Highlights

• Norm brought Johnny Galecki on as a guest star, receiving an impressive 80% rating during its third season.
• Johnny Galecki ventured into film production with The Cleanse, initially not planning to star until a scheduling conflict arose.
• Galecki showcased his acting range in The Opposite of Sex, a dark dramedy where he played Ivan Sergei's ex, earning an 81% critic score.

Johnny Galecki is a talented actor who has been making everyone laugh for several decades. Throughout his long Hollywood career, the Belgian-born star has been no stranger to sitcoms. Early on, he rose to fame after landing a role as Roseann Barr’s son in the '80s dramedy Roseanne. Just a few years after that, Galecki also memorably played the nerdy experimental physicist Leonard Hofstadter in the Chuck Lorre comedy The Big Bang Theory.

To this day, these shows remain Galecki’s most notable projects. That said, it is also worth noting that this actor’s talent goes beyond two sitcoms. For starters, he has done other great comedy work outside these shows. At the same time, he has also ventured into other genres quite successfully. Here’s a look at the most underrated Johnny Galecki movies and TV shows, based on high Rotten Tomatoes critics scores, but relatively low audience scores.

Johnny Galecki Had A Brief Recurring Role In The Sitcom ‘Norm’

The actor briefly played Laurie Metcalf's young lover

Around the time that Galecki was busy working on Roseanne, the actor also agreed to appear briefly in the late '90s comedy Norm. The show revolves around the titular character of Norm Henderson (Norm MacDonald), a former hockey player who is forced to do community service for five years due to tax evasion.

In the story, Norm is good friends with a co-worker named Laurie (Laurie Metcalf) and when the show enters its third season, Laurie is eager to go out with a much younger man named Dale Stackhouse. That’s where Galecki comes in.

When the actor makes his first appearance on the show, Norm refers to him as the “kid” of the “really old guy” that Laurie is dating. Despite the joke, however, Laurie and Dale try to make their relationship work throughout two episodes.

However, the situation gets seriously awkward once Norm starts to date Dale’s mom. After that, Laurie and Dale’s breakup was inevitable.

Norm would become one of the highest-rated shows that Galecki has ever worked on, gaining a respectable overall score of 67% from the critics. Interestingly, the show’s third season, which featured Galecki’s guest appearance, scored an impressive 80% rating. That said, audiences never provided a rating for the show, and it’s unclear why.

Galecki Produced The Comedy Fantasy ‘The Cleanse'

Johnny Galecki had no intention of being the lead star in this critically acclaimed film

Now, Galecki may have made a name for himself in television, but he’s been making strides in film throughout his long career too. At the same time, the star has been keen to establish himself in Hollywood as a producer, even taking on film projects he has no plans to star in.

This was his intention when he took interest in The Cleanse; Galecki signed on as one of the producers initially. In fact, during an interview, Galecki even recalled giving Bobby Miller, the film’s writer and director, a “fair warning” about tapping him to do the lead role.

While Miller had another actor in mind to play the lead at that time, a scheduling conflict with that star meant that Galecki ended up starring in the film as well. When that happened, the producer and star just went for it, even finding himself fascinated by the character.

“His life kind of unravels so slowly that he doesn’t even realize it’s in freaking shambles, and that’s fun to play,” Galecki explained.

For the actor, the project is unlike anything he’s done before. The Cleanse tells the story of a lonely man who decides to go on a spiritual retreat. Once he gets there, however, he discovers that the detoxifying drinks they are serving don’t just cleanse the body of toxins.

Since its release, the movie has garnered a strong 80% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. Interestingly, it only received a score of 60% from the audience.

Johnny Galecki Delivered One Of His Best Performances In ‘The Opposite Of Sex’

Galecki played Ivan Sergei's ex

By now, everyone would know that Galecki is really good at being funny. But as it turns out, the actor is good at venturing into some dark material too. Case in point is the star-studded R-rated dramedy The Opposite of Sex with a cast that also includes Lisa Kudrow and a much younger Christina Ricci.

The film tells the story of Dedee (Ricci) a young woman who visits her gay half-brother Bill (Martin Donovan) and seduces Bill’s boyfriend Matt (Ivan Sergei), wreaking havoc on everyone’s lives. Meanwhile, Galecki plays Jason, Matt’s ex-lover, who decides to frame Matt for sexual harassment.

The film would become one of Galecki’s highest-rated projects, earning a critic score of 81% and a Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That said, it would only score a decent audience rating of 60%.

After working on The Opposite of Sex, Galecki would also go on to take on a few more gay onscreen roles. And while the actor admits that his choice to do so has led to some rumors about his own sexuality, the issue never really bothered Galecki.

“There’s a lot of assumption there, but I’ve never really addressed it because why defend yourself against something that’s not offensive?” the actor even once explained during a 2009 interview.

Meanwhile, since wrapping up The Big Bang Theory, Galecki has been taking some time away from the spotlight. During this time, Johnny also secretly got married; he and his wife Morgan welcomed their first child – a daughter – in February 2024.