectifies women. However, she came under fire for noting how she dresses "modestly" and makes a point of not flirting with men, drawing responses from women who recalled how they were assaulted regardless of their behavior and clothes. Bialik subsequently apologized and participated in a Facebook Live discussion to clarify her points.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Mayim Hoya Bialik
• Birth Year: 1975
• Birth date: December 12, 1975
• Birth State: California
• Birth City: San Diego
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: American actress Mayim Bialik is best known for her roles in the film 'Beaches' and on the hit television shows 'Blossom' and 'The Big Bang Theory.'
• Science and Medicine
• Astrological Sign: Sagittarius

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• Last Updated: June 30, 2020
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

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Premium Content

Onetime child star Mayim Bialik earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience, then returned to acting on TV hit The Big Bang Theory —playing a scientist. It’s given her a unique view of women’s roles, in STEM fields and in general.

Why This 'Big Bang Theory' Star Got a Ph.D. in Science

Mayim Bialik tells Neil DeGrasse Tyson about transitioning from acting to neuroscience—then playing a scientist on The Big Bang Theory.

Neil deGrasse Tyson: So in your childhood, were there any science influences?

Mayim Bialik: There were a few. In junior high school I had a physics teacher who was very eccentric and would sometimes fall asleep while showing us slide shows, but he was a brilliant physicist. I went to a very unusual school: The 1980s sitcom Head of the Class, about a group of very smart and precocious children, was actually based on the school I went to. After junior high I had tutors on set because I was on this show Blossom from the time I was 14 to 19—

NT: No, you were not “on the show”—you were Blossom, to make that clear.

MB: Um, yes. OK. [Laughs]

NT: This saddens me. That one single person made a life difference to you—but how many students are missing that one person?

MB: The first answer is: Many girls are. I’m sure we could run the statistics on it. And that’s because of a historical difference in the representation of women in these STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math] fields and probably a cultural bias on the part of teachers and administrators. I think there’s been a shift in education since I was in school in the ’70s and ’80s, but then it was like, Oh, you’re not naturally good at math? Better try English—how’s your Chaucer?

NT: There are people who presume that unless something comes easily to them, they should never pursue it as a career—without realizing that some of the greatest achievements you ever attain are because you busted ass to reach that point.

MB: Yeah. If I had not gone to college, I might have kept acting and been happy like that. But I loved going to UCLA and doing something that was very challenging academically. I loved doing research with adolescents with special needs—that was seven years of my life. It was exciting to get my Ph.D. in 2007. But in terms of time to raise my two sons, the flexible life of an actor was better than the long hours of a research professor.

NT: Fast-forward to 2010 and The Big Bang Theory. Who would have guessed how popular this show would become?

MB: Not me! I had never seen it before I auditioned.

NT: On the show you play Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler, who’s a neuroscientist.

MB: She’s actually a neurobiologist … but I get to say neuroscience things.

NT: How much of your professional self do you bring to your character?

MB: Since the job of an actor is to present a character even if you’ve never been in that profession, I guess I have the easiest job—I don’t have to stretch that far.

NT: I try to imagine someone pitching the show idea to network executives: “Let’s have six scientists, and they’ll talk but you won’t know what they’re talking about, and they’ll crack jokes and they’ll laugh, but they won’t explain it to you.” I think it was low-hanging comedic fruit because no one had tackled it before.

MB: For sure. All the shows that I grew up with were about attractive people, and who had sex with who on which week. Meanwhile, our show is about the people who watch those shows.

The cast of geeky-scientist characters in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory includes neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik) and her boyfriend, physicist Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons).

NT: Might there ever be room in your show for a female character who’s more sexualized—but also a full-on scientist?

MB: We did an episode where the Bernadette character, a microbiologist, poses for a “sexy scientist” photo shoot and Amy has a very big problem with it.

NT: I remember that episode. Your character, Amy, sabotages the photo shoot.

MB: That’s right. When I do advocacy for STEM careers for young women, I’m often asked, What do you think about [the sexy-scientist stereotype of] the white shirt open with the black bra underneath? And you know, I don’t knock women or scientists who want to do that. For me, that’s not the way that I choose to portray women in science. I don’t think that’s the only way to generate interest. It might be the only way to get a certain population of men interested in women in science … But it’s not a personal goal of mine to further that notion of women scientists.

But then I got older and understood. Marine biology, working with animals, working in the environment—all those things are science. You like engineering? You want to do coding? Knock yourself out. There are many STEM careers that involve a lot of variety and a lot of creativity. And that’s what I think we need to try and communicate to girls as young as possible.

NT: That was awesome! That’s like the whole show right there.

MB: Thank you. And I didn’t even have to take my clothes off to do it.

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Science News Explores

Mayim bialik shares her stem inspiration.

The Big Bang Theory actress speaks to the National Science Teachers Association

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By Bethany Brookshire

April 7, 2014 at 9:21 am

BOSTON – Mayim Bialik , an actress famous for her role as a neuroscientist on The Big Bang Theory , actually has a neuroscience Ph.D. in real life. But, as she told attendees at the National Science Teachers Association meeting, here, getting that degree was challenging. Rewarding? Yes. But not every neuroscientist is a natural.

“I arrived late to the world of STEM [science, technology, engineering and math],” she says. Bialik explains that she felt talented in art and other subjects but “…when it came to science and math I really shrunk. It did not come naturally to me to understand science and math concepts. That leads to a lot of shame and lot of fear.”

Bialik credits her love of science with a single person: a young biology tutor. At the time, Bialik was a successful teen actress but needed coaching in her science class. “This woman was the first female role model I had,” Bialik recalls, “and it was literally that one woman…who gave me not only the skill set…but the confidence that I could be a scientist.”

She went on to study neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles. Now, as an actress on most watched television sitcom, Bialik seeks to break the stereotype of what a scientist is like. “I try to put a positive face on STEM and a female face in STEM,” she explains, “a lone scientist in a laboratory is not what science has to look like.” She also collaborates directly with scientists and Texas Instruments, sparking student interest with projects like Zombie Apocalypse . It introduces students to the principles of both neuroscience and infectious diseases.

But Bialik notes that while she revels in playing a scientist on TV, every educator has the capacity to become a STEM star in students’ lives. “We are all in a position to touch a student and make them believe in science,” she says. The Big Bang Theory might make the geek chic, but she argues that it really takes a science teacher to inspire.

Power Words

neuroscience  Science that deals with the structure or function of the brain and other parts of the nervous system. Researchers in this field are known as neuroscientists.

Ph.D.    (also known as a doctorate) Advanced degrees offered by universities — typically after five or six years of study — for work that creates new knowledge. People qualify to begin this type of graduate study only after having first completed a college degree (a program that typically takes four years of study).

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Mayim Bialik ’00, PhD.’07

Posted On - May 22, 2015

Does Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler on the ABC sitcom Big Bang Theory seem a little familiar to you? Maybe it's because you had a class with her at UCLA. Actress Mayim Bialik ’00, PhD.’07 who plays delightfully smart, funny and nerdy Amy earned her undergraduate, and doctorate degrees at UCLA. The actress even shares a similar field of study with her TV alter ego – Amy Farrah Fowler holds a doctorate in neuro-biology, while actress Bialik holds a doctorate in neuroscience.

From 1991 to 1995, Bialik played the eponymous role on NBC's Blossom , where she explored life's issues with slightly older and more experienced friend Six. Although “This week on a very special episode of Blossom …” became a standard punch line, the show earned wide respect for mixing drama with comedy in a frank exploration of weighty topics, such as substance abuse and having sex for the first time.

When Blossom ended, Bialik enrolled at UCLA, earning degrees in neuroscience, Jewish studies and Hebrew. She took a break from live acting, though she did voice work on some animated series, including Johnny Bravo, Hey Arnold and Kim Possible .

In 2005, Bialik took time out of her graduate studies in neuroscience to step in front of the cameras again, playing a fictionalized version of herself on Kirsty Alley's pseudo-reality Showtime series, Fat Actress . Bialik stole the show in a two-episode story arc, in which she reminds Alley that she is a genius by figuring out Alley's digital security code. Bialik also tapped into her neuroscience background, tells Alley about the Koi Theory of weight loss – a body shrinks to fit miniature surroundings – which turns out to be part Bialik’s evil revenge scheme.

