Penny

Penelope "Penny" HofstadterThough Penny's maiden name was never explicitly stated in the show, it was later discovered by viewers in "The Work Song Nanocluster" that her surname could be Teller. In fact, that is incorrect, as Chuck Lorre stated in an interview that her maiden name is Barrington and it was supposed to be revealed, but the idea was ditched to keep it a mystery., is the tritagonist of the American CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actress Kaley Cuoco. She is the primary female character in the series. She lives in Apartment 4A with her husband Leonard Hofstadter across the hall from Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler who live in apartment 4B where Penny moved and used to live in "Pilot" and Leonard first met and smitten with her. 
Her full first name is possibly "Penelope" as implied by "The Barbarian Sublimation", as her username was "Queen Penelope." She was unknowingly married to her ex-boyfriend Zack Johnson for three years, so her name could include "Johnson." That marriage was finally annulled in "The Thanksgiving Decoupling".
==History==
===Pre-pharmaceutical sales represent ===
An aspiring, but mostly unsuccessful actress, she was born on a farm near Omaha, Nebraska, and worked at The Cheesecake Factory as a waitress until she quit in "The Occupation Recalibration" (S7E13) to take up acting full-time. Penny was the original female lead in the show before being joined by Bernadette Rostenkowski and Amy Farrah Fowler and in season 8 started working at the same company as did Bernadette. She had her fifteen minutes of fame in "Serial Ape-ist 2: Monkey See, Monkey Kill".
She has always been Leonard's love interest since the Pilot, with the two dating briefly in the over the first season/second season break, for most of the third season, and they rekindled their romance in "The Recombination Hypothesis". As of "The Gorilla Dissolution", she and Leonard became engaged and were married at the start of season 9 in "The Matrimonial Momentum", followed by a vow renewal at the start of season 10 in "The Conjugal Conjecture". As of the series finale "The Stockholm Syndrome", they are currently expecting their first child (2019).
Even though she is considered part of the guys' group, she represents the "dumb blonde" for viewer context in the series with a lot of street smarts and communication skills to compensate for her lack of academic knowledge and common sense. As the series progresses, her knowledge of geeky subjects such as Doctor Who even surprises her.
To Penny, everyone (though mainly Sheldon) is "Sweetie".
==Biography==
===Early Life (Before the show)===
Penny was born on December 2, 1985, in Nebraska, a small town outside of Omaha to Wyatt and Susan. She also has one sister named Lisa and one brother named Randall. During her childhood, Penny had issues with her father who wanted a boy and he treated Penny like one (until she developed breasts), like making her play catch, calling her 'Slugger' etc. When Penny was 12, she rebuilt a tractor engine all by herself ("The Big Bran Hypothesis") (S1E2), started dating at the age of 14 ("The Robotic Manipulation"), nearly became pregnant ("The Staircase Implementation") and had an active sex life that she defines as being popular. She also stole a horse one time while drunk in high school. Her boyfriends used to crawl in and out of her window. Most were very dumb according to her father.
=== Later Life (After the show) ===
Not much is known about Penny after TBBT, some things about her were revealed in Young Sheldon, she attended Sheldon and Amy's son, Leonard Cooper's graduation party.
In "Memoir", she babysat Sheldon and Amy's daughter and convinced her to take acting classes alongside Sheldon.
===Season 1===
Penny first moved into Apartment 4B across from Apartment 4A where Leonard and Sheldon live. Penny had broken up with her boyfriend Kurt because he cheated on her. She met the guys and asked them for a favor to go get her TV from his apartment, but he steals their pants and Penny apologizes for everything and later the three go out to dinner with Howard and Raj (Pilot).
