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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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Neuroscience

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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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

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).

Follow Eureka! Lab on Twitter: @eureka_labs

5 Facts About Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Mayim explains what the oft-used term 'OCD' really means.

Some readers asked me to write more science-related posts, including specifically something about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. While I can’t fill all reader requests, I do have an interest in OCD because my doctoral thesis in Psychoneuroendocrinology (in the Neuroscience Department at UCLA) was on Obsessions and Compulsions in a population of individuals with a genetic syndrome called Prader-Willi Syndome (PWS). Individuals with PWS have a lot of psychiatric complexity to their syndrome, including high rates of OCD reported.

I have always had an interest in working with special needs individuals. my parents, who were public school teachers for a combined 70-some odd years both in new york and los angeles, were very sensitive to people with special needs, and i was raised with a distinct compassion and consciousness to include special individuals as much as possible in all aspect of socializing and education., i knew i wanted to work with humans as a graduate student since, as a vegan, working with animals was simply not compatible with my worldview as a scientist. i learned about a variety of syndromes and felt that pws needed a neuroscientist’s perspective, since most research in this population had been done by geneticists or psychiatrists., i loved working with adolescents with pws for my thesis and i had to learn a lot about ocd for the seven years i worked on my doctorate. from that exhaustive knowledge i gained, i wanted to share with you five facts you might not realize….

You likely don’t have OCD. Just because you are fastidious or organized, it doesn’t mean you have OCD. People say things like, “I’m so OCD” and honestly, it bugs me. Just say you’re “particular” or “meticulous.” Don’t use the name of a legitimate syndrome, please; it takes away from the importance of the clinical diagnosis when you do that! (For one person’s experience of having OCD, see this piece from Cosmopolitan .)
Both the “O” and the “C” need to be present to be diagnosed with OCD. OCD is comprised of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions tend to be “internal” thoughts or things that you can’t get out of your head; compulsions are the “external” behaviors done to try and manage the anxiety that the obsessions make you feel. So for example, someone with obsessions about cleanliness would have compulsive acts like hand-washing to combat the obsessions.
There are areas of obsession and accompanying compulsions. Common obsessions tend to center around cleanliness and germs (including those around body functions and sexual functions), religious imagery and safety (did I lock the door? for example). The compulsions that go with these would be things done to reduce germs and maintain cleanliness, counting or repetitive behaviors and checking behaviors. (There are many more; those are just some examples.)
With OCD, sometimes other things occur. People who get an OCD diagnosis also often get an anxiety diagnosis. Or sometimes a depression diagnosis. And things like skin-picking often occur in OCD. This is because we are all on a continuum of chemicals running through our bodies and brains. No one is “absolutely” anything. Depending on life situations, genetics and what kind of support you get, you may have more or fewer symptoms throughout your life. It’s not a constant.
Medication can help . So can therapy like Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or traditional psychotherapy. Many people live with aspects of OCD and find ways to manage them, but usually clinicians will want to know how much your OCD affects your life and schedule of the day. Some people may have a counting ritual that doesn’t upset them or take up much time, and if it doesn’t cause distress, it may just be that that’s your thing. In our current culture of a pill for everything, it’s important to realize that you don’t need to be symptom-free of every syndrome in order to function and have productive relationships and a good life. (Some of the characters on The Big Bang Theory are proof of that!)

If you would like to take the standard OCD assessment, it is available here .

If you need help with managing ocd symptoms or any other psychiatric condition, reach out to the national alliance for mental illness for information about finding help in your area..

More From Forbes

Mayim bialik opens up about mental health, ‘call me kat’ and growing up hollywood.

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Mayim Bialik

Coincidentally, Mayim Bialik ’s teenage sitcom Blossom premiered as a mid-season replacement on January 3, 1991. Bialik’s new sitcom Call Me Kat premiered on FOX exactly 30 years later on January 3, 2021.

“I grew up on television,” Bialik says about her time as the title character on Blossom . “I was 14 to 19 and spent all of my precious teen years there. I think one of the most important takeaways is how fortunate I was to work on a clean set. I didn’t see drugs, I didn’t see alcohol. There’s a lot of stories about child actors growing up in environments where there are no boundaries between adults and children. I am really grateful that I had the opportunity to grow up without those kind of pressures. It was also really nice that there was no social media, because everything was just simpler, especially for female actresses.”

Beyond acting, mental health has become a very passionate topic for Bialik. Her podcast Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown is an opportunity for Bialik to address a sometimes “taboo” topic in our society with others, in hopes of creating dialogues that make mental illness more socially understood and more openly discussed. “To be honest, 2020 was a beast of a year and my partner Jonathan [Cohen] and I have a shared passion for mental illness and mental illness education,” Bialik shares. “So many more people have either occurrences of mental health challenges or they were experiencing intense anxiety for the first time in their life. So many people didn’t even know what to call it or what it was or what you could do about it. So we decided to start a podcast. We also broadcast it on YouTube but we’re available on Spotify and everywhere you get podcasts. The idea is to explore all the aspects of mental health that many of us are not told about. That’s how Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown was born.”

Bialik’s decision to return to television this year was swayed in large part by her former The Big Bang Theory co-star and friend. “Jim Parsons brought this to me as a project that they had with their company That’s Wonderful Productions,” Bialik continues with a laugh. “He said If there’s anyone who can pull off adorable and slightly annoying, it’s you! There’s a certain period of time that people want to interact with my face and if people want to interact with my face on television now, I’m happy to do that. Especially as a woman who is 45, I don’t want to say my days are numbered but you really do want to capitalize when people do want to see you and experience comedy with you.”

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Bialik played the love interest of Parsons on The Big Bang Theory when she joined the cast in 2010 as neuroscientist “Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler” all the way through the show’s series finale in 2019. Getting to work in some capacity again with her on-screen husband came with a feeling of ease for Bialik. “One of the most important things in this industry and very rare to come by is feeling safe and kind of protected as a performer and as a producer. To work with someone who I know is so ethical and so similarly-minded and also has a very similar sense of comedy, it feels very safe and it’s a really beautiful place to work.”

Based off of the popular British series Miranda, Bialik plays the title character on Call Me Kat about a 39-year-old single woman who decides to quit her unfulfilling job as a math professor to open a cat-themed cafe. When speaking about her ensemble cast that includes Leslie Jordan, Cheyenne Jackson, Kyla Pratt, Swoosie Kurtz, Julian Gant, Lamorne Morris and more, Bialik has nothing but praise for her fellow scene players. “Every single one of our cast members could hold their own show,” Bialik adds. “They’re all so talented, so complicated in the best ways as actors. There’s so much more to explore with those characters. I think there are a lot of really fun places to go. It’s a wonderful place for all of us to get to play.”

