Like mother, like daughter for Young Sheldon’s Zoe Perry
In new spinoff, actress takes on role of Mary Cooper, originated by her real-life mom in Big Bang Theory
As professional acting gigs go, Zoe Perry is following just about as close as you can get to her mom’s Emmy-nominated footsteps.
She plays the mother of a young Sheldon Cooper in the new series Young Sheldon, debuting Monday at 8:30 p.m. on CTV.
It’s the role that was originated by her real-life mother Laurie Metcalf, who played devoted mom Mary Cooper on The Big Bang Theory.
The new prequel series to that top-rated sitcom is expected to be one of the fall season’s surest hits.
“I guess there’s no pressure,” laughs Perry in an interview with the Star about playing a younger version of her mother. “It’s a gigantic and wonderful show. And with that comes some stakes, so hopefully I live up to that.”
Predicting what will be a hit is a crapshoot. Except if it happens to be a spinoff of the most popular show on television, The Big Bang Theory.
Young Sheldon looks at the early life of brainiac nerd Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons in the popular sitcom. His younger self, a 9-year-old growing up in Texas, is played by newcomer Iain Armitage ( Big Little Lies). The show is produced by Parsons (who does the voiceovers) and Chuck Lorre.
But just because her mother happens to play the role of Sheldon’s mom, Perry insists she wasn’t a shoo-in.
“I had to audition like everybody else. I didn’t go in there thinking, ‘I’ve got this.’ I always think, ‘Wouldn’t that be nice, but probably won’t happen.’ Which is frankly how I went into this one. So it’s pretty marvellous that I have the opportunity.”
Perry said she rewatched scenes of the show with her mother to “Make sure my dialect was similar. How she holds and carries herself. And then I gave myself some latitude.”
Producer Lorre has mined some remarkable hits for CBS including Big Bang, Two and a Half Men and Mike & Molly. But this is his first show without a studio audience, and it uses a single-camera format to create more intimacy. Lorre felt these adjustments were necessary to lower the pressure felt by the child actors.
“What’s so remarkable about the show is that it’s a window into Sheldon’s head, but you also get to see everyone’s perspective,” Perry says. “You see how it is for his family trying to navigate around him as well. There’s a lot of struggle there and that’s where the comedy is.”
The series follows the bow-tied Sheldon as he prepares to skip several grades and go straight to high school, and his mom who tries to help him adjust.
“We get introduced to Mary at a very different stage in her life. She’s figuring out as best as she can how to help Sheldon navigate this world in which he feels so alienated,” Perry says. “Working with Iain was really easy; he’s a wonderful actor, and so present. It’s a really lucky position to play mom to these kids who are so warm-hearted and generous. I just get to show up.”
And even if you’re not a fan of The Big Bang Theory, you can likely relate to the show, Perry says.
“Anyone can feel like an outsider. It’s an exploration of family and the struggles and the love of a family and how they all ultimately work togeth- er even if they’re all very different.”
This isn’t the first time that Perry has leveraged family and career. She was in a recurring role as the nemesis to her father Jeff Perry, playing fictional Cyrus Beene in Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal.
“It’s been a remarkable year, moving from ‘Shondaland’ to the Chuck Lorre universe,” Perry says. “And how often do you get to work with your parents in prime time?”