Melissa Rauch
{{Short description|American actress (born 1980)}}
{{pp-move}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Melissa Rauch
| image = Melissa Rauch at PaleyFest 2013 (edited).jpg
| caption = Rauch in 2013
| birth_name = Melissa Ivy Rauch
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1980|6|23}}
| birth_place = Marlboro Township, New Jersey, U.S.
| other_names =
| alma_mater = Marymount Manhattan College
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 2006–present
| spouse = {{marriage|Winston Beigel|2007}}
| children = 2
| website =
}}
Melissa Ivy Rauch ({{IPAc-en|r|aʊ|ʃ}}; born June 23, 1980) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory from 2009 to 2019, for which she was nominated for the Critics Choice Television Award in 2013. From 2004 to 2008, Rauch worked as a regular contributor on the VH1 series Best Week Ever.
Rauch's other acting credits include playing Tina on the American remake of Kath & Kim, Summer on the HBO fantasy horror drama True Blood, and the lead role on NBC's revival of Night Court from 2023 to 2025.
Rauch also starred in, co-wrote, and co-produced the 2015 sports comedy-drama film The Bronze and provided the voice of DC character Harley Quinn in the 2017 animated film Batman and Harley Quinn. Rauch also had supporting roles in I Love You, Man (2009), Ice Age: Collision Course and Flock of Dudes (both 2016), and Ode to Joy and The Laundromat (both 2019).
Early life
Rauch was born to David and Susan Rauch in Marlboro Township, New Jersey. She is Jewish.{{cite web| url=http://broadwayworld.com/people/galleryphoto.php?photoid=8847&personid=9128| title=Winston Beigel| publisher=Broadwayworld.com| date=August 14, 2005| access-date=February 4, 2015| archive-date= March 4, 2016| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304211719/http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/galleryphoto.php?photoid=8847&personid=9128| url-status=live|quote=[Photo caption] Melissa Rauch with parents Susan & David Rauch, older brother Ben Rauch, and boyfriend Winston Beigel at The Miss Education of Jenna Bush}}{{cite web| url=https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/melissa-rauch/bio/198404| title=Melissa Rauch: Biography| publisher=TVGuide.com| access-date=February 4, 2015| archive-date= July 29, 2016| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160729062135/http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/melissa-rauch/bio/198404}}{{cite news |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/television/news/story/2011-11-16/cbs-big-bang-theory/51248274/1 |title=Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch Five Questions |work=USA Today |date=November 17, 2011| first=Jayme| last=Deerwester |access-date=February 4, 2015| archive-date= April 15, 2015| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150415054106/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/television/news/story/2011-11-16/cbs-big-bang-theory/51248274/1| url-status=live}}{{Cite web|last=Bloom|first=Nate|title=Jewish Stars 1/27|publisher=Cleveland Jewish News|date=January 26, 2012|url=https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/archives/jewish-stars/article_700182ca-484d-11e1-98a9-001871e3ce6c.html|access-date=December 24, 2017|archive-date=October 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008155126/https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/archives/jewish-stars/article_700182ca-484d-11e1-98a9-001871e3ce6c.html|url-status=live}} She has a younger brother, Ben. She developed an interest in acting while attending Marlboro High School.{{cite journal| last=Considine| first=Bob| url=http://www.nj.com/inside-jersey/index.ssf/2011/05/take_five_with_melissa_rauch.html| title=Take Five With Melissa Rauch| journal=The Star-Ledger| location=Newark| date=May 17, 2011| access-date=February 4, 2015| quote="I also had a terrific theater teacher at Marlboro High School who taught me a great deal and was very encouraging. There wasn't a ton to do in Marlboro, so for me, it was either hang outside the Wawa or put on a show."| archive-date=August 18, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818050104/http://www.nj.com/inside-jersey/index.ssf/2011/05/take_five_with_melissa_rauch.html| url-status=live}} Her Bat Mitzvah had a "Melissa’s Comedy Club" theme.