Johnny Galecki: Where has he been since 'The Big Bang Theory'?

Leonard Hofstadter, the iconic physicist of the sitcom 'The Big Bang Theory,' still graces our TV screens with the show's reruns. But since its last new episode, three years ago, we haven't seen much else of the actor. What is Johnny Galecki doing now?

The American actor, born in Belgium, had previously played other roles, notably that of Darlene's boyfriend in the sitcom 'Roseanne' (1992-1997). However, Leonard Hofstadter would be the biggest character in his career (so far) and it shot him to international fame.

With an amazing cast that included Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Kunal Nayyar, Simon Helberg, Mayim Bialik, and Melissa Rauch, 'The Big Bang Theory' was one of the most successful sitcoms in history.

In the CBS show, the actor played an experimental physicist, kind but shy, who never argues with anyone except for his flatmate Sheldon. Leonard also had a girlfriend, Penny, who was nothing like the other nerds in his group of friends.

According to Forbes, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, and Jim Parsons received one million dollars per episode during seasons 8 and 10. For the next two seasons, the three agreed to lower their salary by 100,000 dollars to make it even with the rest of the cast: Melissa Rauch, Kunal Nayyar, Simon Helberg, and Mayim Bialik.

The relationship between Leonard and Penny in the show became real outside the set. Galecki and Cuoco had a romantic relationship during the first two seasons of the show. Although the romance ended, they are among the ex-couples that get along very well in the celebrity world.

In an interview for 'Variety', Kaley Cuoco said that, even if Jim Parsons wanted to leave 'The Big Bang Theory', she and Johnny Galecki would have loved to do more seasons. "Did we want to do it?" she said, "Yes, we really did."

Before 'The Big Bang Theory', Johnny Galecki had been an actor since age 11, when he played in a theater production. He even got a Jefferson award for his role in the play, 'The Member of the Wedding.' On screen, he would appear in TV shows like 'American Dreamer' and 'Billy', and in the movies 'Murder Ordained' (1987) and 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation' (1989).

In the midst of all those small roles, we could see him as Jason in the iconic show 'Blossom' in 1991. Galecki's character has a date with the protagonist and ends up kissing her. It was the first fictional and real-life kiss for the actress who played Blossom, Mayim Bialik. Later, she and Johnny would reunite in the hit show 'The Big Bang Theory'.

Galecki's great opportunity came in 1992 when he joined the cast of the successful comedy 'Roseanne'. There, he played David Haley for 92 episodes until 1997, when the last season of the show aired.

After 'Roseanne', roles kept coming for Johnny Galecki. Apart from some TV episodes, the actor played secondary roles in movies like 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' and 'Bean' (1997), 'Vanilla Sky' (2001), and 'Bookies' (2003).

Image: 'The Opposite of Sex' (1998) with Ivan Sergei.

Whilst working in 'The Big Bang Theory', Johnny Galecki was also doing other things. In 2011, he did a three-episode cameo in the series 'Entourage', and years later, he would be part of the 'Roseanne' revival and star in two episodes of 'The Conners' - both times as the character David Healy.

In those days, his personal relationships gathered all the attention. After Kaley Cuoco, Galecki dated the also actress Kelly Garner between 2012 and 2014. She was known for her participation in the music videos of Green Day.

For two years (2018-2020), Johnny Galecki had a relationship with the model Alaina Meyer.

In May 2019, Johnny Galecki confirmed that he and girlfriend Alaina Meyer were expecting their first son. Avery was born on later that year. The couple split up in 2020 and have shared custody of their son.

Since the CBS show, Johnny Galecki's acting career has not been very intense. In fact, apart from the news about his private life, we have only heard from the actor because of a couple of movies. He played Gabriel Brown in 'Rings' (2017) and Henry in 'A Dog's Journey' (2019).

While acting hasn't been a priority for him, Galecki continued to appear in a few projects. For example, he participated in the reunion of the 30th anniversary of 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation' in December 2019. He reconnected with the rest of the film's cast: Juliette Lewis, Diane Ladd, Chevy Chase, and Beverly D'Angelo.

The latest news about Johnny Galecki's career came from the NBC. As Deadline and other news media reported, the channel was developing a new comedy series called 'The Squad', where a group of friends (sometimes enemies) shares their love of eSports professional competitions. The news came in 2019, but we haven't seen anything of 'The Squad' yet.

Meanwhile, Johnny Galecki is enjoying his millions, his free time, his son, and his hobbies. He loves motorcycles, traveling, and painting.

Galecki's biggest hobby is music. He plays bass and violoncello. In the past, he even appeared in two music videos: 'Satellite' (1995) by the Dave Matthews Band and 'Heroin' (2018) by Badflower. In addition, Galecki always likes to show his guitar skills on his Instagram account.

Finally, Galecki also owns his own vineyard! His land, located in Northern California, has 360 acres, a cabin, and a vineyard. Has he abandoned the stressful life of acting for the peace of nature? We'll have to wait and see...