The Big Bang Theory Character Marisa Tomei Almost Played

It’s bizarre to even consider, but at one point, Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei auditioned to play Penny on “The Big Bang Theory” — and while it’s hard to imagine her in Kaley Cuoco’s role, it’s also funny to imagine an alternate universe with Tomei as the show’s bubbly female lead.

Fans of “The Big Bang Theory” know there was a decent amount of strife over who would play Penny — one actress, Katie Walsh, was replaced after a badly-shot pilot didn’t impress CBS — but it’s definitely shocking to hear that Tomei was in the mix. In 2022, Tomei opened up about “The Big Bang Theory” and said that she did like the project, and obviously had no idea that it would be such a huge pop culture phenomenon.

“I thought it was a great script, and that’s why we went so far as to check it out,” Tomei told Business Insider in an interview promoting her partnership with Briggs and Riley’s luggage line. “And it’s such an iconic kind of setup, all those archetypes, the scientists, and then the kind of little hottie and the whole thing.”

“I certainly didn’t know it was going to go on that long,” Tomei continued before saying that while she didn’t feel like the project was the right choice for her then, she liked what she saw: “It wasn’t really the right fit for me at the time, but I really did enjoy the script itself.” Regarding just how “long” the show went, Tomei might be a little relieved that she didn’t sign on to twelve years and seasons of playing Penny.

In 2022, the same year that Marisa Tomei opened up about nearly playing Penny on “The Big Bang Theory,” the people involved with the show spoke extensively to Jessica Radloff for her book “The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series” — and star Jim Parsons, better known to fans of the show as Sheldon Cooper, said that he actually read with Tomei after he was definitively cast.

“I had the part of Sheldon for a long time before everything was settled,” Parsons revealed before dropping a bombshell (via an excerpt from The Hollywood Reporter). “I read with Marisa Tomei. Johnny [Galecki, who plays Leonard Hofstadter, Penny’s eventual love interest] was cast by then, but he was doing a play in New York. I had come back to read with her.”

Throughout the process, Parsons recalled that he was a little confused as to why he was asked to read with Tomei, only to be told that they needed to see how the two interacted. “I remember going to the snack room after we were done and telling Ken [Miller, a casting director] and Nikki [Valko, another casting director], ‘I’ve never been in someone else’s audition before!’ And they said, ‘Well, she was kind of really auditioning you.’ And I went, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’ But oh my gosh, what a different world that would have been.”

It’s safe to say that, even without “The Big Bang Theory,” Marisa Tomei is doing pretty well. By the time the team behind “The Big Bang Theory” started courting her to potentially play Penny, Tomei was already an Oscar-winning actress — thanks to her bombshell role as “out-of-work hairdresser” Mona Lisa Vito in “My Cousin Vinny” — and when you consider that “The Big Bang Theory” began its run in 2007, it’s also safe to say that Tomei’s career didn’t suffer one bit in the immediate aftermath. In 2008, Tomei earned her third Academy Award nomination for her role alongside Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (her second was for 2001’s “In the Bedroom”), and in the years that followed, Tomei appeared in movies like “The Ides of March,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” “The Big Short,” and TV shows like “Empire” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

Cuoco may be a part of a legendary sitcom, but Tomei is a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After her first appearance as Aunt May in 2016’s crossover event “Captain America: Civil War,” she reprised the role in Tom Holland’s “Spider-Man” movies (“Homecoming,” “Far From Home,” and “No Way Home”) and “Avengers: Endgame,” and in the spring of 2022, she told late night host Jimmy Fallon she’d love to come back someday. “I would love to come back and be a part of that,” Tomei said before joking about her character “hooking up” with Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man. “Well, I mean, she’s a standalone character, of course, but there are more avenues to explore,” she concluded.

Marisa Tomei is an unbelievably talented actress, but it’s really difficult to imagine a world where anybody other than Kaley Cuoco plays Penny. After that aforementioned rough first pilot, Cuoco came on board as Penny — and was an undeniably perfect fit. The irony is, of course, that Cuoco tried out for the original iteration of Penny, named Katie, and was deemed too young for the role according to Jessica Radloff’s book. “I loved the role, and I loved Chuck [Lorre],” Cuoco said in an interview. “I had worked with him when I was fourteen or fifteen on a pilot called ‘Nathan’s Choice.’ I know Chuck really wanted me for the role of Katie, and I was definitely bummed when I didn’t get it, but I kind of have a way of moving on because you have to.”

At the end of the day, Cuoco brought both snark and warmth to Penny, who’s initially portrayed as an object of desire without much depth for the show’s main cast and, thankfully, evolves into a fascinating character in her own right. (When the show brings on Bernadette Rostenkowski and Amy Farrah Fowler, played by Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik, Penny’s storylines get really fun.) Cuoco also loved the show — to the point where Jim Parsons’ decision to leave, which meant the show would end, caused tension between the co-stars — and her affection for the role and her co-stars is evident in her performance. Tomei is fantastic, but in this instance, everything worked out for the best for both actresses.

“The Big Bang Theory” is streaming on Max now.