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kveller.com/mayim-bialik-melissa-rauch-talk-the-bronze-bat-mitzvahs-big-bangs-jewish-rivalry/|title=Mayim Bialik & Melissa Rauch Talk 'The Bronze,' Bat Mitzvahs & Big Bang's Jewish Rivalry|date=2016-03-16|website=Kveller|access-date=2020-03-16|archive-date=August 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803225640/https://www.kveller.com/mayim-bialik-melissa-rauch-talk-the-bronze-bat-mitzvahs-big-bangs-jewish-rivalry/|url-status=live}} Rauch earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting and graduated from Marymount Manhattan College in New York City in 2002.{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/melissa-rauch-090315|title=Melissa Rauch Biography: Television Actress (1980–) | last=Mead|first=Wendy|publisher=Biography.com (FYI / A&E Networks) | access-date=January 29, 2016| archive-date= October 8, 2016| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161008111645/http://www.biography.com/people/melissa-rauch-090315| url-status=live}}
Career
Some of Rauch's early work was as a regular contributor to VH1's Best Week Ever television show.{{cite web| date=May 29, 2008| url=http://www.bestweekever.tv/tag/melissa-rauch| title=Profiles in Panelism: Melissa Rauch| work=Best Week Ever| access-date=January 2, 2010| archive-date=December 16, 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091216061949/http://www.bestweekever.tv/tag/melissa-rauch| url-status=dead}}
In 2009, Rauch began playing the recurring role of Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, a co-worker of Penny's at The Cheesecake Factory who began to date Howard Wolowitz, in the third season of CBS's The Big Bang Theory.{{cite journal| url=http://www.backstage.com/interview/the-big-bang-theory-cast-on-being-part-of-an-ensemble/| title='The Big Bang Theory' Cast On Being Part of an Ensemble| first=Jenelle| last=Riley| journal=Backstage| date=November 29, 2012| access-date=February 4, 2015| archive-date=January 4, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150104212344/http://www.backstage.com/interview/the-big-bang-theory-cast-on-being-part-of-an-ensemble/| url-status=live}} The following season, her character became Howard's fiancée, and Rauch was promoted to a series regular. The characters married in the season five finale. In December 2011, Rauch and fellow cast members of The Big Bang Theory received the first of six nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.{{cite press release| title=Nominations Announced for the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®| url=http://www.sagawards.org/media-pr/11213| date=December 14, 2011| publisher=Screen Actors Guild| access-date=February 4, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106110855/http://www.sagawards.org/media-pr/11213| archive-date=January 6, 2012| url-status=dead}}{{cite press release| title=Nominations Announced for the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®| url=http://www.sagawards.org/media-pr/press-releases/nominations-announced-19th-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards%C2%AE| date=December 12, 2012| publisher=Screen Actors Guild| access-date=February 4, 2015| archive-date=May 28, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150528131000/http://www.sagawards.org/media-pr/press-releases/nominations-announced-19th-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards%C2%AE| url-status=dead}}{{cite press release| title=Nominations Announced for the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®| url=http://www.sagawards.org/media-pr/press-releases/nominations-announced-20th-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards%C2%AE| date=December 13, 2013| publisher=Screen Actors Guild| access-date=February 4, 2015| archive-date=October 16, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016001917/http://www.sagawards.org/media-pr/press-releases/nominations-announced-20th-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards%C2%AE| url-status=live}}{{cite news| title=SAG Awards 2015: Complete List of Nominations!| url=http://www.eonline.com/news/604452/sag-awards-2015-complete-list-of-nominations| date=December 10, 2014| work=E! News| last=Johnson| first=Zach| access-date=February 4, 2015| archive-date=September 27, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170927113922/http://www.eonline.com/news/604452/sag-awards-2015-complete-list-of-nominations| url-status=live}}
Other acting credits include True Blood (in which she had a recurring role in 2010 as Summer, a girl who likes Hoyt), The Office, the American remake of the Australian TV series Kath & Kim, Wright v Wrong, and the film I Love You, Man.