Some might be surprised to learn that Bialik not only played a neuroscientist on The Big Bang Theory , but she is in fact a neuroscientist herself, receiving her Ph.D. in neuroscience at UCLA, prior to her years on Big Bang . When responding to if the show’s writers would ever seek her expertise while filming, Bialik says, “The writers were very, very intelligent and needed a science background. They also have the internet at their fingertips to search things they don’t know. But yeah, sometimes I would be asked to bring specific neuroscience knowledge like What would ‘Amy’ be doing in the lab? or What part of the brain would have to be damaged for this to happen? ”

Next, Bialik will be bringing her production knowledge and firsthand experiences surrounding mental illness to the big screen as she adds writer and director to her resume for the feature film As Sick As They Made Us. “I did write a story after my father passed away about growing up in a home with mental illness and how that impacts siblings differently and how it impacts the entire family,” Bialik reveals. She goes on to say that as of now, the project is scheduled to start filming this summer in New Jersey and will star Dustin Hoffman, Candice Bergen, and her Big Bang co-star Simon Helberg. Bialik says of her upcoming filmmaking experience, “It’s very terrifying and exciting. I’ve always viewed things from behind the camera perspective, even as an actor when I was younger. With a mighty director of photography, I’m hoping to create a beautiful story that’s also visually pleasing.”

At the end of last week’s Call Me Kat episode, Bialik’s character touches upon a very relatable topic of fertility with women. “We were very uncertain about this episode because on the one hand, we want to show a show about a woman who is not overly-consumed with being single. On the other hand, we want to show a 39-year-old woman who also is experiencing a lot of the things that women experience. It’s something that FOX and Warner Bros. and Darleen Hunt, our showrunner & creator, worked on together and we tried to strike a balance of leaving it a little bit open-ended, which I think we did. There were several options for the ending of that, but we decided to go with the one where she says she’s taking hormone shots. It’s still very up in the air but this is a very hot topic and we felt that it was good for ‘Kat’ to be relevant in that sense.”

In reality, Bialik is the mother of two teenage boys and as a parent, she is treating this ongoing Covid-19 pandemic with a careful mindset. “I essentially treat my work like my pod. I’m a divorced person, so my ex-husband and I, we’re both making decisions that protect the other, meaning he also has limited his life significantly because everything he does gets transferred to me through the children and we potentially introduce things to the people that I work with. I’ve had people tell me that me and my ex-husband are the only people they know who still won’t go to the supermarket (laughs) . I think last year in particular, my life got really small, as many people’s lives did. That has been a welcome change for me. 2020 really allowed me to prioritize down time more. I found a lot of serenity in that.”

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The Canadian Jewish News The CJN

A canadian jewish interview with mayim bialik.

By Daniel Koren

This past Saturday, Dec. 12, Mayim Bialik turned 40 years old. A prolific writer, actor, neuroscientist, attachment parenting advocate and proud proponent of modern Orthodoxy, Bialik, like her great-grandfather’s first cousin, Israeli national poet Chaim Nahman Bialik, has accomplished a fair bit in a short time.

Most of you know her as Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler, the character she plays on the popular television show, The Big Bang Theory . If you are a ’90s TV fanatic and share an affinity for nostalgia, you’ll remember her from Blossom , or even from the short-lived series Molloy , where she starred alongside Jennifer Aniston.

But for many in the Jewish community, Bialik is also known for her lengthy statements on Judaism’s role in contemporary society, her musings on attachment parenting and homeschooling, and her unwavering stance on Israel’s right to exist.

You may also recognized her as the narrator of a film on agunot (women whose husbands refuse to grant them a Jewish divorce) called Women Unchained .

READ: Why Orthodox Judaism needs female rabbis

As a contributor to Kveller , Bialik has shared her thoughts on poignant events such as the loss of her father, the Jewish connection to her vegan lifestyle, what Jewish women need to know about breast cancer, or the Hebrew prayer that brought her and her son closer together.

As the founder of GrokNation , she’s taken her influence a step further, commenting on the recent statement by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) that banned female rabbis , her thoughts on the refugee crisis, last month’s Paris attacks, and other issues.

Most recently, Bialik made headlines for a Facebook post she shared about being a Zionist:

For those of you who refuse to follow me and discourage others from doing so because I am a Zionist (as if that’s a… Posted by Mayim Bialik on Tuesday, December 8, 2015

We spoke with Bialik, who was recently in Montreal to film an episode of YidLife Crisis with Jamie Elman and Eli Batalion, about her thoughts on the RCA’s ruling, her grasp of the Yiddish language, and if an anti-Israel bias does indeed exist in the media.

So you recently tweeted to Howard Stern to discuss your shared “unfashionable” views on Israel. Has he responded?

No, not that I’ve seen. I’m not constantly on Twitter. I actually haven’t been on Twitter in a while. That came up on my news feed, and I figured why not. I was possibly taking a trip to New York, so I know that my publicist suggested to reach out to his people so it wasn’t totally out of the blue.

Why do you use the word “unfashionable”? Do you think there is an anti-Israel bias in the media?

Howard was speaking about [calling out Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters for urging rocker Bon Jovi not to perform in Israel]. When I was on Howard’s show , we talked about it a bit. I mean, I’ve been very public about my support for a peace process and my support for people not calling for the destruction of the Jewish People simply because you believe that Israel should exist, so I’ve seen a lot of that on my social media for sure (laughs).

And Roger Waters? Would you call him an anti-Semite?

I am not going to speak more about Roger Waters. I don’t want to name-call. What’s going on with Roger Waters and Howard Stern is what’s playing out on the campus I went to university at, in the ’90s, at UCLA, and it’s playing itself out on every major campus pretty much all over the world.

How can we educate people like that on campus?

Israel needs a better publicist (laughs). I don’t know.

You recently wrote a piece on GrokNation about your reaction to the Rabbinical Council of America’s statement on female rabbis. Do you think there will ever be a time where female rabbis will be accepted within the Orthodox community?

Absolutely.

What can we do to get there?

I think we’re doing it. There’s a lot to be said for slow change, and Judaism is big on slow change. There have been a lot of things, literally, for the past at least 2,000, or 3,000 years of Jewish history that were “this is never going to happen” and then did. This is not a halachic challenge, it’s a minhagim one. This is more about custom and history and culture than it is about legality, and for all of the people who don’t believe that, you know, they can ask a different rabbi. It’s actually not a halachic issue.

“I don’t think you should be ashamed to talk about your support for a country where Jews can have an autonomous existence”

I’m not big on talking about the halachic changes I think need to happen to Judaism. I’m just an actress who happens to be Jewish. Because this is not a halachic issue, because we’re dealing, again, more with bias and stereotyping, and I think we’re going to look back in 50 or 100 hundred years and not even think twice. And you can say that for every great civil rights progress that’s been made in the world and in the western world over the past 100 years.