Sheldon and Leonard clean Penny's messy apartment, which infuriates Penny and she talks to Raj. Raj nods his head and confirms she should still trust Leonard and Sheldon. She forgives the guys and admits she's happy with her cleaner apartment. (The Big Bran Hypothesis)
Penny throws a Halloween party where her ex-boyfriend Kurt joins and is confronted by Leonard. This leads to a fight with the two that scares Sheldon and causes a tipsy Penny to get tearful. She and Leonard talk and kiss, to which Leonard taunts Kurt and shuts the door on him. (The Middle-Earth Paradigm)
Penny's Friend Christy comes to town, leading Penny's life to chaos when Howard seduces her. When she comes to join the guys for Halo, she's much better than Sheldon expects and she learns Sheldon's a bad sport. She has to sleep in Leonard and Sheldon's apartment, as Christy and Howard are in hers. She's furious upon learning Howard messed up her stuffed bears and the guys have their own struggles without Howard, as they can't eliminate a dumpling in the Chinese restaurant or go dancing with Penny and her friend. Her last scene in the episode's her and her friends coming to have sex with the 4 men, who're busy with Halo.
Penny comes back from Nebraska where her whole family got sick, scaring the germaphobe Sheldon into running and demanding info regarding the illness. He starts panicking and the next morning finds out he got sick. Leonard runs from Sheldon and leaves him with Penny, who misses work and makes the rules of no sponge baths or enemas. Sheldon agrees with Penny's rules, though annoys her, making her mad at Leonard for leaving him with her and she has him take care of Sheldon instead. Leonard says he thinks Penny will never see them now that Leonard's made her mad and Sheldon made her miss work, leaving the two geniuses to suffer from an illness and a concussion, which Leonard got hoping to join Penny. (The Pancake Batter Anomaly)
Penny Learns Leonard doesn't celebrate birthdays and decides to throw him a party, to which she blackmails a reluctant Sheldon to help her. They go shopping for a present for Leonard and Sheldon starts pretending to be an employee in the store they're shopping in. Leonard ends up missing his party when Howard risks his life for Leonard to be able to get the surprise and Leonard starts wondering when Penny's birthday is in the end of the episode.
===Season 2===
In the season premiere, Howard and Raj film Leonard's date with Penny, which displeases Leonard and Sheldon tells him Howard and Raj took advantage of his lack of interest. Penny tells Sheldon she lied to Leonard about graduating from community college, to which Sheldon struggles with the secret. He tells Leonard upon returning home under the influence of funny tasting milk Howard gave him once Raj kicked him out of his apartment. Leonard insults Penny, angering her.
Penny develops an addiction to Age of Conan while her life is at a low point once Sheldon introduces her to the game. She starts pounding Sheldon for help with the game, leading him to threaten Leonard to take action or struggle with having Sheldon as a roommate. Leonard talks to Penny, unsuccessful in his efforts to stop her. Only once she accepts a quest with Howard, who she tends to feel uncomfortable near, does her addiction stop and she closes her laptop, throwing the thing on the other side of her couch. (The Barbarian Sublimation)
Penny starts violating Sheldon's rules and refusing to say sorry, leading him to banish her from his apartment. When In The Cheesecake Factory, Sheldon complains to Penny's manager and she reluctantly gives him a burger, which she's implied to have spat in. Penny goes to Sheldon's friends for help, leading him to give them all 1 extra strike for making the effort to defy his will. Penny clogs the laundry machines and Sheldon steals her clothes. Sheldon won't compromise with Penny, leading to an escalation in the battle. Leonard gives her Sheldon's mother's number and she calls her to get her stuff back, her strikes relinquished and be back in the apartment. (The Panty Piñata Polarization)
Penny is asked out on a date by Stuart and things end later in the next two episodes after it's revealed she called Stuart "Leonard". (The Hofstadter Isotope)
In the season finale "The Monopolar Expedition", Penny wishes Leonard wasn't going to the North Pole.
===Season 3===
Penny introduces her friend Bernadette to Howard as part of a Girlfriend Pact made between Howard and Leonard. Penny's very reluctant to do so, cause of her disliking of Howard and his disturbing nature. When she does introduce Howard to Bernadette, they take some time to connect and eventually do when they realize they have overbearing mothers. Penny Tells Leonard she's an expert match maker. (The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary)
Penny slips in the shower and dislocates her shoulder. Sheldon mentions she should've had a shower mat or adhesive ducks to help prevent her fall and she foolishly decides to have her drive him rather than just having him call an ambulance, leading her to having a rough time on the way to the hospital, as Sheldon's extremely slow and unfocused. While Sheldon fills out Penny's medical form, he infuriates her with questions she finds irrelevant to her dislocated shoulder. She gets powerful pain medication and sings soft kitty with Sheldon near the end of the episode.
