Johnny Galecki

“I'm still a Chicagoan in the fact that I can't do Christmas with sand and palm trees. It just doesn't compute - it's not Christmas unless your face hurts when you step outside.”

“'Entourage' is a great show, but it's fantasy. I spent my twenties in L.A. in this business, and my life didn't look anything like that. 'Big Bang' reflects a side of men that is rarely shown. We see their flaws - all of them.”

“It's that one thing that you're passionate about, that you end up developing tunnel vision for and everything else tends to fall by the wayside. Passion is appealing and universal.”

“We can't really do any improv on 'The Big Bang' because we don't understand a lot of what the dialogue means to begin with, because of the physics jargon.”

“It's always interesting for me to watch the pilot of an established show because you see how the writers and actors weren't really sure what the show was and what the dynamics were. If you look at the pilot for 'Seinfeld,' for example, it's practically unrecognizable.”

“Theater audiences don't pull punches. They'll let you know when they're feeling ripped off.”

“It's never been a priority for me to concentrate on the likability of the character.”

“Growing up in Chicago, I was a theater nerd. That might be very cool on the East Coast, but in Chicago, it's really the athletes that come in No. 1 on the cool scale. Maybe musicians after that. Community theater? That's way down the list, my friend.”

“I used to know Jennifer Love Hewitt. We lived in the same apartment building when I was about... jeez, I guess it was when I was doing 'Christmas Vacation', so I was about 13 or 14.”

“There is that stereotype of a nerd with the high pants and pocket protector and that kind of thing. That can sustain comedy for maybe a movie - hence the 'Revenge of the Nerds' franchise - but not for hopefully years on the air. It's a sight gag, not a story.”

“I work in fantasy all day, so when I go home, I want to touch reality.”

“Perhaps 'Big Bang' fans feel so protective of the show because it is, despite being a hit show on a big network, something of a word-of-mouth phenomenon.”

“I know a lot of incredibly, profoundly talented, skilled people that aren't given certain opportunities or any opportunities, and that aren't working.”

“When I grew up, scientists were anti-social people who worked in basements and wore coats and worked with bunson burners, and now they're in our technology every day, and our technology has almost become fashion accessories.”

“I don't know what to do with myself between films. I end up doing unhealthy things like shopping or drinking. I'm pretty schizophrenic about it.”

“I love to work. I absolutely love to work.”

“Scientists are not these guys in lab coats deep in the inner bowels of universities and hospitals with their Bunsen burners. They're the people molding the culture that we live in, the future of our culture, and the technology we rely on every day. These are the rock stars of our time right now.”

“In a series, you really need to stay open-minded. It's not like a play or a film, where you can create and fully commit to your character's back-story.”

“You can't really claim too much ownership of your character. They really do belong to the writers, and in many ways, you're just their puppet.”

“When you read the news, and you see all this bad stuff happening, there's a tendency to lose faith in humanity. But I meet so many people who restore it and realize that, actually, 99 percent of people are great.”