How has the transition been moving from Kveller to GrokNation ?

It’s been good. I still write for Kveller , and I’m still part of the Kveller family, but I’ve found that I can have a broader reach and do more specific and targeted work at GroKnation , so I’ve been able to speak on a broader range of topics. We’ve also started doing videos, and we’re thinking of starting more formal video and lecture-type conversations and things like that, so it’s a different kind of format.

I understand you were recently in Montreal to film an episode of YidLife Crisis and you’ve been to Toronto a couple of times too – do you see a difference between the Jewish community here and the community in L.A. and the States?

You know, besides what I deem is the accent of Canadian Jews (laughs), there’s honestly not a lot of difference. There’s an east-coast flair to Toronto, just like there is an east-coast flair to the United States. Jews in Vegas are different from Jews in New York, but in a lot of ways they’re not, and so my experience with the Canadian Jewish community has been, really, a wonderful extension of the work that I do in this country with the Jewish community.

The stories are different. That’s fascinating to me, to hear some of the stories. Obviously when I worked with Eli and Jamie on their YidLife Crisis episode, I had never met French-speaking Jews who weren’t in Paris. It’s really neat to hear the stories of eastern European Jews, because, you know, a lot of Canadian Jews are eastern European, but how different the trajectory was for them. My grandparents came to Ellis Island and worked in sweatshops and lived in the very poorest parts of the Bronx and the stories of Canadian Jews are often very different, so it’s really fascinating.

How was doing the episode of YidLife Crisis with Eli and Jamie?

They’re really great guys. We met for the first time in Montreal. My editorial director, Esther Kustanowitz , who is a writer and social media presence, connected me with them. We emailed a bit, and just filmed the episode a few weeks ago.

And you speak fluent Yiddish, right?

I was raised speaking Yiddish, and I raised my children speaking Yiddish, and I took Yiddish in college. I wasn’t raised with full proper grammar, but with a very large vocabulary, which was part of normal speech, meaning we didn’t just whip it out when we needed to. It was part of our speech, and that’s still kind of how I speak now.

WATCH: An interview with Jamie and Eli from YidLife Crisis

When I speak to other Jewish people, I try and tone it down when they don’t speak Yiddish (laughs). But I have a very large vocabulary, and my children have a sizeable vocabulary. I learned proper grammar in college, but I haven’t spoken full yiddish probably since I was a very, very young child (laughs) or in college. So yeah, this was very different. I have enough of an understanding of the grammar to have been able to roughly make sense of the script, but it definitely took a little massaging and look, there are many words that simply don’t exist in modern English, or in Hebrew to accommodate modern English, so it’s a lot of massaging. It’s hard, it’s the language of love, and it’s primarily been used for that, right?

So it wasn’t hard to keep up with them.

Eli speaks a more refined and proper Yiddish, and Jamie and I were following along, but obviously they have more experience speaking fluently with it, which I have not done in quite some time. I speak short sentences with my children, and when I was in college, I was taking Yiddish and reading and watching Yiddish movies and things like that for class, but they are far more experienced speakers. I can catch some grammar things, but it was mainly me learning it and having it come out of my mouth, at least relatively correctly.

Sounds like a fun experience.

It was, it was really fun.

Do you feel as someone who is vocal about supporting Israel that you’ve educated those around you, including your co-stars on the Big Bang Theory ?

Well, three out of seven of us are Jewish (laughs), and if you extend out, four of the eight of us in our extended cast are Jewish. I don’t talk about it a lot with our cast per se, but I think what’s important about speaking out is that I don’t even think of it as “speaking out.” I don’t think you should be ashamed to talk about your support for a country where Jews can have an autonomous existence. It’s become such a dirty word to say the word “Israel” and that’s really a shame, because although there are very, very difficult politics surrounding Israel, and I don’t agree with everything the Israeli government or the people in the State of Israel do, it’s not a dirty word to talk about a country amidst dozens of Arab countries in that region of the world.

This interview has been edited and condensed for style and clarity.

Grok Nation

Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) Awareness

As many of you know, my doctoral thesis in Neuroscience focused on a genetic syndrome called Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS). PWS, a spontaneous mutation in chromosome 15, occurs in one out of approximately every 15,000 live births. The most distinctive feature of the syndrome is the inability to feel full; because of this, PWS is the leading cause of genetic obesity.

Individuals with PWS typically need to live in environments with no access to food in order to prevent overeating and the complications that can result from never feeling full and always seeking out food. Individuals with PWS also demonstrate a range of behavioral challenges as well as other medical issues involving the heart, bones, and endocrine system. (For more, see the above video or click here .)

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Entertainment

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: Life Is In Session The Squeeze

Health & Fitness

Calling all big-word fans, this one’s for you! A neuroscientist and actress from a little show you may have heard of…The Big Bang Theory’s Mayim Bialik joins the Lautners to discuss her journey with mental health, both in and out of the spotlight. She explains her thesis dissertation, which, (grab a dictionary), was: "Hypothalamic regulation in relation to maladaptive, obsessive-compulsive, affiliative and satiety behaviors in Prader–Willi syndrome". She then dives into her early career as a teen actor and her home life surrounded by mental illness and addiction. She and Taylor bond over being Enneagram 4s, before she highlights two key tools that have helped her mental health: identifying food triggers and somatic work. Lastly, the Lautners ask her for advice on continued success in the mental health podcast space, as she’s hosted her popular podcast, Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown, since 2021. Be sure to follow Mayim @missmayim and listen to Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown where ever you get your podcasts: https://linktr.ee/BialikBreakdown Thanks to our awesome sponsor for supporting this episode! CeraVe: To learn more about nominating a nurse who has profoundly impacted your life, visit CeraVe.com/Nurses or DAISYfoundation.org! To email us your questions or share your story, you can reach out to [email protected]. Be sure to rate, review, and follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode! Plus, follow us on Instagram, @thesqueeze and personally @taylautner and @taylorlautner + on TikTok @thesqueezepodcast To learn more from The Lemons Foundation, follow @lemonsbytay on Instagram and visit lemonsbytay.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women

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 June 7, 2024) <https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/bialik-mayim>.

The Tragedy Of Mayim Bialik Explained

Celebrity status always seems like such an enviable thing. After all, it sure sounds like the epitome of fame, success, money, and the works all rolled into one. The kind of wealth that could buy you an island — or maybe a big mansion in the heart of Beverly Hills — and worldwide recognition, with people all over recognizing and loving you for your work. Sure has the makings of a real Hollywood giant's dream , doesn't it? Well, here's the thing: That image sort of is just a dream — a fantasy that's fun to think about, but pretty far off from the realities of celebrity status.

