Simon Helberg

Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor and comedian best known for his role as Howard Wolowitz in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory.

He has appeared on the sketch comedy series MADtv and is also known for his role as Moist in Joss Whedon's web miniseries Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Early life

Helberg was born on December 9, 1980, in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of actor Sandy Helberg and casting director Harriet Helberg. He was raised in Judaism, "Conservative to Reform but more Reform as time went on."

Helberg attended middle and high school at the Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California, with Jason Ritter, who later became his roommate at New York University. He attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he trained at the Atlantic Theater Company.

Career

Since the early 2000s, Helberg performed with comedian Derek Waters as the sketch comedy duo Derek & Simon. In 2007, the two starred together in Derek & Simon: The Show, a web series they created with comedian Bob Odenkirk for the comedy website Super Deluxe. They also made two short films "Derek & Simon: The Pity Card" (co-starring Zach Galifianakis and Bill Hader) and "Derek & Simon: A Bee and a Cigarette" (co-starring Casey Wilson and Emily Rutherfurd) and had a pilot deal with HBO in 2005. One of Helberg's earliest jobs in television was briefly joining the cast of MADtv for one season in 2002.