Bialik first gained attention and critical praise playing a childhood version of Bette Midler's character in the 1988 film Beaches . Her other more recent appearances include the feature films Kalamazoo? (2005) and The Chicago 8 (2011) and television shows Curb Your Enthusiasm, Bones, Saving Grace and The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

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• Published: 30 May 2012

Turning point: Mayim Bialik

• Gene Russo  

Nature volume  485 ,  page 669 ( 2012 ) Cite this article

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14 June 2012 In the original version of this article, it wasn't clear that the quote about Stephen Hawking attributed to Kaley Cuoco was said by her character Penny during the show. This has now been rectified.

A Clarification to this article was published on 20 June 2012

Actress makes the shift from television to neuroscience and then back again.

Perhaps best known for her role as Blossom on the 1990s television programme of the same name, Mayim Bialik took the unusual step of turning away from television after the show ended to study science at university. Then, as she was about to earn her PhD in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles, Bialik became a mother. Although Bialik did get her PhD, parenthood ended her pursuit of a research post. It also led her to turn back to acting, this time on the scientist-centered comedy The Big Bang Theory.

How did you become interested in science?

I had tutors for every subject while I was working on Blossom . But it was a biology tutor who gave me the confidence to know that I could be a scientist — even though at first I had the feeling that science and mathematics were more for boys.

How did you end up doing a PhD?

Some of it was momentum. I studied neuroscience as an undergraduate. I was pleased to have a new life after Blossom . After that, I had to choose between medical and graduate school.

Were other students aware of your TV fame?

Blossom was a popular show, and most people knew who I was, even the professors. It was more acute as an undergraduate, but, with the exception of a few foreign graduate students, everyone knew who I was.

Did you have to overcome bias at university to be considered a 'serious scientist'?

I think some professors were harder on me than on other students. After I did poorly in an examination, I got some amazingly insensitive comments from a professor who basically said I was not cut out to be a scientist on the basis of this one test. Another professor brought his children to meet me after I did my final exam. That was actually kind of awkward.

Were you aware of how tough an academic career is?

Well, there is always a need for teachers, and that aspect of being a research professor was always something I was interested in. I figured that my husband and I would get into graduate programmes, and that I would eventually get a research and teaching job.

What role did the birth of your first child have in your decision to leave science?

I needed a lot of adjustment and recovery after giving birth. I was in the data-collection and analysis phase of my dissertation. It was hard. We never used child care, and we had decided that I was going to be the one to take care of our son. Of course, plenty of scientists go back to work after six weeks; new mothers' brains work just fine; but if you want to breastfeed on demand and be there for their formative years, it is hard to pursue tenure at the same time. I talked to some scientist mothers, who said they had chosen less-demanding career tracks. Being at home with your children can sometimes mean not reaching your academic potential. That is the reality. It may mean not running as big a laboratory or not having as many research projects going on.

You have studied the science of attachment behaviour in humans, the basis of your book Beyond the Sling . Did this actually end up pushing you away from science as a career?

Well, what I learned supported what intuitively felt right. Some women feel that if they want to compete in the workplace, they have to not give in to those intuitive feelings of 'I want to be with my child'. I didn't want to not give in.

Why did you return to television?

I wanted to be with my children. Also, we had finished graduate school, and needed health insurance — I got pregnant with my second son the week I filed my thesis. Once he was about one year old, I started going to auditions. All of us would pile into the car. I would breastfeed before running into the audition.

Your character in The Big Bang Theory is a neurobiologist. Did your background help you get the part?

The character wasn't a scientist when I first appeared on the show. When I came back the next season, co-creator Bill Prady made her a neurobiologist. He thought I could help fix things — the science details — if they got them wrong. We have a physics consultant on staff and our writers are generally very intelligent.

Why do you think it is important for a comedy to get the science right?

For a show about 'geekdom', it has to be authentic or it wouldn't work. Our physics consultant is David Saltzberg from the University of California, Los Angeles. Several of the writers happen to have science backgrounds or are just really well-read people. The show was co-created by Chuck Lorre, who loves details, and Bill, who is a genuine nerd from way back. So we are just a meticulous bunch.

Do you worry that the show reinforces scientist stereotypes?

From working in science, I know people who are like all of the characters. But it's entertainment, and it needs to be entertaining.

What was it like to meet British physicist Stephen Hawking when he was a special guest on The Big Bang Theory ?

It was a powerful experience on so many levels, especially to see his caregivers and to see how loving they are and how deeply cared for he is. He did smile at a lot of the jokes during the run-through. The biggest smile came when the character Penny — played by Kaley Cuoco — said, “I know who Stephen Hawking is! He's the wheelchair guy who invented time.”

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14 june 2012.

In the original version of this article, it wasn't clear that the quote about Stephen Hawking attributed to Kaley Cuoco was said by her character Penny during the show. This has now been rectified.

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Mayim bialik.

by Michele Byers Last updated June 23, 2021

Actress, author, and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik, 2018.

Mayim Bialik is an American actor, writer, and neuroscientist. Bialik began acting as a child and rose to fame when she starred in the sitcom Blossom in the 1990s. After the series ended, she pursued higher education, culminating with a PhD in Neuroscience. As an adult, Bialik became more religiously observant, eventually identifying as Modern Orthodox, something she would later write and speak about publicly. After completing her PhD, Bialik returned to acting. In 2010 she began playing the role of Amy Farrah-Fowler on the hit sitcom Big Bang Theory . Bialik has written books and articles on childhood, parenting, food, and other subjects. She has been criticized for her writings about Arianna Grande and the Harvey Weinstein case, as well as for her promotion of a form of attachment parenting.

Actor, writer, and neuroscientist Mayim Chaya Bialik was born December 12, 1975, in San Diego, California, to a primarily Eastern European Jewish family. Her parents, Barry Bialik and Beverly Winkleman, grew up in The Bronx, where their own parents had landed after immigrating from Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. While raised Reform, Bialik later came to identify as Modern Orthodox. She has one brother, Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik, who is an artist living in California.

Early Career

Bialik came to most people’s attention as a child actor in the 1980s and 1990s, first as the young version of Bette Midler ’s C.C. Bloom in Beaches (1988) and then as the quirky title character in the sitcom Blossom (1990-1995).

Mayim Bialik, like many young sitcom stars, was by turns awkward and wholesome, precocious and star turned. In her pictures she was often styled in a way that conjures Barbra Streisand . She is stunning and stylish, and yet not conventionally beautiful (especially by the standards of the 1980s). Her characters tend to be quirky—always more Amy (the awkward, academic character she later played in The Big Bang Theory ) than Penny (the blond bombshell in Big Bang ). Later, Jewishness and observant Jewishness became the subject of her own and others’ scrutiny (and part of her celebrity brand).

Academic Accomplishments

After graduating from North Hollywood High School and wrapping Blossom , Bialik attended UCLA, earning a BSc in neuroscience with Minors in Hebrew and Jewish Studies. She eventually completed a PhD in Neuroscience at UCLA, graduating in 2007 with a doctoral dissertation entitled Hypothalamic Regulation in Relation to Maladaptive, Obsessive-Compulsive, Affiliative, and Satiety Behaviours in Prader-Willi Syndrome . In interviews, she noted that while she had assumed her career trajectory would be academic, a return to acting offered her the work/life balance she wanted as a mother.

Return to Acting

As luck would have it, a perfect role was right around the corner: Amy Farrah-Fowler, the neuroscientist girlfriend of theoretical physicist (and lead) Sheldon Cooper, in the surprising network hit The Big Bang Theory. She joined the cast in 2010, for season four, and stayed for the next nine seasons. Big Bang catapulted her back into the celebrity spotlight.

Return to celebrity offered Bialik a host of possibilities other than acting that might never have occurred had she steered the less recognized course towards academia. She published several books, including Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parent Way (with Jay Gordon, 2012), Mayim’s Vegan Table (with Jay Gordon, 2014), Girling Up: How to Be Strong, Smart and Spectacular (2017), and Boying Up: How to be Brave, Bold and Brilliant (2018); she also wrote regularly for Jewish parenting website Kveller and founded the website GrokNation , an online magazine about “contemporary issues” featuring blog posts on subjects like “embracing imperfection,” “My first mammogram,” “Life after ‘Big Bang Theory,’” and “I don’t have just one BFF, I have many, and that’s okay.”

