Zoe Perry

An in-demand character actor on television dramas and sitcoms alike, Zoe Perry enjoyed a prolific association with producer Shonda Rhimes, with guest roles on "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC, 2005-) and "Scandal" (ABC, 2012-) before moving up to series regular on the Chuck Lorre-produced "Young Sheldon" (CBS, 2017-). She was the daughter of stage and television actors Laurie Metcalf and Jeff Perry, who divorced in 1992. She began acting as a young girl, playing a youthful version of her mother's character, the deeply neurotic Jackie, on "Roseanne" (ABC, 1988-1997). She would make her final appearance on the series before remaining off-screen for more than a decade, during which she earned a degree at Northwestern University and honing her acting career on stage. In 2005, she returned to screen acting, logging time in guest roles on "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (NBC, 2001-2011) and "My Boys" (TBS, 2006-2010) while also working extensively on Broadway and with Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater, which her parents had helped to found. In 2008, she began a long working relationship with producer Shonda Rhimes with a guest role on "Private Practice" (ABC, 2007-2013), which led to a showcased guest role as a woman with a severe congenital heart defect on "Grey's Anatomy." In 2017, she joined her father on Rhimes' "Scandal," playing Samantha, a malevolent behind-the-scenes player who had a hand in brokering former First Lady Mellie Grant's bid for the Presidency. That same year, she was also cast as a series regular on the highly anticipated "Young Sheldon," a sitcom produced by Chuck Lorre that concerned the childhood of Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), the breakout character from "The Big Bang Theory" (CBS, 2006-). Perry played Sheldon's mother, Mary, a role played in "Big Bang" by her own mother, Laurie Metcalf.