Of course, all celebrities and public personalities have their own path to and relationship with fame, but thinking that their lives are automatically divorced from any sort of hardship can be something of a harsh generalization. Take Mayim Bialik, for example, an accomplished actor known for her roles on "Blossom," "The Big Bang Theory," and recently as the host of "Jeopardy!" all on top of being a real-life neuroscientist (doctorate and all). She's also had her fair share of hardships, much the same as anyone else, and she's recently taken to speaking out about them. Notably, she advocates adamantly for greater mental health awareness — she's even started a whole podcast on that very topic! Here's a quick rundown of some of tragic things she's discussed about her life.

She's talked about her mental health struggles

Mental health advocacy has become a much bigger topic in recent times, and Mayim Bialik has shared her stories of mental health struggles — particularly those that she experienced when she was younger. In an interview with Kara Mayer Robinson , the actress confessed that she didn't start seeing a therapist until her late teens, though she knew in hindsight that the signs of issues had been there quite a bit longer. But given the times, mental health awareness just wasn't a thing that people knew about. She specifically mentioned that upon getting her first period, her mood began fluctuating to the point that it gave her legitimate panic attacks. In her own words, "Not the kind of panic attacks ... that a lot of people talk about like 'OMG, I had a panic attack because he was late' ... it feels like a heart attack." At 16, she didn't know what a panic attack felt like, nor what a heart attack felt like — and wasn't really given the help she needed.

On top of that, she didn't exactly know what kind of help she even needed. In a separate video (via People ), she further explained, "I had this notion when I was younger that if something didn't work once, or if a therapist didn't work, or if a medication didn't work, that nothing would ever work." That said, she added a message of hope, saying she wanted to tell her younger self that things would work out, even if not immediately.

She's been diagnosed with OCD

There are several different avenues Mayim Bialik has used to discuss mental health advocacy and awareness, including her own podcast, "Mayim Bialik's Breakdown." In one episode (via Instagram ), she spoke about OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and dispelled a number of the myths surrounding the mental illness. After all, it's something that she deals with, and has dealt with since she was fairly young.

She put it very clearly that OCD isn't some general term meant for light jokes about vaguely quirky or strict behaviors. Rather, it's a much more serious — and potentially severe — condition that is effectively a cycle of anxiety and seeking out ways to reduce that anxiety. As she puts it, "The obsession is the internalizing aspect, and the compulsion is the externalizing aspect" — a succinct and accurate definition that plenty of others who experience OCD were grateful to hear.

In terms of her own experiences, she said in a video for the Child Mind Institute , "One of the things that made my life really difficult was trying new things, and it's still really hard for me." While many people probably don't think that much of trying out a new hairstyle, she explained that cutting her hair short was actually a really big deal for her and a pretty hard decision to make. As for what helped her go through with it? People being there to support her, which helped her remember an important lesson: "Change can be good, and even when it's scary, it's okay."

A car accident brought traumas to the surface

Back in 2012, Mayim Bialik was nominated for her first Emmy for her success in "The Big Bang Theory" — and was also involved in a pretty serious car crash that left one of her hands badly injured. In an interview with Vanity Fair , she treated the incident with relative levity, talking about jokes she made with her publicist and voicing her gratitude for the love she received from both friends and fans. She didn't go into much further detail about it at the time, saying, "It's also important to me to keep some of my recovery private as well."

In her talks with Kara Mayer Robinson eight years after the fact, she spoke in further detail about the longer-term effects of that accident. "After that, a tremendous amount of, literally, trauma stuff surfaced," she explained. "I became sound sensitive, I became touch [sensitive], and I was like, 'What is happening?'" A bunch of physical sensations — sounds, lights, and the like — suddenly became highly amplified for her, and she couldn't understand why, as it was something she'd never had to deal with in the past.

All that said, though, she spoke about her experiences openly and also mentioned that it's something she now shares with her son. Both of them are sensitive to physical sensations, and they help each other out. For example, they cover each others' ears when a fire truck passes by.

Her sensitivity has been both a blessing and a curse

In her interview with Kara Mayer Robinson , Mayim Bialik spoke about how she's a highly sensitive person, both in terms of physical sensations and when it comes to emotional situations. And she jokingly said that it feels like a superpower sometimes — people in her life have said that she's highly empathetic and scarily good at understanding emotions. But she also explained that it's caused her hardships in the past. In talking to the Daily Beast after her directorial debut in 2022, Bialik summed up her thoughts about her upbringing by saying, "I think many of us were parented the way that I was — with a lot of love and a handful of confusion."

In speaking with Robinson, she further explained that her emotional sensitivity didn't always mesh well with growing up in an immigrant household: "You get a lot of sticking together and ... 'let's keep it all in the tribe' and 'no one needs to know what's going on' ... I happened to be the kind of kid that was deeply affected by that kind of confusion and tension." At times throughout her life, she said people even told her, "'You're too sensitive, you're too emotional, calm down' ... which just made it worse." She further added that she now understands that her emotions are simply always high — she constantly feels emotional connections, which Robinson said could both be a good and bad thing at the same time.

The effects of intergenerational trauma

While Mayim Bialik might be best known for her acting roles and has also become a fairly well-known advocate of mental health awareness, it's also worth noting that she comes from a Jewish immigrant family, and that upbringing has also affected who she is. More specifically, while discussing the long-term effects of trauma on the podcast "Pretty Messed Up," she went into the effects that intergenerational trauma had on her family, given that her grandparents had immigrated from Poland after escaping pogroms.

According to her, there were plenty of good things about her upbringing, and she was raised with a lot of love and surrounded by creativity. But traumas like those caused by the pogroms don't just disappear. As she put it, "My parents struggled a lot, and it weighs on you, especially as a child." There were plenty of behaviors that would definitely be considered problematic by today's standards, and that made her into "the child that would fix everything." She took on a lot of that stress by herself and felt she couldn't talk to anyone or ask for help, because that's just not what the family did.

What's more, all of that stress just felt normal to her, which actually made things harder — not easier — when she moved out for college. Rather than feeling a weight lift from her shoulders, Bialik felt like a core part of her identity had just disappeared. She even started wondering whether she was actually good enough for anything else.

She's opened up about her eating disorder

Mayim Bialik has used her podcast to both talk about her own experiences and also speak with plenty of peers and experts to bring more awareness to mental health. In an episode that's since become one of her personal favorites, she'd initially planned to let her guest do more of the talking, but in a twist that surprised everyone present (herself, her partner, and her guest), she publicly opened up for the first time about her experience with eating disorders.

In the episode (via USA Daily ), Bialik spoke to activist Glennon Doyle and admitted that she'd never really talked about it. "People are like, 'Well, why are you so overweight?'" she revealed. "Well, because I'm a compulsive overeater in addition to being an anorexic and restrictor ... [I'm] eating so I don't have to feel anything." On top of that, she spoke about Hollywood's unrealistic beauty standards and the stress she'd felt trying to meet those standards — a stress that was likely amplified by people in the past commenting that she was too heavy for a specific role. Her goal is to stop caring so deeply about what Hollywood thinks and instead stand by what she thinks about how she looks.