Controversies and Complexities

Return to celebrity life was not entirely easy for Bialik, and she has been embroiled in a number of controversies. In 2014, in a blog post on Kveller , she juxtaposed her “liberal” but “old-fashioned” modest, maternal self with Arianna Grande, commenting on a billboard she had recently seen: “I will go ahead and admit I have no idea who she is or what she does. Based on the billboard, she  sells lingerie . Or stiletto heels. Or plastic surgery because every woman over 22 wishes she has that body, I’m sure. Why is she in her underwear on this billboard though? And if she has a talent (is she a singer?), then why does she have to sell herself in lingerie?” While Bialik does not connect her critique to Orthodoxy in this piece (beyond mentioning that “my kids have clothes they only wear to synagogue”), the link is implicit, particularly given that religious observance has been so much a part of Bialik’s brand in recent years. The post was widely reported, but writers expressed less incredulity at Bialik’s critique of Grande than of her claim to have no idea who the pop star was.

More serious pushback came 2017 when, in response to emerging allegations about Harvey Weinstein, Bialik wrote a controversial Op Ed for The New York Times . In that piece, she wrote, “I have decided that my sexual self is best reserved for private situations with those I am most intimate with. I dress modestly. I don’t act flirtatiously with men as a policy.” Some saw this particular part of her piece as victim-blaming, suggesting that ways of dressing and acting are what lead to rape and sexual assault; actors Gabrielle Union, Patricia Arquette, and Emily Ratajkowski responded angrily on Twitter. Author Ijeoma Olou and others took issue with what they saw as Bialik’s suggestion that she was never assaulted or harassed because she wasn’t conventionally beautiful or sexy. Bialik responded to the storm by insisting that hers had always been a feminist voice.

Bialik also made headlines as an advocate of attachment parenting when she wrote about some of her unconventional ideas, including “diaperless potty-training, co-sleeping, and child-led weaning,” as well as “babywearing” and “no yelling or time outs” (Li 2012). Bialik has also talked about the complexities of being a feminist and of being religious in Hollywood. (See, for example Josephs 2019, Saad 2015, Stone 2015.) Religion is hardly invisible in Hollywood, but, in general, it has been stories about religious people (i.e. Big Love, Unorthodox ) rather than the religiosity of celebrities themselves that have been of interest. The relative paucity of representations of (even Modern) Orthodox Jews in mainstream mass culture only underscores this divide. Bialik herself has tried to live at this intersection. While an extremely successful artist, she has repeatedly pointed to the unique situation she finds herself in, as one of the few observant, working actors in Hollywood.

Jewish Religiosity on Screen

A systematic screening of Big Bang reveals some fascinating (and funny) female-identified characters. But this Jewish-helmed series could only find a space for Jewishness to be explicitly present as Jewish masculinity (through the character of Howard). What would Big Bang have been like if Amy could have been Amy… but Jewish? Maybe instead of a Carrie -esque mother who locked her in the closet and who wrote, in her yearbook: “Dear Amy, self-respect and a hymen are better than friends and fun. Love, mom” (5003 “The Pulled Groin Extrapolation”), Amy could have had science-loving Jewish parents, who gloried in her desire to cut up brains and figure out how things worked and bragged about it to all their friends and neighbours. The hilarious possibilities for scenes in which Sheldon and Amy plan their wedding, bringing Amy’s Jewish relatives together with Sheldon’s Texan mishpocha making a chuppah out of a flag, and signing a Ketubah written in Klingon, cannot be denied. Mayim Bialik certainly does not need to play Modern Orthodox Jewish characters, but this may have been a missed opportunity for Big Bang .

The comedic possibilities of Bialik’s Modern Orthodox identity are revealed in an episode of the little-known Canadian webseries, Yid Life Crisis . The series is set in contemporary Montreal; its two main characters are Chaimie and Leizer, Yiddish-speaking, somewhat traditional (Leizer) and somewhat iconoclastic (Chaimie) Jews. In the second season episode “Double Date,” Bialik appears as Chaya (her real middle name), a neurosurgeon seeking a partner who shares her “traditional Jewish values.” She has been set up on a blind date with Leizer, but Chaimie comes along too. In a reversal of the typical religious match-making interview, she interviews them. At one point, the two men take out their cell phones, and pretend to talk to their mothers while actually talking about her, in Yiddish, to each other. She watches, a strange look on her face, and then takes out her own cell phone, and responds to them, in Yiddish, via her own “mom,” stating that: “She is stuck with two schmendriks, wasting her time.” They all put away their phones, and she continues, asking them a barrage of questions in Yiddish. As the episode ends, she stands and says: “OK gentlemen, I think I have everything I need. I’ll be in touch and I’ve already taken care of the cheque.” “Wait,” they clamour after her, “That’s it? We didn’t get to ask you any questions.” To which she responds: “Oh, you’ll get the opportunity to do that next time... And I may choose to show you that I am warm, affectionate, sensitive, charitable, pretty witty, and very, very sexy… but it really just depends on how it goes.”

“September 1994.” JustSeventeen , Sept. 30th, 2016. < https://justseventeen.tumblr.com/post/151151089591/september-1994-we-tr… ;

< https://superradnow.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/tumblr_l1tp2jxvbp1qz7q2… ;

Yidlifecrisis.com

Bialik, Mayim. “Mayim Bialik: Being a Feminist in Hervey Weinstein’s World.” Op-Ed. New York Times, October 13, 2017. < https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/13/opinion/mayim-bialik-feminist-harvey… ;.

Bialik, Mayim. “The Problem With That Giant Billboard of Ariana Grande.” Kveller . September 12, 2014. < https://www.kveller.com/mayim-bialik-the-problem-with-that-giant-billbo… ;

Faghaly, N. and Eden Leone, eds. The Sexy Science of Big Bang Theory: Essays on Gender in the Series . Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2015.

Josephs, Allison. “Excvlusive Interview with Mayim Bialik on being most Observant Actress in Hollywood.” Jew in the City, May 22, 2019. < https://jewinthecity.com/2019/05/exclusive-interview-with-mayim-bialik-… ;

Li, Anita. “Big Bang Star Mayim Bialik writes controversial parenting book.”  https://www.thestar.com/life/2012/03/06/big_bang_star_mayim_bialik_writ…

McIntosh, Heather. “Representations of Female Scientists in The Big Bang Theory .” Journal of Popular Film & Television 42 (4) 2014: 195-204.

Saad, Nardine. “Mayim Bialik on Religion in Hollywood.” Los Anegeles Times , August 24, 2015. < https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/13/opinion/mayim-bialik-feminist-harvey… ;

Sartain, Jeffrey A. “Geeksploitation: Gender and Genius in The Big Bang Theory .” Genius on Television , edited by A. L. Carlson, 96-112 Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2015: 96–112.

Spiegel, Julia. “The Big Theory on the (Not So) Bangin’ Jewish Mother.” In The Sexy Science of Big Bang Theory: Essays on Gender in the Series . edited by N. Faghaly and Eden Leone, 51-71. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2015.

Stone, Natalie. “Mayim Bialik: It’s not ‘trendy to be observant or religious’ in Hollywood.” CNN.com , August 25, 2015. < https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/25/entertainment/mayim-bialik-religious-thr… ;

Weitekamp, Margaret A. “’We’re Physicists’: Gender, Gender and the image of scientists in The Big Bang Theory.” The Journal of Popular Television 3 (1). 2015: 75–92.

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How to cite this page

Byers, Michele. "Mayim Bialik." Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women . 23 June 2021. Jewish Women's Archive. (Viewed on March 28, 2024) <http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/bialik-mayim>.

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Mayim Bialik says she's 'struggled with mental illness' her whole life

Whether you know her from the hit '90s TV show Blossom , her award-winning work on The Big Bang Theory or her latest primetime sitcom Call Me Kat, Mayim Bialik has spent a lifetime in the spotlight.

But her latest endeavor sees her charting a new course. Armed with a PhD in neuroscience and her own personal experience, the Emmy-nominated actress uses her podcast, Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown, to help others wade through the murky waters of mental health.

"I've struggled with mental illness really my whole life and have started becoming more vocal about it," Bialik says.

Bialik shares that during the pandemic, she and her partner and podcast co-host, Jonathan Cohen , noticed a lot of their friends were dealing with mental health challenges as a result of stay-at-home orders but didn't know the signs or how to identify what they were feeling.

"Friends of mine who never really experienced anxiety were like, 'I'm having trouble sleeping and my stomach really hurts. What's going on?'" she shares. "It's like, 'You're having anxiety! You didn't know what that is!' So many people don't have a basic vocabulary for what they're experiencing."