Howard Finds Sheldon has a summons from the court for a traffic violation he did the night he was driving Penny and the date of the trial coincides with the day Stan Lee's coming to Stuart's store, making Sheldon mad at Penny for making the guys missing out on Stan Lee, which Leonard, Raj and Howard mention they won't be going with Sheldon to court. Sheldon decides to script a statement for Penny, as he considers her a "loose cannon". They go to court and Sheldon makes his defence, to Penny's displeasure as the judge ignores him and tells him to pay the cashier. Sheldon insults the judge and refuses to say sorry for what he considers the truth and the judge throws him in jail. Penny Calls Leonard to tell him Sheldon's in jail, proving Howard's predictions earlier in the episode true. Sheldon tells the judge sorry upon realizing he'd have to pee in front of criminals if he stays in jail. Once they're back in Sheldon and Leonard's apartment, Sheldon's mad at Penny for making him miss gelato with Stan Lee and leading him to a criminal record. He gives her the moving finger and leaves, leading her to wanna make things up to him. She goes to Stuart and he gives her Stan's address in exchange for her going to his cousin's wedding with him. She gets permission to bring Leonard, with Stuart deciding they'll tell people Leonard and Penny are cousins. Penny leads Sheldon to Stan's house and she talks to Stan, explaining to him Sheldon doesn't understand sarcasm. She runs once she learns the police are on their way while Sheldon's escorted off of Stan's house and given a restraining order. Sheldon once more has a court date as a result of his trespassing. (The Excelsior Acquisition)
Leonard Tells Penny he loves her and she says thanks, not knowing how to respond. She's in Sheldon's team against Stuart's team, which includes Sheldon's mortal enemy Wil Wheaton. During the game, tensions increase with her and Leonard and she departs, costing Sheldon's team the match. Sheldon goes to sort things out with Leonard and Penny in order to acquire victory over Stuart's team. Wil takes advantage of Penny and Leonard's issues, leading the two to break up and costing Sheldon the match. Sheldon and the guys are humiliated by Stuart as per the deal of the game. (The Wheaton Recurrence)
===Season 4===
In the season premiere, Penny learns news from Sheldon that he's planning to be a parent with his new friend Amy, causing Penny to spit her water in shock and Howard uses his new Wolowitz Programmable Hand to give her a napkin. She talks to Sheldon about them knowing each other better and takes him on his first date with Amy. Meanwhile, Howard's efforts to masturbate with his robotic hand get his penis stuck in the hand and Raj and Leonard having to help him. During Sheldon and Amy's date, Sheldon falsely says Penny's had sexual relations with 31 men, startling Penny and causing her to need a drink. She threatens to tell on Sheldon to his mother, causing him to change his mind. Penny complains she's lost the whole night not thinking of that sooner and Sheldon makes her mad, saying she can find her 32nd partner. The episode ends with Leonard learning Howard's penis got stuck once more.
Penny misses two episodes of season 4 (though her actress's name is still on the credits).
Penny learns her friends have a science conference in San Francisco to go to and chooses to go for her bestie. She tells Sheldon don't make her mad and Sheldon with Amy's encouragement got her in the lead car. Sheldon says her brawny hands and strong muscles would help them in a crisis, with Leonard saying she has bigger hands than him. She challenges Sheldon's leadership and gets sent to the second car, where she and Raj get a headache from Howard and Bernadette singing. She tells Amy she missed her post a rough time in the 2nd car and heads with her, Leonard, Sheldon and Raj to the hotel while Howard and Bernadette meet Bernadette's former professor and boyfriend Glenn, whose height intimidates Howard. Penny's not surprised Howard was a "complete and total ass" to Bernadette and lets her sleep with her and Amy. Amy's too stressful for Penny to sleep with and she goes to sleep with Leonard, whose mischief leads Sheldon to switch rooms with Raj, who interrupts Penny and Leonard. In the science conference, she's rather snappy and once Sheldon says the audience's having their time to speak, she quickly wants to leave and goes with Glenn back to L.A. Leonard's horrified once Bernadette introduces them and her friends unhappily drive home. Amy asks Leonard if he's jealous that Penny went with Glenn and reveals he's speeding and Sheldon implies Leonard's getting pulled over by a cop. (The Love Car Displacement)
===Season 5===
Halfway through the season (on the 100th episode), Leonard asks Penny out and they reunite though Penny has misgivings. At the end of the season, Leonard asks Penny to marry him while they are having sex.
