Johnny Galecki landed his fair share of film and TV roles at the start of his acting career. For instance, he played Rusty Griswald in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and was a regular on the short-lived sitcom, Billy. But his true breakthrough arrived when he was cast in one of the best sitcoms of all time, Roseanne, on which he played David Healy. As it turns out, though when the show ended in 1997, Galecki felt “rudderless” and was having a really tough time career-wise.
During Season 4 of the hit ABC comedy, Johnny Galecki became a permanent member of the Roseanne cast. His sensitive and artistic character was a good contrast to his sharp-witted and sarcastic on-and-off girlfriend, Darlene Conner. The blue-collar comedy's ninth (and originally final) season apparently marked a major shift for Galecki. The actor admitted to US Weekly that he was somewhat out of sorts at that point in his life:
When we finished on Roseanne, I was very rudderless afterwards. Granted, I was much younger then too. I don’t know, dread is a strong word, but there’s definitely a lot of reluctance. We spent thousands of days, literally, in the same room together as a unit, as a family. So to not wake up and not have that to go to is going to be very jarring, I’m sure.
I can understand that fear of not knowing where your career would go after being on a hit sitcom for so long. Plus, I'd imagine it may not have been easy to break away from his TV family. After the multi-cam comedy ended, Johnny Galecki booked a mix of small and big film roles in Vanilla Sky, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Bookies. He also had small roles in TV shows like Peep Show, My Boys and Hope & Faith as well as a stage role in the comedic Broadway play The Little Dog Laughed.
A decade later, though, the Rings alum would land his next starring role, which was playing Leonard Hofstadter on CBS' The Big Bang Theory. The star's great reason for wanting to play Leonard was his appreciation for the character’s dynamic with his love interest, Penny. I can understand that, as Leonard and Penny had a compelling love story that saw them end up together, despite their personal differences.
The job on the Chuck Lorre-produced show would end up being one of the best decisions Johnny Galecki would ever make. Because of his role on the Emmy-winning series, Galecki became one of the highest-paid TV actors in the world. An interesting BTS fact about Big Bang is that Galecki and several of his co-stars earned $1 million per episode by Season 10. The role also garnered him Emmys, Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild nods.
Amid his fame for starring on the CBS comedy, the seasoned actor had a full-circle moment when he reprised the role of David for Roseanne's tenth season. His character's returned marked the continuation of the messy dynamic that he and Darlene (from who he was estranged) had. The Cleanse star also appeared on episodes of the follow-up, spinoff series, The Conners.
Johnny Galecki's professional journey exemplifies how an actor's career can experience certain peaks and valleys. I'm happy to see that the actor eventually found some direction after appearing on the beloved '90s sitcom. Now, he's in a position where he can not only seek out roles but also take a breather from the business if he so chooses.
You can watch the star play David on Roseanne, which can be streamed with a Peacock subscription, and The Conners is on tap for anyone with a Netflix subscription. Also, make sure to look at our 2024 TV schedule so you'll know when The Conners' seventh and final season premieres.