The Call Me Kat star says her podcast has been helpful as a way of learning what people are going through. By answering people's questions, she wants to help "to make the world of mental health smaller."

Bialik hopes that as more public figures – especially athletes – speak out about struggling with mental health, as it can encourage more people to reach out for help.

"When anyone who has a facade that people think is unbreakable, when those people speak up, it's very very important," she says. "It does make a difference in breaking that stigma and allowing people to see that mental health, it does not discriminate. There's no amount of money that makes you immune."

Read more from Yahoo Life

Priyanka Chopra Jonas on mental health and why her confidence 'has nothing to do with my body'

Lizzo gets candid about mental health: 'I don't want to feel this way anymore'

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Mayim Bialik: 'I See the World as a Neuroscientist'

Bialik, who has a degree in neuroscience, talks brain care and her new mental health podcast.

Mayim Bialik and Brain Health

Mayim Bialik played a neuroscientist on "The Big Bang Theory" – fitting, because she's trained as one in real life too. During Brain Awareness Week – which she jokes is every week for her – Bialik joined U.S. News to talk about how she cares for her brain, her new mental health podcast and much more.

Here are some (lightly edited) highlights from the conversation:

Getty Images

Happy Brain Awareness Week! How are you? And how has your brain been during this traumatic past year?

It's an exceptional time, obviously, in global history – for a lot of reasons – and it's an exceptional time in U.S. history. No matter what side of the political divide you're on, it's been a very confusing year. Our brains are working differently than they ever have before. As someone who is a neuroscientist, I tend to think about the impact on our mental health – and that's our brain – and our physical health – and that's our brain. So for me, every day is Brain Awareness Day.

What was your path to becoming a neuroscientist?

I was an actor in my teen years but fell in love with science when I was a teenager. I never thought math and science were for me. I mean, I was always fascinated the way that young people tend to be about all sorts of things, but I didn't have naturally rapid proficiency with the sciences, and so I assumed it just wasn't for me. It wasn't until I had a one-on-one tutor – a female role model – when I was working on the set of "Blossom," which was the show I was on when I was a teenager. Working one-on-one with her allowed me to see that it's not that science isn't for me – the way that it was taught to me wasn't for me.

I was able to to learn and to capture these concepts and to want to live as a scientist. So after "Blossom" ended, I was out of Hollywood pretty much for 12 years, and I did my undergraduate degree in neuroscience and Hebrew Jewish studies, and then I went straight to a PhD program. I got married to someone that I met in calculus class, which is very sweet, and we are divorced now, but we did have two nerdy children together.

I taught neuroscience and designed a curriculum for junior high and high school homeschoolers that I taught for about five years after getting my degree. I eventually returned to acting – on "The Big Bang Theory," which is a show I had never seen before, because I was a nerdy mom – because I ran out of health insurance.

Here we are all these years later, and I see the world as a neuroscientist. I see the world through the lens of science and physics and, in particular, neuropsychiatry.

How do your tend to your brain health?

The most important thing happening in our body is our brain, and it's actually the thing we don't think about the most, in the ways that I think we should.

The notion of rest – and I don't just mean sleep – is very important. We need space for our brain to get to do what it does, and when we try and pack it with things, it will often start affecting other parts of our body.

I take supplements of various kinds – like Neuriva for brain health. I'm also a jigsaw puzzle person, and I've found that meditation is a really good way to give your brain some breathing space and and be able to function better.

You follow a vegan diet. Do you think that style of eating benefits your brain?

The decision to be vegan was a very long process. I was a vegetarian starting when I left my parents' home.

It's a combination of an ethical and moral and spiritual belief system, and there are tremendous pieces of evidence pointing to the fact that we all need to eat less processed foods, less meat and less dairy.

For me, the ability to have a diet that feels so in line with my moral and ethical and also physical comfort is important. But it's also important to note that everyone still gets to make their own decisions.

I'm not trying to be a political vegan, because I know how people feel about us. But it's the best choice it's the best choice for my health and my children's health and nutrition, you know monitors as closely so.

Tell us about your new mental health podcast, Mayim Bialik's Breakdown.

I started the podcast during a year when a lot of us were not able to go out and not able to do things, and I noticed that my mental health really took a hit. I was someone who already had a vocabulary for that and experience with that (and a therapist I was already seeing twice a week). What I noticed, though, is a lot of people didn't have that vocabulary or a relationship with someone to support them, and they were really struggling.

So my partner Jonathan Cohen and I started this podcast to try and explain – not what you should do, but what we've tried, what has worked, what doesn't work and how we're all in a process of figuring it out. We have guests who are experts and experts in their own mental health, and it's been a lot of work. But it's also very joyful to get to talk to people about mental health in a way that's very, very raw and honest, and not just like, 'I'm a celebrity and here's what you should do.'

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Mayim Bialik

Class of 2000, Ph.D. 2007

HER ART IMITATES A LIFE OF SCIENCE.

Playing neurobiologist Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler on the CBS hit Big Bang Theory isn’t much of a stretch for neuroscientist Dr. Mayim Bialik. The child star of NBC’s 90’s-era smash Blossom , the show that made the phrase “a very special episode” a pop-culture staple, appeared on some of the most beloved TV shows of the past 30 years. She also is a very special four-time Emmy-nominated actor, scientist and author of a book on holistic parenting, “Beyond the Sling.” But the Los Angeles native and daughter of first-generation American teachers and documentary filmmakers walks what she talks as an advocate of issues as diverse as attachment parenting, veganism and traditional Jewish values.

How Will You Prove Your Theory?

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then   View saved stories .

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Mayim Bialik Answers 50 of the Most Googled Neuroscience Questions

Released on 08/26/2020

How does the nervous system work?

The nervous system works with a lot of

magic from the universe.

Do I get another PhD after I finish this?

[bell ringing]

Hi, I'm Mayim Bialik and I'm here with Wired

to answer the 50 most Googled questions about neuroscience.

[hip hop music]

Is neuroscience a biological science?

I'm going to say yes. [bell ringing]

It's about biological systems, yes.

What nervous system controls breathing?

Autonomic nervous system [bell ringing]

is in charge of breathing structures.

What nervous system controls heart rate?

That would be sympathetic/parasympathetic?

How does the autonomic nervous system affect the heart rate?

By making it go up or making it go down.

[bell ringing] [imitates honking]

How do hallucinogens affect the central nervous system?

Hallucinogens affect the central nervous system

by changing the distribution of neurotransmitter

[bell ringing] and specifically,

crossing modalities, creating synesthetic experiences

where auditory and visual information

effectively gets crossed. [bell ringing]

What neurotransmitters are involved in schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is a varied disorder

that can involve paranoia,

and delusions, and depersonalization.

Dopamine, serotonin, [bell ringing]

and obviously all of the other neurotransmitters,

but specifically those for schizophrenia.

What is neurotransmitter testing?

Neurotransmitter testing is testing,

I guess amounts of dopamine and serotonin,

[bell ringing] which are typically done from

swabs, but I guess you could do it from blood maybe?

Cerebrospinal fluid?

Which neurotransmitter acts to facilitate learning?

That's a really difficult question to answer.

All of your neurotransmitters contribute

to everything about you.

The way that we learn is really because of a lot of things,

it's because of attention, it's because of mood,

it's because of reward activation.

Mine's a more philosophical answer,

but I don't know the structure of the brain

that they're talking about, which is probably

glutamate regulating. [bell ringing]

Which neurotransmitter is associated

with Parkinson's disease?

Parkinson's disease is a basal ganglia disease,

that would be dopamine as the

[bell ringing] primary neurotransmitter.

How information travels in the nervous system.

All sorts of crazy ways, up, down, sideways, inside out.

Information travels from the brain to the spinal cord

and out to the periphery,

[bell ringing] and then from the periphery

back into the spinal cord, and back up to the brain.

How does a stroke affect the nervous system?

Well, it depends where the stroke is.

There's specific kinds of regions of the brain

where a stoke will lead to paralysis

or the inability to speak.

Certain strokes will affect very interesting things,

they'll make you think that you don't understand

peoples' faces, there's so many different things

it can affect.

[bell ringing] Having the blood supply

cut off will impair a region of the brain,

is the most basic definition of a stroke, though.

What is neuroscience perspective?

Neuroscience perspective is seeing the world

as a series of motivations, and thoughts, and feelings

[bell ringing] that impact biological

processes and affect how we interact with the world.

How many neurons are in the nervous system?

I don't remember.

