Ugly Betty
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Not every character that became popular with fans was supposed to be part of the main cast at the beginning. You think of characters like Steve Urkel or Arthur Fonzarelli that saw themselves getting more airtime and becoming main characters. In more recent years, Stuart Bloom was one of those TV characters that took center stage on “The Big Bang Theory”. The character was played by Kevin Sussman, who had an extensive history in both film and television before starring on the show.
Sussman had aspirations of becoming an actor at a young age. He was born in New York City on December 4, 1970 and was raised in the Staten Island borough. Sussman remained in the borough after high school for a brief period to go to college before heading to Manhattan to study theater. Talking about his upbringing, Sussman said the pressure was taken off of him thanks to his brothers.
“My brothers were more (into) sports,” he said. “My parents were fine with (my acting aspirations). My older brother, who’s five years older than me, was a genius that went to Harvard and became a doctor and stuff, so my family was like, ‘OK, we’re done! Our job here is done!” Sussman finished his degree at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and shortly thereafter started appearing on television in commercials before he headed out west to appear in shows and movies.
Sussman’s career began on television when he appeared in a 1998 episode of the series “Ghost Stories”, and added guest spots over the next few years in “Third Watch”, “The Sopranos” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”. His film career was more in focus during the early years of his career, as he made his film debut in 1999 with “Liberty Heights”.
In the early 2000s, Sussman was part of some very memorable films such as “Almost Famous”, “We Hot American Summer” and “A.I. Artificial Intelligence”. Many actors from “Wet Hot American Summer” went on to have massive careers like Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd.
“I guess I don’t really consider myself part of that group, because a lot of those people were from ‘The State’,” Sussman said. “I kind of think of my thing on ‘Big Bang Theory’ as more of an accident than the people who went on to have major careers after that movie. But that said, I don’t think it’s a coincidence. All of the people who were involved had like-minded sensibilities, and were all very funny. I think like minds attract each other. But again, I’m not including myself in that description, as we already mentioned that I was a last minute replacement.”
Sussman continued his success over the next few years thanks to films like “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Hitch” and “For Your Consideration”. Sussman returned his focus to television during 2006 when he joined the main cast of the series “Ugly Betty”, but was only with the cast for the first season. He then had guest spots on “CSI” and “My Name is Earl”. Meanwhile, his film career was highlighted in the late 2000s with “Burn After Reading” and “Taking Woodstock”. Since then, Sussman has only appeared in a handful of films, most recently with 2011’s “Freeloaders” and 2012’s “2nd Serve”.
In 2009, Sussman joined the cast of “The Big Bang Theory” as a recurring character during the first half of the series as Stuart, the owner of a comic book store that often got fed up with the antics of the main characters. Then, in the sixth season, Sussman’s character became a regular, and he appeared in more than 70 episodes of the show that wrapped up in 2019. During that time, Sussman was also a guest star on shows like “The Mentalist”, “Weeds” and the TV adaptation of “Wet Hot American Summer”.
Joining “The Big Bang Theory” was a perfectly natural fit for Sussman in his career. “I had done enough TV stuff before ‘The Big Bang Theory’,” he said. “I had done enough to sort of appreciate how awesome everybody is on ‘The Big Bang Theory’, how nice and cool everybody is.” What made him an even better fit was that “I used to actually work in a comic book store in New York.”
Sussman loved being on the set of the show, too. “It is by far my longest job of any kind - be it acting or non-acting,” he said. “It is amazing...I really think one of the reasons why the show is so successful is pure luck. There are really no jerks involved. Everyone is super nice, there is not a lot of ego and stuff. The cast, they are all good friends. I think it is the only show that I have been involved with, that has been so successful. But I would assume that it is a sort of necessary accident that needs to happen in order for the show to be successful because you are working in such close proximity for so long.”
On top of everything that he’s done, Sussman is also a writer which takes up quite a bit of time. “I’ve sold a couple of scripts to various networks and once had a writing deadline which I was frantically working on while shooting ‘Big Bang’,” he said. “Running upstairs to my dressing after each scene to get back to work in order to make my deadline. It was challenging to be in writer and actor mode at the same time and having to split my focus like that, but also invigorating and rewarding. I wouldn’t want to do it all the time though.”
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