Actor Jim Parsons

Big Bang
In the show, Parson plays Sheldon Cooper, a physicist with nonexistent social skills who lives across the hall from an attractive waitress. A lot of the show explores his interaction with his other, also scientifically-inclined friends. From the beginning, Parsons (in gas mask, above, with co-stars Kunal Nayyar, left, and Johnny Galecki) believed the role was a good fit. Although he did not feel a relationship with the character, he was enchanted by the dialogue written for Cooper, which requires the actor to rattle off line after line of tightly composed, rhythmic statements. Reviewer Lewis Beale describes Parsons' performance as "so spot-on, it seems as if the character and the actor are the same person."