Sheldon Cooper IRL 20 Things Fans Should Know About Big Bang's Jim Parsons
Obviously, the entire cast of The Big Bang Theory is supremely talented and great at bringing their characters to life. After all, if that wasn't the case, the show never would have lasted as long as it did! In an ensemble show like that, every cast member has to pull their weight and do an amazing job. However, many fans agree that Jim Parsons is probably the standout actor on the show.
Part of the reason is that Dr. Sheldon Cooper is just such a crazy character to play. The other characters have their quirks, but no one is quite as eccentric as Sheldon. Parsons does a phenomenal job bringing the character to life on screen, making him eccentric yet still lovable and complex.
So, with the news that the show is finally wrapping after twelve seasons on the air, many fans are wondering what Jim Parsons will do next. Sure, he's taken on quite a few projects over the years in between his hours on the show, but he'll now have a ton more time to pursue other projects.
Will he focus solely on film? Will he try to snag another big television role? We're not sure, but we do know that he's one interesting guy. Here are 20 things fans may not have known about the talented Jim Parsons.
20 He Got Bitten By The Acting Bug When He Was Just 6
There are many celebrities who don't realize they want to be in the entertainment industry until later in life. Perhaps they take an acting class in high school or realize their passion for acting after working a few years in a regular job. Parsons had a different path to stardom.
When he as just six years old, he got a small role as a bird in a production of The Elephant's Child at his school.
He immediately got bitten by the acting bug and knew it was what he wanted to do with his life. We wonder if the teacher who cast him in the role knew what an impact he or she was making on him!
19 While A Student At The University of Houston, He Was In 17 Plays
College student life involves balancing a whole bunch of different responsibilities. On the one hand, you have your classes, which you want to do well in. You also want to make time for a social life and likely time to work as well. For Jim Parsons, there was one major priority-being in plays. He absolutely loved being on the stage, and over the course of his undergraduate years, he was in a whopping seventeen plays. That's over four plays a year on average! He obviously honed his ability to memorize scripts quickly during that time, or he would have never been able to make it work.
18 He Was A Founding Member Of Infernal Bridegroom Productions
Jim Parsons isn't just the type to stick to one part of the industry-he wants to get involved in as many aspects as he can. Proof of that is what he did with Infernal Bridegroom Productions.
Parsons and a friend, Jason Nodler, founded the company in 1993 and it quickly became known for its interesting works and talented ensemble.
The company ended up dissolving in 2007, but it's still pretty crazy to be the founder of a theatre company that lasted for nearly 15 years! Perhaps if he ever wants to step away from Hollywood and back into the theatre world, he'll found another company.
17 He's Distantly Related To Architect Louis Francois Trouard
Back in 2013, Jim Parsons was a guest on the show Who Do You Think You Are?, which dives deep into a guest's ancestry. When the team did some digging, they found an interesting creative ancestor in Parsons' family line-an architect from France named Louis Francois Trouard. Trouard had a sculptor for a father, studied at an art academy, and ended up creating countless works, as well as a travelogue that captured all his adventures. He was a majorly impressive figure in his time, and would definitely be a cool person to count as one of your ancestors. It seems that creativity simply runs in Parsons' family tree!
16 He's Been With His Partner Todd Spiewak Since 2002
Parsons isn't too outspoken about his private life, because, well, he wants to keep things private.
However, his private life also isn't covered much by the paparazzi because it's pretty low key-he's been with the same person for over 15 years!
He first got together with art director Todd Spiewak way back in 2002, and they've been together ever since, eventually tying the knot last year. He and Spiewak actually won a GLESN Respect Award back in 2013 for being an inspiration to the LGBTQ community-what a heartwarming hohonorWe love that he's not afraid to show the world who he is and speak out for the causes he believes in.