[bell ringing] [laughs]

What neurotransmitter controls the somatic nervous system?

The somatic nervous system

is the nervous system associated with sensory information.

For me, that's gonna kind of be

many, all of them?

I mean, impulses are always

regulated by GABA, by glutamate, and

[bell ringing] Acetylcholine is one of them.

Are eyes part of the nervous system?

I love this question.

Yes. [bell ringing]

The retina and the optic nerve

are part of the nervous system.

What are excitatory neurotransmitters?

Excitatory neurotransmitters are transmitters

that have a plus sign, as it were.

They lead to an increase [bell ringing]

in secretion or an increase in activity.

What sends neurotransmitters toward the next neuron?

Oh, I could talk about this for days.

Neurotransmitters are packaged in vesicles

and they move along microtubule filaments

[bell ringing] along the Axon.

What are neurotransmitters and how do they function?

Holy Toledo.

Neurotransmitters are chemicals that are produced

in the brain and the body that act on

other parts of the brain and body.

[bell ringing] They are the main

communication module for the nervous system.

They function by binding to receptors

and the binding onto receptors opens up different channels

and activity that then leads to other neurotransmitter

being released. [bell ringing]

How are hormones different from neurotransmitters?

Hormones are typically generated

outside of the nervous system, as it were.

There are neurohormones.

It really depends on what things are acting on,

and why, and how,

but neurotransmitters, typically, are generated

in the central nervous system [bell ringing]

and hormones can be generated and modulated

outside, as well.

How does nicotine affect the nervous system?

Nicotine affects the nervous system

in a lot of excitatory ways. [bell ringing]

Nicotine also does have inhibitory effects

[bell ringing] and can lead to feelings

of relaxation and decrease in agitation.

What is a synapse in the nervous system?

Well, I went to UCLA, and the cafe that we had

in the neuroscience building was called Cafe Synapse

because it's where things come together.

That's right, folks, a synapse is where two neurons meet

[bell ringing] and release information

and that's where things come together.

How does the digestive system work with the nervous system?

Pretty darn well [bell ringing]

for most people!

How does the nervous system and

endocrine system work together?

Well, since my field is psychoneuroendocrinology,

I should know a lot about this, and indeed I do.

The endocrine system is typically the

hypothalamic pituitary axis.

HPA includes the adrenals,

and hormones are released from the pituitary gland,

and then flow through the body and the hypothalamus,

and then become part of the nervous system,

where they affect the brain

and all sorts of behavioral and biological functions.

[bell ringing repeatedly]

They work together really well.

How to keep your nervous system healthy.

Well, this is a wonderful question!

Get a lot of sleep, drink a lot of water,

eat as simply as possible,

[bell ringing] do not drink alcohol at all

if you can avoid it.

[bell ringing] I would say avoid

as much pharmaceutical impact in your life

as is possible, [bell ringing]

and avoid illicit drugs.

They're generally not good for your nervous system.

[bell ringing] Learn how to breathe properly,

meditate, and please go to therapy.

What neurotransmitter causes migraines?

I get migraines and I don't know the answer to this.

I think migraines are caused by stress.

That's my unofficial, non-doctor opinion.

[buzzer ringing] I could list all the people

that give me migraines and none of them

are the names of neurotransmitters.

Is neuroscience a good major?

Hell yeah, it is!

[bell ringing] You get to learn about

the brain and nervous system,

you get to learn about the fact that

we exist, we have consciousness,

we can communicate, we can love, we can hate,

we can change, we can grow, that's why it's

not only a good major, it's a good grounding for life.

[claps hands] So there.

How does caffeine affect the nervous system?

Caffeine affects the nervous system

by doing a lot of excitatory things.

[bell ringing] It increases your heart rate,

it will make you go poop and pee

'cause it's a diuretic, and it does increase

alertness and vigilance,

which also can lead to a crash,

a caffeine crash, and it is addictive,

so it affects the nervous system by

getting the nervous system used to having it

as a normal way to function

and it resets your sense of normal,

so that's why when you quit caffeine,

you go into withdrawal.

How the nervous system works with other systems.

[hums in interest]

The nervous system works with other systems

by being connected through the series of peripheral nerves

that exist, meaning [bell ringing]

all organs send information to the nervous system.

I like to think of the nervous system as

the main system because it's your brain,

your spinal cord, and all of the nerves

that serve the rest of your body,

so it's kind of the master system.

How does the skeletal system work with the nervous system?

Certain skeletal systems support

the most important aspects of the nervous system,

so the skull, this thing,

it's actually the holding place for the brain,

the lobes of the brain, and all the things about the brain,

and the entire vertebral system,

the vertebrae of your spinal cord

are actually protecting a very, very important

passage of information from your brain

to the rest of your body,

so the skeletal system [bell ringing]

is the scaffold to protect the nervous system.

Where are neurotransmitters made?

Neurotransmitters are made anywhere you want them to be.

mostly brain.

In the middle of the brain. [bell ringing]

Yes, all the little parts.

That's a terrible answer. [laughs]

Are cranial nerves part of the central nervous system?

Cranial nerves I think would be considered

the peripheral nervous system. [bell ringing]

Brain, spinal cord, periphery.

For the love of Pete.

How many neurotransmitters are there?

Let's say between three and four dozen.

Is acetylcholine a neurotransmitter?

Yeah, it is. [bell ringing]

How does diabetes affect the nervous system?

Because of the changes in blood glucose levels,

this can cause strain on blood vessels.

[bell ringing] I'm thinking as I'm answering.

There are also cognitive shifts that happen

because of diabetes.

What kind of chemical is released at a synapse?

A neurochemical. [bell ringing]

Also known as a neurotransmitter.

Which neurotransmitter is associated with depression?

That would be serotonin. [bell ringing]

Dopamine sometimes is implicated as well,

and because everybody's brain is different,

not everyone has the same kind of depression,

and if you have depression that is

part of manic depression, you might need

a different kind of treatment or understanding

of your neurotransmitter system.

But classical depression, serotonin.

How do neurotransmitters influence behavior?

By communicating every thought,

every movement we have.

[bell ringing] The way that you exist

is because of electrical signals caused by

the release of neurotransmitter.

There's nothing about you, even love,

that cannot be explained by neurotransmitter.

How does alcohol affect the nervous system?

Alcohol's a depressant.

Alcohol will first affect the cells of the cerebellum,

those are the ones back here,

and they affect the things that you most frequently see

when you do a sobriety test.

Your ability to do fine motor control,

to walk a line, to do this one.

It affects the general nervous system

with a lot of psychological and psychiatric impact

that's gonna vary by human,

and alcohol's a toxin, so your body perceives it as such,

and all of the changes that happen when you have alcohol

are essentially your body processing

so that it can get rid of the alcohol.

How does the nervous system

help the body maintain homeostasis?

Well, the nervous system is what maintains homeostasis

[bell ringing] through a lot of

different things.

The hypothalamus is your main friend for this.

The hypothalamus maintains body temperature,

urinary levels, hunger, puberty, circadian rhythms,

basically regulating every single organ system.

Homeostasis is the nervous system, that's its goal.

Is dopamine a neurotransmitter?

[bell ringing] Aw yeah.

with sleep, mood, and appetite?

It really depends on what's happening

with sleep, mood, and appetite.

I'm gonna go ahead and go for [bell ringing]

serotonin will mess up all of those.

What is neuroscience psychology?

Neuroscience psychology, or neuropsych, as we call it,

is an emphasis on

[bell ringing] the underlying nervous system

substrates of psychological phenomenon.

How does cannabis affect the nervous system?

How doesn't cannabis affect the nervous system

really should be this question.

Cannabis affects the nervous system

by binding two cannabinoid receptors, duh,

and those receptors do a lot surrounding relaxation,

relaxation of muscles, literally.

Cannabis stimulates appetite.

If you think of people who use it medicinally,

for example, for chemotherapy,

it can reduce nausea and it has analgesic effects,

it has numbing effects.

That sort of, like, [bell ringing]

high feeling that people report

is typically an ability to have

a strong connection with your sensory systems,

and that can make you feel really, really happy.

What does multiple sclerosis do to the nervous system?

Multiple sclerosis causes demyelination of axons.

[bell ringing] Myelin is the fat

that lines axons, which is how a neuron

communicates information from the cell body

to the dendrites, and once that myelin,

that fat is broken down, it makes it much harder

for electrical impulses to travel.

So, it makes communication between cells harder.

