Mary Cooper From Young Sheldon Is Absolutely Stunning In Real Life

For all seven seasons of CBS's hit "Big Bang Theory" prequel series "Young Sheldon," Zoe Perry starred as Mary Cooper — the doting, devoutly Christian mother of boy genius Sheldon Cooper. And vanity may be a sin, but certainly there's no harm in us saying that Perry is absolutely gorgeous in real life, right? Not only that, but like many of her "Young Sheldon" castmates, she's had an utterly stunning transformation.

A young Perry got her first taste of Hollywood back in the '90s, when she appeared on the popular sitcom "Roseanne" as a younger version of Jackie Harris, the character made famous by her mother, Laurie Metcalf. Perry properly embraced acting as a career a decade later, landing minor roles in shows like "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "Cold Case" before eventually securing some slightly more substantial roles in shows like the short-lived ABC thriller "The Family" and the penultimate season of the political thriller "Scandal."

Perry's career came full-circle in a way in 2025, when she started appearing on the "Roseanne" spinoff series "The Conners," albeit as a new character named Officer Binkowski. That said, Perry's big break was undeniably her role on "Young Sheldon," which ran from 2017 to 2024. And in addition to playing the mother of Sheldon Cooper, her character on the show was the loving wife of George Cooper, played by Lance Barber. However, Perry's real-life partner is husband Gab Taraboulsy, and by all accounts, the two have a great relationship away from the cameras.

Of course, Zoe Perry's childhood role on "Roseanne" was far from the last time she played a younger version of a character originated by her on-screen mother, Laurie Metcalf. Long before Perry starred as Mary Cooper on "Young Sheldon," Metcalf played Sheldon Cooper's mom on "The Big Bang Theory." However, a key difference between these two incarnations of the character is that Metcalf's Mary Cooper was only an occasional presence on "The Big Bang Theory," appearing in 14 of the show's 279 episodes. In contrast, Perry's Mary was a lead character who appeared in all 141 episodes of "Young Sheldon." What's more, she continues to play the character in a recurring capacity in the spinoff series "Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage," which follows Sheldon's older brother Georgie and his wife Mandy, played by Montana Jordan and Emily Osment, respectively.

Perry opened up about carrying on Metcalf's legacy in a 2024 interview with TVLine, saying that while being the daughter of the original Mary Cooper obviously gave her an edge in the audition, she was also nervous about filling her mother's shoes, as she knew that comparisons between the two would be inevitable. "You know, my mom is not known as a hack," Perry said, adding, "She's a very well-respected actor. Also, even though she would only pop in and out, [Mary] had become kind of beloved on ['The Big Bang Theory']." But with a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination under her belt, it seems safe to say that Perry has made the role her own to some extent.