15 He's Actually A Big Sports Fan
Since many people have only seen Jim Parsons in his role as Dr. Sheldon Cooper, they assume that he's quite similar to his character in real life for some reason. However, that couldn't be further from the truth. In addition to being super creative, Parsons is actually a big sports fan. You'd be hard pressed to find any sports storylines on The Big Bang Theory, but in real life, Parsons loves tennis, baseball, and basketball. Given where he grew up, we're surprised he's not a bigger football fan, but hey-you like what you like! Now that he's a big celebrity, we're betting he springs for courtside seats every now and then to watch his favorite teams play.
14 He's Never Seen An Episode Of Star Trek
On the show, Dr. Sheldon Cooper is a huge fan of just about every nerdy pursuit there is, from comic books to Star Trek. Well, while Parsons has likely done a little research over the years to get to know his character better, he differs from Sheldon in quite a few ways.
Namely, the fact that he's actually never seen an episode of Star Trek whatsoever, throughout his entire life.
Crazy! He's gotten to act out storylines that many fans of the sci fi series would kill to be a part of, but that's one interest he just doesn't have in real life.
13 He Took Piano Lessons For 14 Years
There's a great scene on the show where Sheldon drinks a few too many long island iced teas and decides to sing and play the piano at The Cheesecake Factory. You might have assumed that it took him quite some time to learn how to bust out that tune on the ivories, but it turns out, he's actually quite a talented pianist! Parsons took piano lessons for fourteen years growing up, so while he may not be as talented as a professional musician, he definitely knows his way around a piano. Perhaps he'll end up playing a character who's a pianist one day and refining his skills even more.
12 He Was In 15 Flopped Television Pilots Before Getting The Big Bang Theory
Many people assume that celebrities make it big fairly quickly. After all, you go on a few auditions, you get a role, and hopefully, that show or movie ends up being successful, right? Well, there's a little more to it than that.
Even if you're super talented, sometimes it's just all about finding exactly the right project, as Jim Parsons knows.
While he's definitely well-versed in the television world now, back before he got his role on The Big Bang Theory, he had been a part of fifteen flubbed television pilots. That's right-fifteen. Every time, he managed to get the role, book the job, and then the show just didn't pan out.
11 He's Not A Fan Of Sentimentality
Jim Parsons and his character Sheldon Cooper don't have a lot in common, but there's one thing they'd both agree on-sentimentality is unnecessary. Parsons spilled the beans to Cinema Blend, saying that "one of my very favorite things about this character is his sort of lack of sentimentality. I don't mean to sound unromantic or unsympathetic, but I cannot stand sentimentality, and I feel very lucky to be playing a character that, nine times out of 10, when something sentimental is happening in a script, I get to be the one to burst that bubble. And that gives me such great pleasure, I cannot tell you."
10 He Was Voted The Friendliest In His High School Graduating Class
Many celebs were fairly shy theatre kids growing up. They absolutely loved participating in school productions, but weren't exactly the first to raise their hands to speak on stage or take on leadership roles. However, Jim Parsons was a little different.
He was quite outgoing in high school, and actually was voted friendliest in his high school graduating class.
We have to admit, we're not all that surprised. He seems so gracious and lovely everywhere he goes, from talk shows to red carpet events, that we can totally buy that. It must be a ton of fun to work on set with him.
9 He Gets Motion Sickness In Cars Unless He's Driving
One of the humorous recurrent storylines on the show is the fact that Sheldon doesn't know how to drive. It's just not something he learned how to do, and he relies on his friends to give him rides when he needs to get somewhere. In real life, you'll pretty much never see Jim Parsons in the passenger seat, and it's because of a little issue he has with motion sickness. More specifically, he gets motion sickness in cars if he's simply riding in them, so he prefers to always drive himself to avoid those pesky feelings of nausea. Who knew?
8 He Has A Star On The Hollywood Walk Of Fame
There are plenty of celebrities who work in the industry for decades and never manage to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Even though it's not quite as prestigious as winning an Oscar or other award, it's still quite an honor.
After all, your name remains on that stretch of Hollywood Boulevard forever!
