Mayim Bialik

Known for her highly acclaimed role as brainy "Amy Farrah Fowler" on the CBS hit comedy The Big Bang Theory, Mayim Bialik is remembered as the title character from NBC's Blossom, as well as for her portrayal of the young Bette Midler in Beaches. She has also appeared in Woody Allen's Don't Drink the Water and HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Bialik made a name for herself in the entertainment business while at the same time developing a fascinating career in neuroscience, very similar to her Big Bang Theory character. After receiving her PhD in neuroscience at UCLA, Bialik had originally intended to become a research professor before she and her husband turned their focus toward their children. As if it's not enough to be a mom and an actress on a popular sitcom, Bialik designed a neuroscience curriculum for the home school community that covered everything from the brain's structure to the spinal cord to how the senses work, in addition to the ideas of the "early heavy hitters" in the science of the brain like Sigmund Freud and Ivan Pavlov. She also taught biology and chemistry to three different classes.

Her science acumen has even led writers and producers on The Big Bang Theory to ask Bialik questions related to her character's neuroscience background. "I don't think I've met a smarter group of people who hang out together, possibly ever, even in graduate school, than our writers and producers," she has said.

Bialik has a written Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way, a book exploring the science of hormones involved in parent-child bonding. The book is based on much of her PhD research on brain function among people with Prader-Willi syndrome.