Big Bang Theory's Mayim Bialik Is Unrecognizable In Snaps From Her Child Acting Days

Mayim Biaik's life-changing role as Amy Farrah Fowler on "The Big Bang Theory" wasn't the first time she was in the spotlight. As a kid, Bialik played the titular role of Blossom Russo in the '90s sitcom, "Blossom." A few years before then, Bialik took to the big screen in 1988's "Beaches," playing a young C.C. Bloom, whose adult character was played by Bette Midler. The actor's iconic black and pink starlet costume was reminisced on Bialik's Instagram in August 2017, when she posted a throwback photo from her time on the set.

"Beaches #TBT!" Bialik wrote in the caption. "Ready for another take under the boardwalk, the cigarettes were herbal and my mom had to light them for me lol. We filmed at Coney Island but made it look like Atlantic City!" The photo that accompanied her comment showed her younger days on the set of the film, next to co-star Marcie Leeds. Leeds' ever-so-cool glare into the camera opposed Bialik's bubbly grin, and the latter held a prop cigarette. Her curly, ginger wig, and fishnet stockings were a refreshing reminder of the fact that Bialik is not only a neuroscientist, but a triple threat on stage — she may not be the voice behind her rendition of "The Glory of Love" in the film, but her stage charisma is second to none.

Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey may have been the star tear-jerking duo of "Beaches," but it was Mayim Bialik and Marcie Leeds who introduced us to the friendship that still haunts our hearts to this day. In honor of the film's director, the late Garry Marshall, Leeds and Bialik reunited in a hilarious re-creation of their famous opening scene. In 2016, Bialik posted a YouTube video of her and Leeds reading the script of "Beaches," dressed in two wacky outfits inspired by their original costumes. Bialik looked jokingly displeased over her costume re-creation, which included a dishevled red wig, pink tank-top, black underwear, and sheer, black tights — the cigarette dangling from her lip was the cherry on top.

The video came 28 years after "Beaches" debuted; for many of those years, Bialik was on a hiatus from the Hollywood scene. In that time, she received a PhD in neuroscience and started a family. But she remembers "Beaches" as the most formative project in her young career. In 2018, when Variety asked her if she learned anything from being in the film, Bialik said, "I guess the most salient is that your life can change in a moment. Because mine did. They could have gone with so many other girls. Maybe they should have. But this became my life story. This became really the architecture of my very existence. In all of our lives, there are those moments. And that was mine."

With Bette Midler as the inspirer of her "Beaches" character, finding the young actor playing the 11-year-old version would've been a tough feat if it weren't for Mayim Bialik's exceptional ability to channel the Broadway great. "When I started acting, my parents wrote a letter to different agents saying I was a Bette Midler/Barbra Streisand type," Bialik told the New York Post at the time of the film's 30th anniversary. "I was like, 'I'm not a redhead . . . I'm gonna be eliminated.'" Fortunately for Bialik, she won the role at 12 years old after a few months of auditions. Of course, as she mentioned, the hair would have to be fixed. Instead of dying her brunette locks red, the movie's hair team custom fit an auburn, curly wig for the young star. 

Bialik wrote all about her experience in a blog post on her lifestyle website Grok Nation. "These were long and hot days filming in a very hot and heavy wig," Bialik wrote about filming in Coney Island in the heat of the summer. "My mom would get me a Nathan's hamburger for lunch (I was not vegan at the time!), and I would usually nap in my tiny trailer during lunch." According to the actress, she would occasionally upset the wig master for sleeping in her wig, but she certainly had a good excuse. "Early mornings on set sitting in the wig chair for a solid hour and make up for another hour or so coupled with long days in the heat were hard for a 12-year-old—I needed to nap!"