Rauch is also part of the comedic stage show The Realest Real Housewives cast with Casey Wilson, June Diane Raphael, Jessica St. Clair and Danielle Schneider. The show began running at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in 2011.{{cite journal| url=http://www.laweekly.com/arts/the-realest-real-housewives-at-ucb-a-celebration-of-the-best-show-ever-paul-scheer-2374472| title=The Realest Real Housewives at UCB: A Celebration of the Best Show Ever + Paul Scheer| last=Trachta| first=Ali| date=January 29, 2011| journal=LA Weekly| access-date=February 4, 2015| archive-date=September 27, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170927115109/http://www.laweekly.com/arts/the-realest-real-housewives-at-ucb-a-celebration-of-the-best-show-ever-paul-scheer-2374472| url-status=live}}
Rauch co-wrote and co-produced the film The Bronze, in which she starred as Hope Ann Greggory, a bronze medal-winning gymnast clinging to her glory days of 12 years earlier. It opened the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/5-reasons-the-bronze-could-be-a-breakout-comedy-in-2015-1201412800/|title=5 Reasons The Bronze Could be a Breakout Comedy in 2015|last=Setoodeh|first=Ramin|work=Variety| date= January 23, 2015|access-date=April 24, 2016| archive-date= November 6, 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161106155528/http://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/5-reasons-the-bronze-could-be-a-breakout-comedy-in-2015-1201412800/| url-status=live}} Variety said: "Rauch, who co-wrote the screenplay with her husband Winston, has never carried a film before. But she delivers the best breakthrough comedic performance by an actress since Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids". Sony Pictures Classics acquired the film in September 2015.{{Cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2015/09/the-bronze-sony-pictures-classics-release-date-relativity-media-1201522219/|title=Ex-Relativity Pic The Bronze Lands at Sony Pictures Classics|last=Pedersen|first=Erik|website=Deadline Hollywood| date= September 11, 2015|access-date=April 24, 2016| archive-date=August 22, 2016 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160822214338/http://deadline.com/2015/09/the-bronze-sony-pictures-classics-release-date-relativity-media-1201522219/| url-status=live}}
In 2017, Rauch voiced Harley Quinn in the animated film Batman and Harley Quinn{{cite web |last=Trumbore |first=Dave |url=https://collider.com/batman-and-harley-quinn-review/ |title='Batman and Harley Quinn' Review: An Insult to Fans of 'Batman: The Animated Series' |website=Collider.com |date=August 30, 2017 |access-date=January 1, 2020 |quote=I don’t know if I can blame Melissa Rauch for any of this, but it was not a great introduction for her take on Harley. |archive-date=January 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101222922/https://collider.com/batman-and-harley-quinn-review/ |url-status=live }} and she voiced Light Thief in "Light Riders" from Blaze and the Monster Machines.
She starred in the Night Court revival series playing Judge Abby Stone, the daughter of Judge Harold T. Stone and Gina Stone from the original Night Court series.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2021/04/night-court-melissa-rauch-set-star-john-larroquette-sequel-nbc-pilot-1234748000/|title='Night Court': EP Melissa Rauch Set To Star With John Larroquette In Sequel At NBC|last1=Andreeva|first1=Nellie|date=April 30, 2021|work=Deadline Hollywood|accessdate=April 30, 2021|archive-date=May 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501004753/https://deadline.com/2021/04/night-court-melissa-rauch-set-star-john-larroquette-sequel-nbc-pilot-1234748000/|url-status=live}} Season 1 premiered on NBC on January 17, 2023, and was co-produced by Rauch and her husband Winston Beigel, in association with Warner Bros. Television Studios and Universal Television. The show was cancelled after 3 seasons.{{Cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2025/05/night-court-canceled-nbc-1236391772/|title='Night Court' Canceled By NBC After 3 Seasons|work=Deadline Hollywood|first1=Rosy|last1=Cordero|first2=Nellie|last2=Andreeva|date=May 9, 2025|access-date=May 9, 2025|archive-date=May 9, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250509175126/https://deadline.com/2025/05/night-court-canceled-nbc-1236391772/|url-status=live}}
Personal life