Afterward, she explained to People that the whole thing was completely unplanned, crediting Doyle with giving her a safe space to be so vulnerable. According to Bialik: "If [Doyle] can be brave and be so helpful to people, maybe I can try and be brave too."

The ugly realities of casting in the 1980s

In the current day and age, movie and TV casting is typically more sensitive, often looking toward more diverse and genuine casts. But the 1980s and 1990s weren't quite the same as the 2020s when it came to the social landscape. Namely, Mayim Bialik explained to EDGE Magazine that early in her acting career (around the mid-1980s) the push was for actors to look "All-American." As she put it, "I didn't look All-American. I've always had prominent features and I've always looked ethnic, so I ended up doing a lot of character roles." Of course, Bialik is now known for her role on "Blossom," but that doesn't mean there weren't negative experiences. On her podcast (via The U.S. Sun ), she explained that she was usually typecast as, essentially, the weird friend, and being the lead didn't keep her safe from baseless hate: "People made horrible comments about my appearance, which never left me, since I've been 14 years old."

Then, there was also a controversial SNL skit in 1994 in which Melanie Hutsell was forced to wear a prosthetic nose to portray Bialik's character. Bialik commented on the whole incident many years later, mentioning her own discomfort while also wondering how it must have felt for the Jewish girls who had told her they felt proud of their heritage after seeing her on TV. (For what it's worth, though, Hutsell never felt comfortable with the decision, and the two actresses hold no grudges against each other.)

Going to college wasn't exactly easy

With all the fun that comes from celebrity — and sometimes heaps of money as well — it's really easy for anyone outside of the entertainment industry to imagine that landing a role in a popular TV show could have you set for life. But for Mayim Bialik, that wasn't the case. After all, she went to college after her show was over, leaving acting to pursue her doctorate in neuroscience instead. As she told Publishers Weekly , that choice partly came from being fed up with the public eye — she wanted out of the spotlight. "It was not fulfilling for me anymore at that stage in my life," she said of the entertainment industry. It just didn't line up with her personal priorities.

But regardless of that, it didn't make the transition into college easy. For one, "Blossom" was still a big show, even if it wasn't necessarily the most popular of its time. In other words, she was really well known, whether she wanted to be or not. On top of that, she added, "I was not a natural science student ... It took some time and a lot of hard work for me to catch up." Then, there's the notion of wealthy sitcom stars to dispel, at least when it comes to Bialik. Popular as "Blossom" was, she wasn't paid a huge amount (especially compared to current-day sitcom stars) and had to work and budget all through college, just the same as plenty of other students.

She got divorced in 2012

In Mayim Bialik's interview with Kara Mayer Robinson , the pair had a whole discussion regarding the patriarchy, traditional gender roles, and how both of those continue to affect people to this day. And the whole conversation stemmed, in part, from Bialik's divorce from Michael Stone back in 2012.

As the story goes, Bialik and Stone married in 2003 and had two sons, but in 2012, she released a statement on her blog that they would divorce due to "irreconcilable differences." Nonetheless, she said their two sons would be ensured the smoothest transition possible, and that she and Stone would do everything they could to continue giving them a loving childhood. Since then, both of them have kept that promise, even if the exact circumstances aren't always easy. In 2018, she wrote on her Grok Nation blog about attending Thanksgiving with not just her ex-husband but also his new girlfriend and her family — something that made her understandably nervous and also made her question her future regarding marriage. (She went through with it for her kids, and fortunately, it all went well.)

More generally, she and Stone have been co-parenting their kids, and she told Robinson that she was proud of how hard they'd worked at their relationship — even if he still annoys her sometimes.

She's taken some pretty controversial stances

When Mayim Bialik was announced as one of the new hosts of "Jeopardy!" there was plenty of controversy . Many people online questioned the decision and pointed to her strangely storied past with controversial opinions.Perhaps most notable are her stances on vaccines and parenting styles. She's been openly critical of vaccines since 2009, admitting that her family didn't do vaccines, though her opinions changed ever so slightly when 2020 rolled around. Even then, she said in a YouTube video they would only receive the COVID-19 and flu shot vaccines and said there are "way too many vaccines in this country."

Where parenting styles are concerned, she's been a vocal proponent of attachment parenting, a practice that emphasizes close bonds between parents and their kids. However, some of the specific practices are considered high risk by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the philosophy can create dangerous levels of competition between parents, and the entire idea was founded by a doctor with markedly anti-feminist views. Not a great look.

There were several other incidents involving supplements based on shoddy science and statements that were interpreted as victim blaming, but most recent was her stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict, in which she openly supported Israel. Backlash came from all sides — including from other Jewish people — accusing her of making sweeping generalizations while also overlooking an effective genocide.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website .

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Ken Jennings cracks subtle Mayim Bialik joke as Jeopardy! champ Adriana Harmeyer’s streak ‘gets exciting’ with 7th win

Darian Lusk , Senior entertainment reporter
Published : 19:06 ET, Jun 6 2024
Updated : 20:33 ET, Jun 6 2024
Published : Invalid Date,

JEOPARDY! host Ken Jennings made a playful side remark that may have been about Mayim Bialik as a champ's winning streak got serious on Thursday.

Ken seemingly referenced the ex-host in Final Jeopardy as Adriana Harmeyer nabbed her seventh win and a buzzworthy $155,700 total.

Ken Jennings told one of Adriana's opponents, 'Unfortunately that's not correct'

The archivist from West Lafayette, Indiana, was back for more against Rabbi Shira Gluck and theater producer Benjamin Nelson.

Ken opened the match by remarking that Adriana now boasts the season's longest winning streak - and she's not slowing down.

After the Jeopardy! round, she led with $4,800, Benjamin (off the first Daily Double) had $2,400, and Shira $3,000.

In Double Jeopardy!, Benjamin briefly tied her for the lead on the second Daily Double, while Shira missed the third one with a safe bet.

Jeopardy!'s Ken Jennings called out for avoiding Alex Trebek's favorite trick

Jeopardy!'s Adriana Harmeyer praised for 'sneaky' tactic for winning

But once again, Adriana pulled off a runaway going into Final Jeopardy with $18,800, Shira $8,900, and Benjamin $8,000.

'MEMORIES OF MAYIM?'

Final Jeopardy was under the category "U.S. HISTORY."

It read "Challenged in a courtroom that same year, 1925's Butler Act in Tennessee outlawed this activity and wasn't repealed until 1967."

Benjamin incorrectly wrote "...?" and Shira also incorrectly wrote, "What is drinking alcohol?"

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But Ken ruled her as incorrect in a way he doesn't usually do, and it wasn't lost on astute viewers.

