Mayim Bialik is learning yet another trade. The Emmy-nominated “Big Bang Theory” actress, author, and PhD in neuroscience is stepping behind the camera. She’ll make her directing and screenwriting debut with “As Sick As They Made Us,” a dramedy inspired by her own experiences. Deadline broke the news.
Counting Anne Celements (“Stage Mother,” “Quinceañera”) among its producers, the feature “centers on a divorced mother who struggles to help her estranged brother visit their father on his deathbed,” according to the source. “The death throws the family into disarray as she attempts to cultivate new love and manage her relationship with her difficult mother and brother.”
Casting is underway for “As Sick As They Made Us,” which is on the market this week at the Toronto International Film Festival.
“Growing up surrounded by mental illness is not something that is easy to write about, nor is it easy to live through,” Bialik commented. “The challenges ripple out into the lives of children immersed in these families even as they try to make their own lives apart from the challenges they grew up with. After my father’s passing four and a half years ago, I decided to explore the complexity of mental illness and familial responsibility — especially as it falls on women — as well as to highlight the redemptive nature of a family’s love as they navigate death and continue to live life on their own terms.”
Bialik received four Emmy nods and won a Critics’ Choice Award for playing neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler on “The Big Bang Theory,” which concluded its 12th and final season on CBS in May.
“I love encouraging young women to embrace the sciences,” Bialik has said. “It’s an incredibly enlightening way to view the world once you’ve been trained in STEM. It’s a smart career choice and it’s a creative and exciting lifestyle to be a scientist.” She emphasized, “It is so important for girls to see real role models who aren’t timid about being smart and pursuing a career in STEM.”
The “Blossom” alumna’s other acting credits include “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Her production shingle, Sad Clown Productions, has a multi-year pod and talent-holding deal with WBTV.