Rauch is married to writer Winston Rauch (né Beigel), who collaborated with her on The Miss Education of Jenna Bush and other projects. They have been married since 2007 and have two children, a daughter born in 2017 and a son born in 2020.{{cite news |last1=Gera |first1=Makena |title=Who Is Melissa Rauch’s Husband? All About Winston Rauch |url=https://people.com/who-is-winston-rauch-melissa-rauch-husband-8430500 |access-date=20 April 2025 |work=People |date=27 January 2024 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Manno |first1=Jackie |title=All About Melissa Rauch’s Husband, Winston |url=https://www.nbc.com/nbc-insider/melissa-rauch-husband-winston |access-date=20 April 2025 |work=NBC |date=12 January 2024}} She announced her 2017 pregnancy by writing an essay in Glamour, where she reflected on a miscarriage she had previously suffered.{{cite magazine|first=Melissa|last=Rauch|magazine=Glamour Magazine|url=https://www.glamour.com/story/actress-melissa-rauch-announces-pregnancy-and-reflects-on-miscarriage|date=July 11, 2017|title=Actress Melissa Rauch Announces Her Pregnancy and Reflects on the Heartache of Miscarriage}}
The voices she uses for portraying the character Bernadette on The Big Bang Theory were inspired by experiences growing up in a "house of screamers". She usually portrays Bernadette using a "sweet, high-pitched purr", and switches to an "eerie, haranguing imitation" of Mrs. Wolowitz in interactions with Mrs. Wolowitz.{{cite web|url=https://nypost.com/2013/03/24/screaming-success/|title=Screaming success|last=Getlen|first=Larry|date=March 24, 2013|work=New York Post|access-date=September 27, 2015|archive-date=September 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921234526/http://nypost.com/2013/03/24/screaming-success/|url-status=live}} Both are "very different" from Rauch's real voice.{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/16/melissa-rauch-maxim_n_4288568.html|title=Melissa Rauch of Big Bang Theory Does S&M-Inspired Photo Shoot for Maxim|date=November 16, 2013|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=September 27, 2015|archive-date=September 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929011134/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/16/melissa-rauch-maxim_n_4288568.html|url-status=live}}
Filmography
= Film =
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Film ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
| 2006
| Megan | |
| rowspan="3" | 2009
| Jogger | |
| The Condom Killer
| Audra | Short and also producer |
| Adventureland
| Woman in diner | Uncredited |
| 2013
| In Lieu of Flowers | Carrie | |
| 2014
| Marie | |
| 2015
| Hope Ann Greggory | Also writer and executive producer |
| rowspan="2" | 2016
| Francine | Voice, cameo |
| Flock of Dudes
| Jamie | |
| 2017
| Harley Quinn / Dr. Harleen Quinzel | Voice, direct-to-video |
| rowspan="2" | 2019
| Bethany | |
| The Laundromat
| Melanie Martin | |
| 2020
| Gwen the Cat | Voice, direct-to-video |
= Television =
= Awards and nominations =
| class="wikitable"
|+ !Year !Award !Category !Nominated work !Result |
| 2012
| rowspan="2" |Screen Actors Guild Awards | rowspan="2" |Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | rowspan="9" |The Big Bang Theory |{{Nominated}} |
| rowspan="2" |2013
|{{Nominated}} |
| Critics' Choice Television Awards
|Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series |{{Nominated}} |
| rowspan="2" |2014
|Favorite TV Gal Pals {{Small|(shared with Kaley Cuoco and Mayim Bialik)}} |{{Nominated}} |
| rowspan="3" |Screen Actors Guild Awards
| rowspan="3" |Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series |{{Nominated}} |
| 2015
|{{Nominated}} |
| rowspan="2" |2016
|{{Nominated}} |
| Online Film & Television Association
|Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series |{{Nominated}} |
| 2017
|Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series |{{Nominated}} |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Melissa Rauch}}
{{wikiquote}}
- {{Twitter}}
- {{IMDb name|1851981|Melissa Rauch}}
- {{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/11/big-bang-theory-melissa-rauch_n_1005581.html|title='The Big Bang Theory' Star Melissa Rauch On Nerds, New Jersey And 'Real Housewives'|last=Gostin|first=Nicki|date=December 11, 2011|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=January 29, 2016}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.maxim.com/women-az/melissa-rauch-profile|title=Melissa Rauch – Gallery|work=Maxim|access-date=January 29, 2016}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rauch, Melissa}}
Category:Actresses from New Jersey
Category:American television actresses
Category:Marlboro High School alumni
Category:Marymount Manhattan College alumni
Category:People from Marlboro Township, New Jersey
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:American film actresses
Category:American voice actresses
Category:Jewish American actresses