He told Shira, "Unfortunately, that's not correct."

As a fan pointed out, that's exactly what Mayim would often say in Final Jeopardy (seen here) , whether the shade was on purpose or not.

"After Shira's response to FJ was revealed, Ken brought back memories of Mayim by saying, 'Unfortunately, that's not correct,' a Redditor wrote.

Only Adriana was correct with "The teaching of evolution", adding $800 to win $19,600 for a sensational seven-day total.

'GETTING EXCITING!'

Other fans flooded a Reddit game thread celebrating the ongoing winner and predicted she may be the show's next super-champion.

"Heck yes! First 7-day champion since Ben Chan, this is getting exciting!" one Redditor pointed out.

"Another day of not finding a single Daily Double and yet another runaway. Adriana might be one of the top 5 greatest female Jeopardy players of all time," another claimed.

"She certainly has to be up there right now. Obviously we'll have to see how she holds up in tournaments but thus far she's definitely building up a really impressive resume," wrote a third.

"Four straight runaways for Adriana, and five out of seven total," remarked a fourth.

Her seven with gave her the show's longest winning streak since nine-day champ and 2024 ToC runner-up Ben Chan.

Interestingly enough, when Ben lost on that Benedict Final ruling , Mayim ruled with, "Unfortunately, that's not correct."

Adriana will face two more challengers tomorrow night to go for win eight.

Adriana nabbed her fifth runaway and has the longest streak this season

SLAY-DRIANA HARMEYER

Meanwhile, Adriana , an art archivist from West Lafayette, Indiana, has been going strong since arriving last week.

She now boasts the longest streak and earnings all season and fans are all in.

"Way to go, Adriana, you are a great contestant!!" one Redditor recently wrote.

"Adriana is impressive, likable, and fun to watch. I'm going to predict a 20-game run. Hoping for even more. Go, Adriana!" wrote another.

"Adriana is killing it and I love her retro vibe, like she stepped off the set of the Mary Tyler Moore show," wrote a third.

"Adriana is so cool I bet she doesn't even sweat," wrote a fourth.

So far, the other qualifiers for the next Tournament of Champions (all female) are five-day winners Alison Betts and Dr. Amy Hummel and Celebrity Jeopardy!'s Lisa Ann Walter.

That said, with four wins, Grant DeYoung and Amar Kakirde will likely join the fray as well.

NOT 'FINDING THE DAILY DOUBLES'

Other fans have pointed out that Adriana has opted for a risk-averse strategy, which is especially rare in the modern era.

She is a traditional player who competes top-down (what a relief!) and has not gone Daily Double-hunting a la James Holzhauer.

Instead, she has only found eight of the 21 hidden clues, refusing to bounce across the board.

This lets the other contestants find the Daily Doubles (like Carol on Monday) and fall on their swords by missing them with big bets.

"What’s with starting at the top all of a sudden? Lol," one fan noted on Facebook.

"There goes the argument that finding the DDs and luck takes all the fun out of it!" wrote another after her fifth win.

Meanwhile, Adriana is a clinical assistant professor and archivist of University History in Purdue University's Archives and Special Collections.

Her Q&A stories have shed light on her Jeopardy! journey, including not making the cut as a Teen contestant.

She honed her chops on a '90s CD-ROM version of Jeopardy! starting when she was seven. She only stopped playing the game after the disc broke in half.

She also said in a recent interview that she took the show's online test for fun and was blindsided to be contacted a few weeks later.

"I had taken the online test a couple of times before, but this time I'd went online one evening and took the test for fun."

"I didn't expect anything to come out of it - I just thought of it as another fun internet quiz."

On December 15, 2023, Mayim broke the Internet when she announced that she was fired from Jeopardy! personally on Instagram.

She and Ken co-hosted the game show starting in 2022, switching off.

"As the Holiday break begins in Hollywood, I have some Jeopardy! news," she began her post.

"Sony has informed me that I will no longer be hosting the syndicated version of Jeopardy!"

Jeopardy! posted a statement an hour after and it was since reported Mayim broke the news without consulting the show first.

In their statement, the show expressed that they "hoped" to work with Mayim on specials and spinoffs in the future.

But the actress has not shared any plans to return to the franchise - or vice versa - even for Celebrity Jeopardy!.

Additionally, Ken tended to be the fan-favorite when the two stars were co-hosts.

Ken later said he "understood" the decision as shows "don't have two hosts."

Now, Ken helms all facets of Jeopardy! including specials and spinoffs.

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Mayim has had no public relationship with Jeopardy! since her departure and recently appeared in the Young Sheldon series finale.

Jeopardy! airs at 7 pm ET on ABC - check your local listings.

Mayim Bialik was let go from syndicated Jeopardy! in 2023 and now Ken is the one-and-only host

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Who is Miles Roosevelt Bialik Stone? Inside the life of Mayim Bialik’s son

Miles roosevelt bialik stone is the first child of actress mayim bialik and her husband, michael stone, at the time of their marriage..

Her mother, Mayim, is an actress best known for her role as Amy on the television sitcom The Big Bang Theory, which airs on CBS. Similarly, her father Michael Stone is also successful in business.

After ten years of marriage, the couple finally divorced and became parents to two children. Mayim and Michael’s friendship has remained strong over the years, and the two are currently raising their children together as co-parents.

But despite having one of television’s most successful actresses as a mother, Miles is nothing like her. Miles is the complete antithesis of her mother. He does not appear frequently in public and is not very active on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

Therefore, the media only has a limited amount of information about the 17-year-old’s life. On the other hand, we are going to learn information that has never been shared before in this publication. Is he dating anyone? Find out everything you can about him, such as his age, his siblings, his career, and his net worth.

The famous child Miles Roosevelt Bialik Stone was born on October 10, 2005 in San Diego, California, and was given the zodiac sign of Libra at the time of his birth. In October 2022 he will turn 17 years old.

Roosevelt was born in the United States of America and has a diverse ethnic background, including Jewish lineage on his mother’s side. The same can be said for his maternal grandparents, whose names are Beverly Winkleman and Barry Bialik.

Stone’s height is reportedly around 4 feet 3 inches. Her eyes are a beautiful shade of blue and her hair is brown. She spent her childhood with her younger brother Frederick Heschel Bialik Stone, who was born in August 2008.

According to various reports, the name Frederick was borrowed into English from the Germanic name Friedrich. The same word means “peaceful ruler” in its original language. Likewise, his middle name, Heschel, is a Yiddish name meaning “deer.” On the other hand, his mother’s name, Mayim, has a Hebrew meaning that translates as “water.”

As just noted, both Miles and his brother Frederick do everything they can to avoid the attention of the press and public. As a result of this, many people began to hypothesize that Frederick suffered from Down syndrome. However, the rumor turned out to be completely unfounded.