===Season 6===
After Leonard proposes mid-sex in the Season 5 finale, Penny gets mad. However, after some advice from her friends, Penny works through her doubts and has a stronger relationship with Leonard, as she is now able to say "I love you" to him. They discuss marriage.
===Season 7===
Penny finds out she is legally married to Zack after Leonard, Sheldon and Amy tell her that weddings in Las Vegas wedding chapels are real when the two thought they were fake. At the end, she and Zack fill out annulment papers and the marriage is legally annulled ("The Thanksgiving Decoupling"). Penny quits The Cheesecake Factory to concentrate on acting ("The Occupation Recalibration") and becomes engaged to Leonard in the penultimate episode of the season ("The Gorilla Dissolution").
===Season 8===
Between the finale of Season 7 and the premiere of Season 8, Penny drastically changes her look by swapping her usual long blonde locks for a short blonde pixie-crop, a look she sports throughout the entire season. She gets a new job at Bernadette's company, ZanGen Pharmaceuticals, as a pharmaceutical sales rep, making excellent progress in her field as well as spending the year as Leonard's fiancée. At the end of the season, she suggests they head to Vegas to get married.
===Season 9===
Leonard's little make out session at sea makes their marriage have a rocky start, but they quickly reconcile though they don't move out of Sheldon's apartment (because of Sheldon going through a bad breakup, and due to Sheldon's abandonment issues). At the end of the season, when it's revealed that everyone is upset about not being part of the wedding due to their elopement, Penny suggests having a redo wedding ceremony.
===Season 10===
Penny And Leonard discuss the issues of their re-wedding ceremony in a park which will be officiated by Bernadette. The next morning's rather awkward, as Sheldon and Beverly snap at each other for the 1st time and Sheldon talks extremely inappropriately to Leonard's father. Penny's family comes to meet Leonard and his family and when Penny's mother worries his family will think Penny's is white trash, Randall asks what colour trash they'd believe. Leonard and Penny's families meet during the 2nd wedding ceremony and Leonard's parents have lots of tension til near the end of the wedding. The episode ends with Penny driving her family to the airport. ("The Conjugal Conjecture") 
Penny and Leonard finally have their own apartment, Apartment 4A. In "The Cohabitation Experimentation", Amy's apartment suffered water damage, was uninhabitable and she needed a place to stay. Sheldon and Amy started a five-week experiment to see if they could manage living together and moved into Penny's old apartment, Apartment 4B. It turned into a permanent arrangement in "The Veracity Elasticity". Penny also redecorates her and Leonard's bedroom.
===Season 11===
Zack reveals to Leonard a video from 7 years before that Penny had recorded shortly after her breakup with Leonard. She revealed that she did love him, but was scared of a permanent commitment ("The Bitcoin Entanglement").
Penny is chosen to be maid of honor at Sheldon and Amy's wedding ("The Matrimonial Metric") and has to breakup Sheldon, Leonard and Amy from working on a string theory breakthrough so Shamy can get married.
In "The Bow Tie Asymmetry", Penny picks up Amy's mother and father and at the wedding and snaps at Mrs. Fowler just before the wedding ceremony to sit back down when Mrs. Fowler wants to take Amy away.
===Season 12===
Penny reveals to Leonard that she doesn't want kids, which disappoints him ("The Procreation Calculation").
Leonard's dismayed when Penny doesn't remember the first time they kissed. Though Penny actually did remember, she explained why she "forgot" it. ("The Imitation Perturbation") Because she felt that their kiss at his birthday party was under better circumstances.
