How The Big Bang Theory's Melissa Rauch Came Up With Bernadette's High-Pitched Voice

Fans of "The Big Bang Theory" know and love Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz — played by Melissa Rauch — and if you know one thing about Bernadette, it's that she has a comically, borderline cartoonishly high-pitched voice. Rauch, who's quite short, uses her voice to create a character that feels larger than life despite her diminutive stature, and it totally works. Even though she feels almost non-threatening at first, Bernadette basically uses her voice as a weapon, keeping her husband Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) in line and forging a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry. So how did Rauch come up with it? She used her mother, who's from New Jersey, as inspiration during her audition.

As Rauch told her co-star Mayim Bialik — who played Bernadette's friend Amy Farrah Fowler on the series — on Bialik's podcast "Bialik Breakdown" in 2023, she came up with the idea and just sort of ... went with it. "At the audition, I hadn't planned on doing it," Rauch revealed. "It was just for a guest star initially, and I was just very nervous in the waiting room and there was so many there, and I just wanted to try something different and I just been on the phone with my mother whose register is very close to Bernadette's." She continued, "And there was little bit like my mother in Bernadette. They're not by any means very similar, but there was just in the side that I was auditioning with that day in that material there... there's some characteristics that just reminded me of my mother. So I sorta did a little bit of an imitation of my mom without the [New Jersey] accent."

In Jessica Radloff's 2022 book "The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series," creator and showrunner Chuck Lorre and executive producer and writer Steve Holland both agreed that thanks to Melissa Rauch's performance — and creative input — and the ingenuity of the writer's room, Bernadette's character became so much more than they ever could have imagined (especially when you realize, as Rauch pointed out on the podcast, that the character was only supposed to stick around for one episode). "Over time we made Bernadette somewhat nefarious," Lorre told Radloff. He continued:

"She was a cutthroat corporate character. You didn't mess with her. Part of the joy of that was her voice is a wonderful instrument. It's like a piccolo on acid. And then, she's tiny. So those two things juxtaposed with this balls-to-the-wall killer woman who doesn't even think twice about cutting some moral corners to get things done... it was joyful to watch. The character became so much more than what was originally created."

Holland also admitted that the character of Bernadette was a tough nut to crack, but thanks to Rauch, they made her into one of the show's funniest and most beloved characters. "We hadn't quite figured out that character in those early episodes," Holland recalled, praising Rauch's instincts and talent. "Melissa worked more than the character worked early on, so we had to figure out how to make the character work. Bernadette didn't really understand jokes at first, but that's definitely not who she became. Melissa just popped." Knowing all of this, it makes sense that Mayim Bialik and Rauch's co-stars actively took pay cuts to ensure the actresses stayed on the show.

In Jessica Radloff's book, Melissa Rauch does clear up one significant — and probably common — misconception, which is that her natural voice does not sound like her character on "The Big Bang Theory."

"It always shocks people when they hear me speak in real life since I don't sound like Bernadette," Rauch revealed. "Her voice is way easier on my vocal cords than my own voice. It's crazy. I think there's something about the higher register for Bernadette's voice that doesn't rub up against the vocal cords in the same way." With that in mind, Rauch said that in moments on "The Big Bang Theory" where she took on a vocal tone eerily similar to Howard's unseen mother Mrs. Wolowitz (played by Carol Ann Susi), she did have to take special vocal precautions. "Whenever I would imitate Mrs. Wolowitz, Carol Ann would coach me on proper vocal care, whether it was a specific kind of lozenge to take or drinking enough tea," Rauch said. "That was her natural voice, but she did so much to take care of it."

Bernadette's voice is a major part of the series, so it's probably not surprising that Rauch said fans ask her to recreate it in public. Luckily, she has a great attitude about it. "Fans will often ask me to do the voice, and I am more than happy to oblige. I've been asked in doctor's office waiting rooms to do it. But this was my dream job, and I had that job because of the people that watched the show, so I find it flattering."

"The Big Bang Theory," which features Bernadette's wildly outsized voice, is streaming on Max now.