On August 15, 2008, Heschel was born weighing 7 pounds, 15 ounces and his due date was the 15th. He was said to have been born without his mother’s water breaking, which is a birth method also known as “birth in caul.”

Mayim Bialik and Michael Stone, AD Miles’ parents, were married for ten years during that time. The ex-husband and ex-wife initially met while taking a calculus class together at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). At first, they not only became friends; They also began playing racquetball together and studying mathematics together.

Later, they went on a date and it quickly became clear that they had strong romantic chemistry. After dating Mayim for five years, Michael decided to convert to Judaism because Mayim would only marry another Jewish person.

The couple married on August 31, 2003 in Pasadena, California, during a Victorian-themed ceremony. Their wedding contained several customs that are common at Jewish weddings.

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Pat Sajak’s final ‘Wheel of Fortune’ airs Friday. What to know about his spin as host

Pat Sajak standing on the Wheel of Fortune stage in a black suit, holding cards, smiling

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Pat Sajak will wind down his record-breaking spin hosting “Wheel of Fortune” on Friday night. Here’s what to know about the game show icon’s decades-long tenure on the show.

When does Sajak’s final episode air?

The “Wheel of Fortune” Season 41 finale, titled “Thanks for the Memories,” airs at 7:30 p.m. Friday on KABC-7. Thursday’s penultimate episode will include a farewell message from Sajak’s longtime co-host, Vanna White.

Man Pat Sajak standing on Wheel of Fortune stage in black suit, holding cards, smiling and looking off stage

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How long has Sajak hosted?

Sajak has hosted the Hangman-style game show for more than 40 years, stepping in for original host Chuck Woolery after its seventh season in 1982, when “America’s Game” still aired on daytime television.

“Wheel of Fortune” debuted in 1975 with Woolery and Susan Stafford leading the show before the “Love Connection” host departed over a salary dispute with NBC. Legendary producer Merv Griffin hired Sajak and famous letter-turner White in 1982, and the two have become fixtures of the series. In 2019, Sajak scored the Guinness Book of World Records title for longest career as a game show host on the same show. He will retire with almost 8,000 episodes to his name.

He earned three Daytime Emmy Awards as game show host during his run and a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. He also has a People’s Choice Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame credited to his “Wheel” run.

In 2021, “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” premiered in prime time on ABC with Sajak usually serving as host.

Why is Sajak stepping down?

The 77-year-old announced his retirement a year ago, writing on X (formerly Twitter) that the current season would be his last. In an interview with his daughter, “Wheel” social correspondent Maggie Sajak, the host said that he could continue hosting the show if he wanted to but felt he needed to exit on his own terms.

“I’d rather leave a couple years too early than a couple years too late,” he said, adding, “I’m looking forward to whatever’s ahead.”

Who’s taking over ‘Wheel of Fortune’? And when?

Headshots of Pat Sajak, left, and Ryan Seacrest

Less than a month after Sajak revealed his retirement, “American Idol” and “On Air” host Ryan Seacrest announced that he would step into the emcee’s shoes. At the time, Seacrest lauded his predecessor for the way Sajak “always celebrated the contestants and made viewers feel at home.”

Seacrest, who signed a multiyear deal with Sony Pictures Television last June, will begin the new gig in September.

White is set to remain on “Wheel of Fortune” for the next two years. She has previously filled in for Sajak as host on a few occasions and, before the brief search for Sajak’s successor came to an end, fans campaigned for White to replace her longtime colleague.

Vanna White, Mayim Bialik, Ken Jennings, Maggie Sajak and Pat Sajack pose for a group photo on the set of the game show 'Wheel of Fortune'

Vanna White to play ‘Wheel of Fortune’ with ‘Jeopardy!’ hosts. Maggie Sajak fills in

Pat Sajak’s daughter is filling in for Vanna White as the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ co-host competes Wednesday against ‘Jeopardy!’ stars Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik.

May 9, 2023

What did Sajak do before ‘Wheel’?

It’s hard to think about Sajak doing anything other than soliciting consonants and vowels or declaring a player “bankrupt,” but his storied career began long before “Wheel of Fortune.”

Born and raised in Chicago, Sajak got his broadcasting start as a newscaster and announcer at a small radio station, looking to broadcast legends Arthur Godfrey, Dave Garroway, Steve Allen and Jack Paar for inspiration to shape his TV personality. He served in the U.S. Army in the late 1960s and was sent to Vietnam, where he hosted a daily show for Armed Forces Radio in Saigon shouting “Good morning, Vietnam!” each day.

After being discharged, he worked at small radio stations in Kentucky and Tennessee, spending several years as a staff announcer, talk show host and weatherman at Nashville’s WSM-TV. A talent scout for NBC-TV in Los Angeles spotted him and brought him onboard in 1977 to serve as the local NBC station’s primary weatherman. In 1981, Griffin asked him to assume hosting duties on “Wheel” when it still aired during the day on NBC, well before the syndicated version premiered in 1983.

“The nice thing about working in local TV in L.A.,” Sajak has said, “is that decision makers are watching you every night.”

The avuncular host has joked that he spent 40 years doing “a part-time job pretending it was full-time,” given how the show’s shooting schedule has allowed him to tape several episodes at a time.

“The great benefit is [my wife] Lesley and I could spend time together and do things,” he told his daughter in an interview posted this week on the “Wheel of Fortune” YouTube channel. “And I could watch you guys grow up and go to the games and all that kind of stuff that work might have taken me away from.”

What else is on Sajak’s résumé?

During his tenure, Sajak has entertained generations of fans, inspired “Saturday Night Live” and “South Park” jokes and generated numerous headlines about his behavior with contestants . He also briefly hosted the short-lived late-night talk show “The Pat Sajak Show” in the late 1980s and played himself in a number of films and TV shows, including “The A-Team,” “227,” “Airplane II: The Sequel,” “Santa Barbara,” “The King of Queens,” “Just Shoot Me!” and “Fresh Off the Boat.”

“We became part of the popular culture ... more importantly became part of people’s lives,” he said in a recent interview with his daughter, who made her “Wheel” debut as a 1-year-old when she joined her dad onstage. The Princeton and Columbia University grad has been the show’s social correspondent since 2021.

Pat sajak also has helped reformat the show, adding the Toss Up puzzle to contribute more content each episode, plus the idea of the $100,000 Toss Up.

But his awkward dad jokes have raised eyebrows in recent years, with the stalwart host fully committing to an odd voyeurism quip while bantering with White during a 2023 episode. He also has landed in hot water for asking her if she liked watching opera in the buff and repeatedly raised social media hackles when he mocked and pranked a contestant over her fear of fish, poked fun at a man and his long beard by referring to him as one of Santa’s helpers, and put a winning contestant in a chokehold.