Why nervous system important?

Why is the nervous system important?

Because it is the foundation of your existence as a human,

both physically and metaphysically.

[bell ringing] The brain and the

nervous system, your spinal cord, and all your nerves

are everything about how you interact with the world,

including what you love, what you hate,

how you can even process what I'm saying right now,

and your position in space, and your acknowledgement

that we are hurdling through the universe at high speed

and not flying off the planet,

and we exist now, and we'll exist tomorrow.

All that is your nervous system.

Is epinephrine a neurotransmitter?

Which systems comprise the nervous system?

There's the central nervous system,

that's the brain and the spinal cord,

and there's the peripheral nervous system,

[bell ringing] which is the nerves

on the periphery.

What are nervous system disorders?

There are a lot of nervous system disorders.

Let's see, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's,

muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, pretty much all

of psychiatric challenges.

You know, depression anxiety, [bell ringing]

obsessive compulsive disorder,

dissociative identity disorder,

I could go on. [bell ringing]

It has information that's produced in the brain

that's sent down the spinal cord

to the peripheral nervous system,

receives information from the outside world,

brings it back in, sends it up the spinal cord,

then your brain processes it,

[bell ringing] and you act, and think,

and feel, and exist.

What is the nervous system?

The nervous system is the series of cells

that comprise the brain and the spinal cord

[bell ringing] and allows you to perceive

your body, your feelings,

and interact with the outside world, feel, and think.

Your nervous system is you.

Those were the 50 most googled questions on neuroscience.

Thank you for watching, hope I did okay.

Starring : Mayim Bialik

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• Mayim Bialik

IMDbPro Starmeter Top 5,000 219

• Contact info
• 6 wins & 32 nominations total

• CC (age 11)

• Amy Farrah Fowler
• 2010–2019 • 203 eps

• Blossom Russo
• 1990–1995 • 114 eps

• Wallace Kid
• The B.O.O.T.H. (voice)
• In Development

• 53 episodes

• Amy Farrah Fowler (voice)

• Dr. Gem Jeodopolis (voice)
• 203 episodes

• Meeya Beeyonick

• Willoughby (voice)

• Stephanie Michelle Hunt

• Sphinx (voice)

• Lady Lightning (voice)

• B.O.O.T.H. (voice)
• executive producer

• field producer

• In-development projects at IMDbPro

Personal details

• Blossom Russo from Blossom
• 5′ 4″ (1.63 m)
• December 12 , 1975
• San Diego, California, USA
• Michael Stone August 31, 2003 - May 1, 2013 (divorced, 2 children)
• Children Frederick Heschel Bialik Stone
• Parents Beverly Bialik
• Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik (Sibling)
• Other works TV Commercial: McDonald's
• 3 Interviews
• 6 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

• Trivia Plays piano, trumpet, bass guitar, as well as the harp which she learned to play for The Big Bang Theory (2007) .
• Quotes The fact is safe co-sleeping is not difficult. The notion of babies being smothered is simply not true. And the benefits of sleeping together are profound.
• Salaries The Big Bang Theory ( 2007 ) $20,000 -$30,000 per episode (2010-2013)
• How old is Mayim Bialik?
• When was Mayim Bialik born?
• Where was Mayim Bialik born?

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Mayim Bialik Just Wants to Talk

By Rosemary Counter

Mayim Bialik has three decades of steady success on screens big and small, a neuroscience PhD, an adorable family with two teenaged boys, a sweet gig hosting Jeopardy! alongside Ken Jennings, and a hunky Canadian partner—both personal and professional—in Jonathan Cohen, with whom she makes her popular pandemic-born podcast, Mayim Bialik ’ s Breakdown . She is not, however, actually having a breakdown. (As the catchy theme song by Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson goes, “She’s gonna break it down for you, ’cause you know she knows a thing or two.”)

The podcast is what we’re talking about today since the 47-year-old Blossom and Big Bang Theory star is a strong supporter of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes—last May, in fact, she was among the first celebrities to take an overt stand by declining to host Jeopardy ’s new season until the writers got a fair deal. (Which they did, just this week .)

The four-time Emmy nominee could have put her head down and feet up in the meantime, but instead, she’s doubled down on Breakdown. Bialik’s guests mostly fall into one of two camps: doctors, scientists, and psychologists discussing neurobiology, mindfulness, meditation, and mental health, or Hollywood types she’s invited for a casual chat about “where they are mental health wise.” As Bialik discloses her own anxieties and traumas, so too do her guests. Ricki Lake has dished on her menstrual cycle, Nikki Glaser on losing her virginity, and Chelsea Handler on repressed grief following her brother’s death. Hard science, new age wellness, and celebrity disclosures blend together to make a show that’s like eavesdropping on someone else’s therapy session.

How does Bialik have the nerve to ask Dustin Hoffman about his distant father, or Ben Stiller about the struggles in his marriage? I called her up to discuss the unique perils of being a child actor, her fervent support of the SAG strike, and whether she ever gets starstruck.

Vanity Fair: I’m a bit nervous to chat because of the SAG strike, which I know you’re a big supporter of, so please yell if I break a rule.

Mayim Bialik: There’s a lot of complexity to this, but my general statement is always that I come from a union family. My grandparents were immigrants who worked in sweatshops, and my parents were public school teachers. While it’s not for me to personally judge anyone else’s decision, for me, I am a union supporter—pretty much all unions and what they fight for. I believe in that system even if it’s not perfect. I believe in getting educated about why people strike and what they’re striking for.

Let’s talk about the podcast. Many of your guests are child stars—Jennette McCurdy, Mara Wilson, Jodie Sweetin, Jenna von Oy. Is this your posse in real life, or are you particularly interested in that journey?

Our initial goal was to have experts and specialists on the show. We started during Covid, when a lot of people were feeling a spike in things like anticipatory anxiety—the entire world, really, to some extent. We initially leaned on people in my circle, like Wil Wheaton, who really inspires me to be open about mental health challenges. We asked people if they’d talk to us about where they came from and where they are in terms of mental wellness. Lots of celebrities have come on the podcast and shared their struggles, which I don’t think they have because they live publicly but because living publicly tends to highlight or exacerbate the issues that we all deal with.

It is hard to convince people to come on and spill their guts?

So far, not really. We’ve had everyone from spiritual psychologist Michael Singer to Matthew McConaughey to Ben Stiller. Leslie Jordan talked so openly about crystal meth and what it was like to come out as gay. One of the things we most hear people say is, “I’ve never told anyone this!” Maybe there’s something about the way Jonathan and I talk to people that makes them want to talk to us. We’re not trying to get dirt or be gossipy, but I think more and more people are realizing the more we talk about this, the better we’ll all be.

Maybe you missed your calling as a therapist. Is there anyone you really want to get on the podcast but can’t?

Hah, yes! I’ve been trying to get Weird Al. He says he doesn’t have anything to talk about, but my feeling is everyone has something. We’re very happy to talk to people just about their journey. To them, we say, we’re not looking to dredge up dirt or make anyone uncomfortable. But once we start talking, they are comfortable, so they trust us. When I’m vulnerable, when Jonathan’s vulnerable, people seem to open up. I’m not a therapist, but I’ve sure sat in a lot of therapist’s rooms.

By Savannah Walsh

By Kara Warner

Do you have an interview strategy or style? Did you get any training?

To be perfectly honest, no. Jonathan, my co-host, he’s the one who trained me most about how to interview. I’m really shy to ask people sometimes about things that are too personal—especially if they’re public figures. Jonathan is much more skilled at podcasts so he’s given me some general guidelines. Joe Rogan’s had tremendous success, and while I don’t emulate everything he does, his style inspires me. I’m just generally fascinated by people: Where did they come from? How did they become the way they are? There’s almost always something in someone’s family—drama, intensity, alcoholism, death—to be uncovered.

With the SAG strike and the pandemic, you’ve got a bit of a perfect storm happening in terms of getting personal about mental health.

That’s exactly right. Especially during the strike, people have to come on just to want to talk, rather than promote a film or show. That’s a nice change.

Any tips for working with your partner without wanting to smother them with a pillow?

Let’s just say there are many, many episodes that we have not spoken for hours and hours before or after. There’s a lot of good acting—at least on my part—going on in between. One thing is that Jonathan likes to have my mom on way more than I do. It really stresses me out. Jonathan’s the one who missed his calling to be a therapist, I think. He’s done a ton of energy work, so he’s very in tune to a lot of subtleties with my mom. I’m mostly afraid she’ll say something that he and I will have to fight about editing out. If it’s comedy gold, or trauma gold, he’s gonna want to keep it for sure.