When Leonard gets a chance to be a sperm donor for Zack, Penny decides to let Leonard go through with it so that he would get to be a father. She wants to sleep with Leonard, who isn't too enthusiastic. Later, when Penny's father visits, she begins to realize that she has a problem with the sperm donation and that maybe the "never having kids" idea isn't suited for her after all. (The Donation Oscillation)
Wil Wheaton Hosts the last Dungeons and Dragons game of the series and the guys find out Stuart's there. When they wonder why he and not them got an invitation, Penny, Amy and Bernadette know he got in cause he wasn't just using Wil to get close to Wil's famous friends. Once Leonard gets into the game, he tells Penny of Wil's famous friends there, violating Wil's rules and getting kicked out of the game. When the guys want back in, Wil rejects them for using him to meet his celebrity friends. Penny's Posse Gets into the game and they send a photo to taunt the guys. Leonard Says they deserve that for how they treated Wil. (The D & D Vortex)
Leonard's mother's coming to visit and Leonard's genuinely pleased once his mother's much kinder than normal. When Leonard thinks he or Penny's dying, Penny does what she can to reassure Leonard his mother's proud of him. Leonard's pleasure stops once his mother reveals she's just there for research. When Leonard's mad, Penny tells Beverly to say sorry, though she says him having a tantrum won't get him what he wants and she starts ignoring Penny once she starts getting very mad herself. Leonard and his mom eventually make peace once Leonard realizes she won't change and forgives her. (The Maternal Conclusion)
During the penultimate episode, Sheldon's seen playing math games with uncertainty. He later gets a few phone calls and eventually wins the Nobel Prize, to which Penny, Sheldon, Leonard and Amy celebrate. She goes out drinking with Sheldon and discussing all the changes in his life in their only time in the Cheesecake Factory in years, where Sheldon makes references to Penny's poor service as an employee there. She and Sheldon use the elevator, which got some fixing earlier in the episode.
In the series finale, Sheldon's victory leads him to developing unpleasant qualities, such as calling Penny's pregnancy an ailment he can't catch and insulting Howard in front of Leonard, infuriating her husband. When Sheldon selfishly tells Howard to stop worrying and focus on his big day, Howard decides he and Bernadette are going home and Leonard and Penny decide to join, leading Amy to call Sheldon out on his selfishness and rudeness. Penny's then seen throwing up in the bathroom with Leonard helping her. They decide to be there for their best friends and attend their ceremony with Raj, Leonard and Howard. Sheldon tells the audience Leonard said he and Penny would have "smart and beautiful babies" the day they met and mentions he thinks their child will be just that. Penny chokes up thanking him and his change of heart leaves Penny as the one of his friends to shed tears. The series ends with the soon to be parents having dinner with their friends other than Stuart, Bert and Denise and Leonard's seen putting his hand on his pregnant wife's stomach.
==Origin and Development==
Originally, two different female leads were written for the Pilot episode. The unaired pilot episode had an alternate version of the female lead named Katie. Katie was bitter and snide and was received by audiences to be too mean to Sheldon and Leonard. Kaley Cuoco did not portray this alternate version of the female lead, but instead was hired to do the second version filmed after the unaired pilot, which was sociable and nice and was the one that the producers decided was the more interesting and appealing out of the two.
Some of Penny's comedic role in the series is rooted in her ability to execute practical and simple solutions to problems of which the guys try to solve through complicated or scientific means. For example, in the episode "The Pants Alternative", Sheldon reveals that in spite of his ability to talk excessively to people in small groups, he has a severe case of stage fright, and wouldn't be able to accept an award. While Leonard tries to get to the root of his problem through a psych evaluation, and Raj attempts to use meditation, Penny solves the problem by having him buy a new suit and getting him intoxicated right before he makes his speech.
As the series developed, Penny's character took on the theme of being the virtual polar opposite of Sheldon, which created a unique relationship between the two characters. Penny's relationship with the other guys is usually perceived as something of an older sister, or a mother in some cases with Sheldon. She has also had a romantic, on-and-off relationship with Leonard.
