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| Tuesday, September 4, 2007 |
Fall TV Preview: Simon Helberg
This is part of our Fall TV Preview in the Sep/Oct 2007 issue.
From playing a nerdy Jew to a Hasidic Jew, this guy has range.
It's a stretch for me to play a nerd, but I'm willing to study with a coach and do what I need to do," jokes Simon Helberg, who has carved out a nice career playing nerdy types in film and TV, most recently in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip as sketch player Alex Dwyer. This fall on CBS' The Big Bang Theory, he's Howard Wolowitz, one of several cerebral but socially-challenged guys confounded by the arrival of a gorgeous but less than brilliant blond (Kaley Cuoco) in their midst. Think the sitcom version of Beauty and the Geek.
"A nerd is overly analytical and smart almost to a fault and I'm that," says Helberg, adding that it's "fun to root for the underdog." Of course, some of Theory's comedy stems from the notion that Wolowitz sees himself as the Casanova of Caltech, even though no one else does. "He's deluded, but that's fun for me. I get to pretend I'm God's gift to women," says Helberg. "He's a lot more confident than myself so I get to pretend in that way."
Helberg hasn't talked to any Caltech types for research. "I've got enough awkward neuroses to draw on -- I don't need any expert Ph.Ds," quips the L.A. native, the son of actor Sandy Helberg and casting director Harriet Helberg and also an accomplished musician. "I played piano in a jazz band and I wanted to do that, but I was always goofy and funny and I ended up doing a play and loved it, so I went to NYU and studied it there," he explains. His first job was a small part in the movie Mumford, and he segued to TV shows like Undeclared, Mad TV, and Joey.
Studio 60, he reflects, had problems that became "like the elephant in the room but it got to the point where it was not working and we all recognized that. But it was great to be around that caliber of people." When Theory came up, he thought it would be fun and give him more to do. "Being in front of an audience and having a character that's developed and has potential and being in a small group, it's all very nice. And the hours are great. I can eat dinner at home," notes Helberg, who got married in July.
Raised "Conservative to Reform but more Reform as time went on," Helberg had a bar mitzvah and visited Israel as a boy. He has often played Jewish characters, and will next be seen in the spoof Walk Hard as a record company executive named Dreidel L'Chaim. "All the record company execs are Hasidic Jews," he explains.
It will be released Dec. 14, and in '08 he'll be seen in Mama's Boy, a comedy with Diane Keaton, Jon Heder, Ana Faris, and Jeff Daniels. "I play a Dungeons & Dragons nerdy kind of guy." Go figure.
The Big Bang Theory premieres Sep. 24 at 8:30 PM on CBS.
-- Text by Gerri Miller / Photo by Robert Voets.
This is part of our Fall TV Preview in the Sep/Oct 2007 issue.
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