How has the podcast changed since it started in 2020?

Gosh, there’s so many ways. Podcasts are a bit of a slow build, so you don’t know what it’s going to be like or how people will take in this information. Now we’re tens of millions of downloads later, so we’re really astounded by the number of people that have been able to get information about mental health in a democratized way—which is exactly why we started the podcast. Healthcare is a human right, for the body and the mind, so what I think has changed since we started is a wider understanding that the mind and body are connected. This is what we originally wanted to lean into, but at the time, it felt too out there, too alternative.

Do you think the medical establishment is coming around to this too?

Oh yeah. I mean, I live in Los Angeles, the land of crystals and acupuncture. That science is legitimately catching up to helping people understand the science behind some of these practices that mystics have been doing for thousands of years is tremendous. It’s tremendous in terms of our understanding as humans of where we’re at, and also our potential, to grow and heal. For those of us who grew up in homes with fear and secrecy, or even terror, you carry that with you and your body keeps a score. Those can be translated into autoimmune disorders and chronic conditions.

That said—and I don’t mean, “tell me now!”—is there anything you don’t or won’t share?

Of course. I wouldn’t be an interesting person if I had nothing in my personal life. There’s a whole part of my life that’s just mine. I talk about my kids, usually comically, but not in a lot of depth. You won’t find details about my relationship with Jonathan. A lot of things are left on the cutting room floor, and there’s a lot of conversations had where we stop recording. My kids don’t listen to the podcast, though; they barely want to listen to me when they have to. I humiliate myself all the time on TikTok, so the podcast is probably the least embarrassing thing I do.

Do you ever get starstruck or intimidated? I realize you’re a neuroscientist, but are you ever nervous to interview super-smart people?

All the time! I tend to cry when I’m nervous, so if you ever see me crying, that’s usually because I’m starstruck. As for the experts, oh yes, those are the episodes that I often feel like we should cancel in the hours before. I’m talking to Dr. Daniel Amen today, who’s Justin Beiber and Miley Cyrus’ psychiatrist, so I’ll say I’m not a practicing neuroscientist and I’m not coming at doctors and scientists from that level. If they even know about my degree, which sometimes people don’t, and they just think I’m an actress.

I also have to ask: Is it true that there’s a Blossom reboot coming?

I’m happy to tell you that, yes, it’s true. All of the cast and the original creator and producers are on board, and we believe a reboot can and should exist once the strike ends. We’re hoping to reboot it not as a sitcom, though. We want to bring back these interesting, deep characters—a child of divorce, a recovering drug addict, an alcoholic—to see them in a whole new way.

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Mayim Bialik and Sons Got COVID-19 Vaccine

By Cecelia Vieira

Posted on July 20, 2021

SciCheck Digest

Actress and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik has expressed skepticism about vaccines in the past, but she says she and her two teenage children have received the COVID-19 vaccine. A Facebook post says Bialik “refuses to vaccinate,” leaving the false impression that she opposes COVID-19 vaccines.

No vaccine or medical product is 100% safe, but the safety of vaccines is ensured via rigorous testing in clinical trials prior to authorization or approval, followed by continued safety monitoring once the vaccine is rolled out to the public to detect potential rare side effects. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration inspects vaccine production facilities and reviews manufacturing protocols to make sure vaccine doses are of high-quality and free of contaminants.

One key vaccine safety surveillance program is the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System , or VAERS, which is an early warning system run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and FDA. As its website explains , VAERS “is not designed to detect if a vaccine caused an adverse event, but it can identify unusual or unexpected patterns of reporting that might indicate possible safety problems requiring a closer look.”

Anyone can submit a report to VAERS for any health problem that occurs after an immunization. There is no screening or vetting of the report and no attempt to determine if the vaccine was responsible for the problem. The information is still valuable because it’s a way of being quickly alerted to a potential safety issue with a vaccine, which can then be followed-up by government scientists.

Another monitoring system is the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink , which uses electronic health data from nine health care organizations in the U.S. to identify adverse events related to vaccination in near real time.

In the case of the COVID-19 vaccines, randomized controlled trials involving tens of thousands of people, which were reviewed by multiple groups of experts, revealed no serious safety issues and showed that the benefits outweigh the risks.

The CDC and FDA vaccine safety monitoring systems, which were expanded for the COVID-19 vaccines and also include a new smartphone-based reporting tool called v-safe , have subsequently identified only a few, very rare adverse events. 

For more, see “ How safe are the vaccines? ”

Link to this

Mayim Bialik, who once starred on the television show “The Big Bang Theory,” has made headlines in the past for controversial statements on vaccines. But in a video posted to her personal YouTube channel in October, the actress — who also holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA  — said that she and her two teenage sons would be vaccinated against COVID-19. Bialik said in an interview in April with Cheddar News that she had received the vaccine.

Despite all this, a meme circulating online falsely suggests that Bialik has declined all vaccines, including the one for COVID-19. The image features a photo of Bialik framed by the words, “Holds PhD in Neuroscience. Refuses to Vaccinate #SmartParentsDon’tVax.”

The meme was posted to the Facebook page Staying Alive is Not Enough , which has over 1 million followers. Comments on the post seemed to applaud the meme’s sentiment, with some users writing “ Good for her! ” and “ I new I would like her ,” while another urged the government to “ take their shot and shove it .”

Bialik, a self-described skeptic of “Big Pharm,” has received criticism for past comments in which she expressed hesitancy to vaccinate her children. In her October YouTube video, she revealed that her two sons, then 12 and 15, had never received a flu vaccine and that she had not received a vaccine in 30 years.

In a 2009 interview with People magazine, Bialik described her family as “non-vaccinating,” but said she made “no claims about people’s individual decisions.” Still, Bialik pushed back against the perception that she is “ against vaccines ” on Twitter in 2015, writing that her “ kids are vaccinated .”

Recently, Bialik has come out in support of the COVID-19 vaccination effort, including for her children. On her YouTube channel, where she posts regularly about mental health and parenting, the actress confirmed that she had chosen to “enthusiastically vaccinate,” along with her sons, for both COVID-19 and the flu this year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration  expanded its authorization of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in children 12 to 15 years of age on May 10. (The U.S. had previously authorized use of the vaccine for people 16 and older in December 2020.)

In a January interview with Yahoo Life , Bialik said her decision to receive the COVID-19 vaccine was “based on kind of the basic science of what’s going on in the world and how we protect ourselves.”

“It’s not that I’m, like, ‘pro every single vaccine that anyone talks about all the time everywhere, every single minute.’ I have a lot of questions about the vaccine industry, as do a lot of people,” Bialik said. “[But] when it comes to this virus, the insidiousness of this virus, the way this virus works, the way that it adapts, we absolutely need to see this as distinctly different from the flu. … This is something we need absolute protection from.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommends vaccines for children against numerous viruses and diseases, including measles, mumps, rubella, rotavirus and hepatitis A and B. As with the COVID-19 vaccines, childhood vaccines are  safe and effective  and have greatly reduced the number of cases and deaths from several childhood diseases.

For example, the CDC  says  that “ an estimated 3 to 4 million people got measles each year in the United States”  before a measles vaccine became available in 1963, resulting in roughly 400 to 500 deaths each year. Last year, there were only 13 confirmed cases of the measles in the U.S., according to  the CDC.

After starring in the 1990s sitcom “Blossom,” Bialik completed her bachelor’s degree in neuroscience in 2000 and her doctorate in neuroscience in 2007, both at University of California, Los Angeles. Her Ph.D. thesis was titled, “Hypothalamic Regulation in Relation to Maladaptive, Obsessive-compulsive, Affiliative, and Satiety Behaviors in Prader-Willi Syndrome.”

Editor’s note:   SciCheck’s COVID-19/Vaccination Project   is made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The foundation has   no control   over our editorial decisions, and the views expressed in our articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundation. The goal of the project is to increase exposure to accurate information about COVID-19 and vaccines, while decreasing the impact of misinformation.

Besignano, Heather. Representative for Mayim Bialik. Email to FactCheck.org. 16 Jul 2021.

Bialik, Mayim. “ Anti-Vaxxers and Covid || Mayim Bialik .” YouTube. 1 Oct 2020.

