<Tr> <Th> Doctoral advisor </Th> <Td> James T. McCracken </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Website </Th> <Td> mayimbialik.net groknation.com </Td> </Tr> <P> Mayim Chaya Bialik (/ ˈmaɪəm biˈɑːlɪk / MY - əm bee - AH - lik; born December 12, 1975) is an American actress, author and neuroscientist . From 1991 to 1995, she played the title character of the NBC sitcom Blossom . Since 2010, she has played Amy Farrah Fowler - Cooper--like the actress, a neuroscientist--on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, a role for which she has been nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and won a Critic's Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series . </P> <P> Mayim Chaya Bialik was born on December 12, 1975, in San Diego, California, to Barry and Beverly (née Winkleman) Bialik . Her family were Jewish immigrants, and three of her four grandparents migrated from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary . Bialik was raised as a Reform Jew, but now considers herself to be Orthodox Jewish . Her personal name, Mayim, originates in a mispronunciation of Miriam, her great - grandmother's name . It also means "water" in Hebrew . Hayim Nahman Bialik is her great - great - grandfather's uncle . </P>

Who plays amy fowler on big bang theory