<Tr> <Th> Years active </Th> <Td> 1992--present </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Spouse (s) </Th> <Td> Ryan Sweeting (m . 2013; div. 2016) </Td> </Tr> <P> Kaley Christine Cuoco (/ ˈkeɪli ˈkwoʊkoʊ / KAY - lee KWOH - koh; born November 30, 1985) is an American actress . After a series of supporting film and television roles in the late 1990s, she landed her breakthrough role as Bridget Hennessy on the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules, on which she starred from 2002 to 2005 . Thereafter, Cuoco appeared as Billie Jenkins on the final season of the television series Charmed (2005--2006). Since 2007, she has starred as Penny on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, for which she has received Satellite, Critics' Choice, and People's Choice Awards . Cuoco's film work includes roles in To Be Fat like Me (2007), Hop (2011) and Authors Anonymous (2014). She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014 . </P> <P> Cuoco was born in Camarillo, California, the elder daughter of Layne Ann (Wingate), a homemaker, and Gary Carmine Cuoco, a realtor . Her father is of Italian descent while her mother is of English and German ancestry . Her sister, Briana, competed on the fifth season of The Voice . As a child, Cuoco was a regionally ranked amateur tennis player, a sport she took up when she was 3 years old . She stopped playing at the age of 16 . </P>

Who plays penny in the big bang theory