Thanks to his role on the show, Jim Parsons finally had the privilege of seeing his name engraved on the Walk of Fame, which must have been a pretty special moment. We wonder if he ever walks past it while he's out and about, just to take a look and take it all in.
7 For Six Weeks, He Had A SiriusXM Talk Show
Parsons seems like he'd be an ideal talk show host. He's intelligent, he's articulate, and he seems to have a knack for making people feel comfortable. And, in fact, he had a talk show on SiriusXM called Jim Parsons Is Too Stupid For Politics. Unfortunately, it had a brief run and was only on the air for six weeks. We're not quite sure why it ended, whether Parsons was just too busy or it wasn't proving popular enough, but we're crossing our fingers that he returns to that world at some point. We'd love a talk show or podcast hosted by him!
6 He Splits His Time Between New York City And Los Angeles
It's easy to assume that all actors and actresses call California home, but for many, New York is still a little more appealing to their artistic side.
Jim Parsons is a big fan of theatre, so we're not all that surprised to learn that he resides primarily in Gramercy Park in New York City.
Of course, he has a house in Los Angeles as well, as he spends a lot of his time there. However, he just doesn't seem ready to call it quits on New York City entirely-there's just something about the city that never sleeps that appeals to him and his partner.
5 His Audition For The Big Bang Theory Was So Impressive That Producer Chuck Lorre Thought It Was A Fluke
Every actor has stories about auditions they went on-some went very well, some absolutely tanked, and many were just unmemorable. It's always interesting to hear the stories of successful auditions and what the actor was thinking before he knew he got the part. In Jim Parsons' case, his audition for the role of Dr. Sheldon Cooper was a total victory. Obviously, he ended up getting the role. However, something fans might not know is that he played the character so perfectly in the audition that producer and writer Chuck Lorre thought it was just a fluke-so Parsons had to return for a second audition to prove that he really was just that good.
4 His Favorite Episode Of The Show Is "The Werewolf Transformation"
When you've been on a show for twelve seasons, many of the episodes probably blur together in your mind. Sure, you might remember some fun moments on set, but you'd likely have a tough time remembering which episodes were in which seasons. However, that doesn't mean you don't have any favorites.
For Jim Parsons, an episode that stands out is "The Werewolf Transformation" in season 5.
We totally get why-it's the episode where Sheldon cuts loose a little bit and it must have been a blast to play to play a totally different, bongo-playing side of his regularly rigid and uptight character.
3 He Doesn't Know How To Whistle
Jim Parsons has a ton of talents, from playing the piano to working with different accents. However, there's one thing you'll never see him doing on screen-whistling. It's not because he has any rule against it or anything like that-he simply doesn't know how to whistle. If he truly put his mind to it, he could probably learn the skill for a role, but up to this point in his life h,e simply hasn't needed to know how. I mean, how often do you truly whistle, anyway? And, if push came to shove, the folks in production could always insert a little whistle if Parsons wasn't able to produce anything.
2 He's A Big Joni Mitchell Fan
We have to admit, we've never really wondered about Jim Parsons' musical taste. He's not really the type of celebrity who posts about the concerts he's attending and the songs he's loving on the radio, so it's just not something many people know about him.
Well, it turns out, he loves some old school legends-including his favorite artist Joni Mitchell.
His favorite song by the songstress is her song "Down To You," and he commented that "it's like a little movie every time I listen to it. I find it very moving." Who would have guessed? Now, the question is, is Joni Mitchell a Jim Parsons fan?
1 He Grew Up Near Houston, Texas
Parsons has grown adept at hiding his accent, and using whatever accent a character calls for. However, every now and then, when he's not playing a character and is just being himself, you'll hear a hint of a Southern drawl. That's because he actually grew up right near Houston, Texas. That's right-he's a Texas boy, just like Sheldon Cooper! He plays a lot of intellectual characters who don't have any noticeable accents, which is super impressive-a strong Southern drawl can be really tough to hide. The fact that he manages to disguise it so well people would never even guess he's from Texas is crazy.
