Unfortunately for anyone who has ever had dreams of making money acting, the chances that you can make a living pretending to be people is extremely low. If the odds against people paying their bills as an actor weren’t insurmountable enough already, any potential actor who dreams of becoming rich and famous most likely will be very disappointed.
Fortunately for the stars of The Big Bang Theory, they hit the lottery in just about every way. After all, not only were they able to star in a hugely popular show for many, many years, based on behind-the-scenes photos, they seem to have had a lot of fun together.
When some people hit the lottery, they thank their lucky stars and never gamble again. When it comes to an actor who has hit paydirt, however, their famous role will come to an end and they will have to find something to do with the rest of their life. With that in mind, it begs an obvious question, what has Melissa Rauch been up to since The Big Bang Theory came to an end.
Career Beginnings
Born and raised in New Jersey, while Melissa Rauch was attending Marlboro High School she developed a love for acting that has continued throughout her life. After finishing up her education at New York City’s Marymount Manhattan College, Rauch dipped her toe into the entertainment industry as a contributor to VH1’s Best Week Ever.
After fully committing herself to her acting dreams, the jobs started to come rolling in for Melissa Rauch. Able to make her big-screen debut in 2006’s Delirious, Rauch also landed a tiny role in 2009’s I Love You, Man. When it comes to Rauch’s early TV parts, she appeared in 3 episodes of 12 Miles of Bad Road and had a recurring role in the sitcom Kath & Kim.
Her Big Break
Before The Big Bang Theory hit the airwaves, it seems likely that most people involved didn’t have high hopes for the series. After all, the series’ original pilot was so poorly received that two of the show’s original stars were fired and a lot of other changes were made before it was reshot. All of that said, by the time The Big Bang Theory's third season began airing, the show had become a massive hit.
Luckily for Melissa Rauch, the decision was made to give The Big Bang Theory’s Howard a love interest during the third season. Of course, when Bernadette first debuted on the show most people assumed that she may stick around for a while but she would be gone for too long. For example, years later Raj would have several love interests who were gone before long. Despite the assumptions some fans made about Bernadette, the character would go on to appear in 209 TBBT episodes, according to IMDb.
Eventually able to become one of The Big Bang Theory’s stars, that was an amazing accomplishment for Melissa Rauch since that show was immensely popular throughout its run. For that reason, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Rauch was paid a relatively hefty amount of money for her contributions to The Big Bang Theory. Unfortunately for Rauch, all good things must come to an end and TBBT’s finale aired in 2019.
Moving On
Since The Big Bang Theory came to an end, Melissa Rauch has continued to act in several projects. For example, Rauch landed a role in the independent comedy film Ode to Joy and she showed up in a single episode of the shows Black Monday and Robot Chicken. Most notably, Rauch was cast in Steven Soderbergh’s The Laundromat which is a really big deal since he is a legendary filmmaker. If working with Soderbergh wasn’t exciting enough, The Laundromat also starred Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Jeffrey Wright, Cromwell, and Sharon Stone.
Aside from Mellisa Rauch’s recent career achievements, her personal life has taken a huge step forward since The Big Bang Theory came to an end. Already the mother of a little girl named Sadie as of 2017, in 2020 Rauch welcomed her second child into the world, her son Brooks. While that likely was a joyous occasion for Melissa and her husband, giving birth when the world is in the middle of a pandemic is stressful for anyone.
Taking to Instagram to reveal the birth of her son, Melissa Rauch gave her thanks to the front line heroes that helped her while also voicing the anxiety she went through. "The anxiety over giving birth without an advocate and support system in tow, compounded with the exposure concerns of walking into a hospital during a pandemic, were a lot to process," Rauch wrote. "So I tried my best to prepare for a scenario I never thought I’d face: filling my hospital bag with disinfecting wipes and practicing labor breathing in a mask-like I was training for a dystopian marathon."