Melissa Rauch

Melissa Ivy Rauch is an American actress, comedian, and producer best known for her portrayal of Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory from 2009 to 2019. She is also recognized for starring as Judge Abby Stone and executive producing the three-season revival of the television series Night Court.

Rauch was born on June 23, 1980, to David and Susan Rauch in Marlboro Township, New Jersey. Raised in a Jewish family, she developed an interest in acting at a young age after attending her first Broadway shows with her family, often attempting to recreate them in her basement. Rauch performed her first stand-up comedy set at age seven in a local talent show. She began pursuing stand-up comedy professionally in New York City at age 18, touring comedy clubs and colleges nationally, and was named Best College Comedian by Jamie Foxx and Carson Daly on MTV. In 2002, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in acting from Marymount Manhattan College in New York City.

Early in her career, Rauch was a regular contributor to VH1's television show Best Week Ever. She made appearances on various television series, including playing Tina on the American remake of Kath & Kim, as well as roles in The Office, Wright v Wrong, and HBO's True Blood, where she played the recurring character Summer in 2010. On stage, Rauch collaborated on projects such as The Miss Education of Jenna Bush and joined the cast of the comedic stage show The Realest Real Housewives at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre starting in 2011.

In 2009, Rauch secured her role as Bernadette Rostenkowski during the third season of CBS's The Big Bang Theory. Initially a recurring character working as a co-worker of Penny at The Cheesecake Factory and dating Howard Wolowitz, Rauch was promoted to a series regular in the fourth season, with her character marrying Howard in the season five finale. For her portrayal, Rauch used unique vocal styling inspired by growing up in a home environment with loud voices.

Beyond television sitcoms, Rauch expanded into film and voice acting. She starred in, co-wrote, and co-produced the 2015 sports comedy-drama film The Bronze, playing former medal-winning gymnast Hope Ann Greggory, which opened the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Her feature film supporting roles include I Love You, Man in 2009, Flock of Dudes and Ice Age: Collision Course in 2016, Ode to Joy in 2019, and Steven Soderbergh's The Laundromat in 2019, where she played the daughter of Meryl Streep's character. As a voice actress, Rauch voiced the DC character Harley Quinn in the 2017 animated film Batman and Harley Quinn, as well as Light Thief in the animated series Blaze and the Monster Machines.

In 2023, Rauch starred in the NBC revival of Night Court, which premiered on January 17, 2023. She served as an executive producer and co-producer on the series alongside her husband across its three seasons prior to its cancellation. Over her career, Rauch was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2013, and shared six Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series with her castmates on The Big Bang Theory.

Rauch married writer Winston Rauch (né Biegel) in 2007. The couple has two children, a daughter born in 2017 and a son born in 2020. Rauch publicly discussed her personal journey to motherhood, reflecting on a previous miscarriage in a 2017 essay published in Glamour.