What’s next for Sajak?

Sajak said he’s looking forward to time to “with my crossword puzzles” and family. He will continue his duties as chairman of the Hillsdale College Board of Trustees, a position he took up in 2019 .

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Hypothalamic regulation in relation to maladaptive, obsessive
Topics. Lists. About. For Librarians. Hypothalamic regulation in relation to maladaptive, obsessive-compulsive, affiliative, and satiety behaviors in Prader-Willi syndrome ... affiliative, and satiety behaviors in Prader-Willi syndrome. Author: Mayim Bialik. Thesis, Dissertation ... Dissertation: University of California, Los Angeles. Genre ...
Hypothalamic Regulation in Relation to
Hypothalamic Regulation in Relation to Maladaptive, Obsessive-compulsive, Affiliative, and Satiety Behaviors in Prader-Willi Syndrome. Bialik, Mayim Chaya. University of California, Los Angeles ProQuest Dissertation & Theses, 2007. 3317017. Preview - PDF. Abstract/Details. Explore millions of resources from scholarly journals, books, newspapers ...
Mayim Bialik '00, PhD.'07
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 ...
PDF TURNING POINT The Big Bang Theory Mayim Bialik
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
Turning point: Mayim Bialik
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 ...
Why This 'Big Bang Theory' Star Got a Ph.D. in Science
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 ...
Mayim Bialik shares her STEM inspiration
Mayim Bialik shares her STEM inspiration. The Big Bang Theory actress speaks to the National Science Teachers Association. 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.
5 Facts About Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Some readers asked me to write more science-related posts, including specifically something about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. While I can't fill all reader requests, I do have an interest in OCD because my doctoral thesis in Psychoneuroendocrinology (in the Neuroscience Department at UCLA) was on Obsessions and Compulsions in a population of individuals with a genetic syndrome called ...
Mayim Bialik
Mayim Chaya Bialik (/ ˈ m aɪ ɪ m b i ˈ ɑː l ɪ k / MY-im bee-AH-lik; born December 12, 1975) is an American actress, author and former game show host.From 1991 to 1995, she played the title character of the NBC sitcom Blossom.From 2010 to 2019, she played neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, for which she was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy ...
Mayim Bialik Opens Up About Mental Health, 'Call Me Kat ...
Mayim Bialik. Storm Santos. At the end of last week's Call Me Kat episode, Bialik's character touches upon a very relatable topic of fertility with women. "We were very uncertain about this ...
A Canadian Jewish interview with Mayim Bialik
A Canadian Jewish interview with Mayim Bialik. This past Saturday, Dec. 12, Mayim Bialik turned 40 years old. A prolific writer, actor, neuroscientist, attachment parenting advocate and proud proponent of modern Orthodoxy, Bialik, like her great-grandfather's first cousin, Israeli national poet Chaim Nahman Bialik, has accomplished a fair bit ...
Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) Awareness
By Mayim Bialik Published on 12/22/2015 at 2:03 PM EDT. SHARE: As many of you know, my doctoral thesis in Neuroscience focused on a genetic syndrome called Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS). PWS, a spontaneous mutation in chromosome 15, occurs in one out of approximately every 15,000 live births. ... Explore These Topics: Giving Prader-Willi syndrome ...
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.
Mayim Bialik: Life Is In Session
The Squeeze. Calling all big-word fans, this one's for you! A neuroscientist and actress from a little show you may have heard of…The Big Bang Theory's Mayim Bialik joins the Lautners to discuss her journey with mental health, both in and out of the spotlight. She explains her thesis dissertation, which, (grab a dictionary), was ...
Mayim Bialik
Mayim Bialik. December 23, 2015 ·. The topic of my PhD thesis was Prader Willi Syndrome (PWS). As an advocate for the PWS Association (USA), I'm helping to raise awareness and provide help for individuals and families affected by PWS. I did a video & wrote about it for GrokNation in the hopes that you'll join me in donating to this wonderful ...
Mayim Bialik
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 ...
Mayim Bialik Encourages Awareness of Prader-Willli With Online PSA
As many of you know, my doctoral thesis in Neuroscience focused on a genetic syndrome called Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS). PWS, a spontaneous mutation in chromosome 15, occurs in one out of approximately every 15,000 live births. The most distinctive feature of the syndrome is the inability to feel full; because of this, PWS is the leading cause ...
The Tragedy Of Mayim Bialik Explained
But the 1980s and 1990s weren't quite the same as the 2020s when it came to the social landscape. Namely, Mayim Bialik explained to EDGE Magazine that early in her acting career (around the mid-1980s) the push was for actors to look "All-American." As she put it, "I didn't look All-American.
Notice to the Community: Regarding Mayim Hate, Misogyny ...
Mayim brought up her dissertation in a way that people thought was ham-fisted and humble bragging and people were complaining about it. It wasn't a huge deal but the point of that comment was that the complaints were about a specific moment during the day's game and not generalized "mayim is bad" rambling so it could have only been people who ...
Ken Jennings cracks subtle Mayim Bialik joke as Jeopardy! champ Adriana
JEOPARDY! host Ken Jennings made a playful side remark that may have been about Mayim Bialik as a champ's winning streak got serious on Thursday. Ken seemingly referenced the ex-host in Final Jeopardy as Adriana Harmeyer nabbed her seventh win and a buzzworthy $155,700 total.
mayim bialik y'all : r/bigbangtheory
134K subscribers in the bigbangtheory community. The Big Bang Theory | You're in my spot
Who is Miles Roosevelt Bialik Stone? Inside the life of Mayim Bialik's son
Inside the life of Mayim Bialik's son. Miles Roosevelt Bialik Stone is the first child of actress Mayim Bialik and her husband, Michael Stone, at the time of their marriage. Her mother, Mayim, is an actress best known for her role as Amy on the television sitcom The Big Bang Theory, which airs on CBS. Similarly, her father Michael Stone is ...
Mayim Bialik Dissertation
Mayim Bialik Dissertation, Ielts Essay On Growing Population Need Focus On Gm Food, Cover Letter Samples For Executive Administrative Assistant, When Has Hard Work Pays Off Essay, Controversial Essay Topics For Kids, Esl Dissertation Results Editing Site For Phd, Equity Trade Support Resume
Mayim Bialik Dissertation
Mayim Bialik Dissertation - We select our writers from various domains of academics and constantly focus on enhancing their skills for our writing essay services. All of them have had expertise in this academic world for more than 5 years now and hold significantly higher degrees of education.
Pat Sajak's 'Wheel of Fortune' finale: What to know
Pat Sajak's final 'Wheel of Fortune' airs Friday. What to know about his spin as host. Pat Sajak will host his last "Wheel of Fortune" episode, the Season 41 finale, at 7:30 p.m. Friday ...

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The Tragedy Of Mayim Bialik Explained

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