Borschel-Dan, Amanda. “Is Mayim Bialik an anti-vaxxer? It’s complicated…” Times of Israel. 12 Feb 2015.

Donnelly, Erin. “ Mayim Bialik Says Pandemic Parenting Can Be Exhausting and Frustrating: ‘It’s Just Me, It’s Always Been Just Me .'” Yahoo.com. 21 Jan. 2021.

Karch, Marziah. “ Mayim Bialik, You Disappoint Me .” Wired.com. 12 May 2012.

“ Mayim Bialik Biography .” IMDb.com. Accessed 16 Jul 2021.

“ Mayim Bialik Talks Attachment Parenting with CBB .” People.com. 4 Jun. 2009.

“ Mayim Bialik Talks ‘Call Me Kat’ and a Year of COVID-19 .” Cheddar News. 8 Apr 2021.

@missmayim (Mayim Bialik). “ dispelling rumors abt my stance on vaccines. i’m not anti. my kids are vaccinated. so much anger and hysteria. i hope this clears things up .” Twitter. 10 Feb 2015.

@missmayim (Mayim Bialik). “ If @kveller says it, it must be true. I’m not against vaccines .” Twitter. 11 Feb 2015.

Ryder, Taryn. “ Mayim Bialik Says She Will Get Flu and COVID-19 Vaccines, Clarifies She’s Not an Anti-Vaxxer .” Yahoo.com. 1 Oct 2020.

Hypeline (Video)

Celebs Who Are Trained Medical Professionals - #Long

Posted: March 26, 2024 | Last updated: March 26, 2024

These ten stars have pursued medical studies. 1, Tina Turner. Tina Turner worked as a nurse's aide at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in Missouri before her singing career took off. 2, Ken Jeong. Ken Jeong completed his M.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill while working as a resident doctor in New Orleans. He gained a following by doing stand-up gigs in his spare time. 3, Graham Chapman. Chapman, a member of the Monty Python comedy group, was educated as a doctor after graduating from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College. However, he ended up pursuing a career in comedy. 4, Jennifer Stone. Stone, who starred in 'Wizards of Waverly Place,' became a registered nurse in 2020, motivated by her struggle with diabetes and her desire to gain a deeper understanding of the condition. 5, Lisa Kudrow. She completed a psychobiology degree before pursuing her showbiz career. She earned her degree at Vassar College in New York and had planned to work in research with her father until she met Conan O'Brien at a theater group. 6, Bonnie Hunt. Hunt worked as an oncology nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago in the 1980s. She reportedly auditioned for 'Rain Man' during her lunch break. She would eventually star in films like 'Rain Man' (1988), 'Jumanji' (1995), and Jerry Maguire' (1996). 7, Julie Walters. Walters worked as a student nurse for almost two years at age 18 before leaving to pursue acting. She is most well-known for playing Molly Weasley in the 'Harry Potter movies. 8, Mayim Bialik. Mayim Bialik holds a PhD in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles. She had previously worked on 'Blossom' in a lead role for five seasons and decided to focus on her acting career over neuroscience.

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The Big Bang Theory alum brought her Breakdown podcast to SXSW!

The Big Bang Theory alum has hosted her hit podcast Mayim Bialik's Breakdown since early 2021, where she talks about all things mental health and emotional wellness. With celebrity guests and experts featured regularly on her podcast, people continue to tune in weekly to hear what Mayim and boyfriend/co-host Jonathan Cohen have to say. And it looks like the couple took their podcast down south, as the actress revealed she and Jonathan recorded their first live episode during the 2024 SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas.

"Were any of y’all in attendance for our first live MBB recording @SXSW today in Austin?!?! 🤠," she wrote on Instagram on March 10. "We had THE BEST time chatting about the intersection of science 🧪and spirituality 🙏 and meeting some of you afterward. Thanks everyone for being there! 🧠🫶🧠🫶 👢."

When fans learned of the Blossom alum's first career update since leaving Jeopardy! , they swarmed her in the comments sharing their surprise about the live recording.

"So sad I missed this! I would have loved to be there. Will listen for sure," one person wrote on Instagram. "How could I have missed this? Was it announced before? Broadcasted live? If so..my iPhone betrayed me!!!! 😢😢😢😢," another lamented. "Ahhhh I can’t believe I missed this! 😮 Darn but hope you loved our city and hopefully had some good queso 🤠🧀," a different follower added.

While Mayim didn't break down (pun intended) all the details about the talk, she did post an update on Instagram on March 12 that the audio will be released "later this spring."

"We discussed all things mind, body, and sprit and in particular, how science is proving the psychological and physiological benefits of spiritual experiences and spirituality," the caption further revealed.

It's also important to note this isn't the only career update Mayim has shared lately. She announced on March 6 that she and Jim Parsons will reprise their roles as Amy Farrah Fowler and Sheldon Cooper in the series finale of Young Sheldon on May 16.

"Sharing some exciting Big Bang Theory-related news!!! 🎉⚛️🙌✨," she captioned her Instagram post .

Looks like Mayim is staying busy!

@media(max-width: 64rem){.css-o9j0dn:before{margin-bottom:0.5rem;margin-right:0.625rem;color:#ffffff;width:1.25rem;bottom:-0.2rem;height:1.25rem;content:'_';display:inline-block;position:relative;line-height:1;background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-o9j0dn:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/goodhousekeeping/static/images/Clover.5c7a1a0.svg);}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.loaded .css-o9j0dn:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/goodhousekeeping/static/images/Clover.5c7a1a0.svg);}} The Latest Celebrity News

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The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons Opens Up About Reuniting With Mayim Bialik For Young Sheldon's Series Finale

Adult Sheldon and Amy are coming to Young Sheldon's series finale.

The end is nigh for CBS' Young Sheldon , which has been a top performer for the network over the past seven seasons... but Iain Armitage's Sheldon just isn't so young anymore. So, it's fitting that the series finale in May will also feature none other than Adult Sheldon, with The Big Bang Theory 's Jim Parsons reprising his iconic role alongside TV wife Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler . Parsons recently opened up about teaming up with Bialik again to close the book on Young Sheldon in the 2024 TV schedule .

While Jim Parsons is an executive producer and the narrator of Young Sheldon , he hasn't played the character in the flesh since The Big Bang Theory ended in 2019. The same is true for Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler. According to Parsons when speaking with ET , filming together for the spinoff was a "beautiful" experience that didn't quite feel like just more Big Bang . He said:

It was beautiful. It was even more beautiful than I expected it to be. One of the reasons I was excited to do it is because what they wrote is so sweet and I think they worked Mayim and I into that show so beautifully. I hope everyone agrees. But also for us the way that they tape -- because they're a single-camera show and we're multi-camera -- the whole look of the show was a really special experience. To get to go with Mayim, in a world we're really guests and revisit these characters a little older, just a completely different circumstance.

One of the most obvious differences between The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon as sitcoms is that the spinoff is a single-cam show without a live studio audience. Just as filming in this format was a change for Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik, it will surely feel different to watch.

It's not clear just yet how the Young Sheldon finale will incorporate Parsons and Bialik as Sheldon and Amy, although my best bet is a flash-forward. Assuming that's the case, I'm interested to see if there will be any nods to reveals that we've gotten via Sheldon's narration, like an appearance from their son Leonard Cooper .

Parsons shared what it was like to reconnect with Bialik on the set of the sitcom:

We finished our first read-through, we didn't tape it. We just went in and felt around the set, and Mayim nailed it when she walked back and said, 'Uh, I thought I'd feel a lot more confident than this.' I said, 'Me, too.' I really thought it'd be like putting on a pair of old shoes and then eventually it was, but not for about an hour or so. And I was like, 'Do I still know how to talk like this?' It was weird.

Jim Parsons went on to credit the writers for how they've "continuously created such characters that people connect to, that people enjoy watching," which he described as "always the key" to The Big Bang Theory . The world of Big Bang also isn't ending with the upcoming finale of Young Sheldon . CBS confirmed that a spinoff based on Georgie and Mandy is on the way for the 2024-2025 TV season, with Montana Jordan and Emily Osment reprising their Young Sheldon roles. Another Big Bang spinoff is reportedly in the works at Max, with Chuck Lorre providing an update in late 2023.

For now, you can find new episodes of Young Sheldon on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC ahead of Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik's arrivals in the series finale. The seventh season of Young Sheldon so far is currently available streaming with a Paramount+ subscription , with the first six seasons as well as full run of The Big Bang Theory streaming via Max subscription .

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Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).

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