==Background==
When she first met the guys in the Pilot, Penny was writing a screenplay about a girl from Lincoln, Nebraska who travels to Los Angeles at the age of 18 to become an actress, but ends up working at The Cheesecake Factory instead. When Leonard asks if the screenplay was autobiographical, she replies that it isn't, because she is from a small town outside of Omaha, Nebraska.
Penny moved into the apartment building because she split with Kurt, her boyfriend for 4 years. She says she still loved him, and insinuates he cheated on her. The shower in her apartment was broken at the time, so the boys offered her theirs. Her apartment is sloppy and disorganized, but Penny appears to like it that way.
She is either oblivious to or completely aware of her effect on the boys, because within minutes of meeting him, she asked Leonard to retrieve her television set from Kurt's apartment, which he immediately set out to do. Penny is aware of Leonard's crush on her, and it is hinted throughout the series that some of the feelings are reciprocated. At the end of season one, Penny goes on a date with Leonard. Leonard is nervous, and Penny slightly withdrawn, but they share a kiss.
In season two, there was some initial enthusiasm between Penny and Leonard; however, they later develop insecurities concerning their relationship. Penny was worried that she was not smart enough for Leonard, and lied about graduating from community college because she thought it would make Leonard respect her. The relationship quickly deteriorated and she goes back to dating different guys. Leonard showed Penny some literature on Pasadena City College and she interpreted it as him wanting a woman with more education and they break up.
She gives relationship advice to Sheldon and Leonard fairly often: Leonard, when he has problems with Priya or Stephanie, and Sheldon when he's with Amy. She also starts to become geekier through the guys. She makes inadvertent references to Star Trek, and, thanks to Sheldon, becomes addicted to Age of Conan. She also dates Stuart, who runs the Comic Book Store. However, when Penny and Stuart are making out, she accidentally calls him Leonard, and as a result, they stop seeing each other.
When she learns that the guys are going on an Arctic expedition, she is visibly upset, buys Leonard a farewell gift, and tells herself, after speaking with him, that she wishes he wasn't going.
In season three, when the boys get back from the expedition, Penny kisses Leonard the second she sees him; however, Leonard and Penny's relationship has a rocky start because they have some trouble getting used to being more than friends, but they eventually start a relatively stable relationship.
It's possible, though not by any means proven, that Penny is at least mildly dyslexic. This is supported not only by her general lack of successes in any kind of education, but also by two separate instances: one time, it took her a lot of time to read a comic book which Amy and Bernadette read much faster, and another time, when she mentions that she doesn't remember how to spell her husband's last name: "I know there's a "d" in there, but it keeps moving every time a try to right it". However, all this may also be explained by her not being academically intelligent.
==Personality==
Penny is somewhat naïve and not thoroughly educated, but has a lot of common sense (which she does not always use, particularly regarding her car's condition, her spending habits and her drinking) and street smarts. Her dream is to become a famous actress, a goal she never seems to waver from until season 8. She is very kindhearted and empathetic toward people, though she can blow up when made mad, which prompted Leonard to refer to her as "The Incredible Hulk" after she went off on Howard. She believes most guys are nice and has been hurt a lot. When someone shocks her, she tends to bat her eyes at them while she is considering her response. She also storms off in frustration when dealing with people like Sheldon (who, for example, she initially does not know has no concept or understanding of sarcasm, causing her to get frustrated when he takes her sarcastic barbs literally) or situations she can't believe or understand. She knows how to throw out wise cracks and is very loyal to her man as long as she is not betrayed. She also has a tendency to deny doing things that are embarrassing or that she suddenly realizes are embarrassing. When she has had arguments with Leonard, she also has a tendency to make assumptions about what he says, twists his comments out of context, and puts words in his mouth that he never said (e.g., when Leonard points out that something Penny did was stupid or foolish, and Penny jumps to conclusions and assumes that Leonard said she was "stupid").
In the first season she seemed very naïve, but has appeared smarter (though not always) in later seasons and more complicated in situations with her female friends. She also has a habit of being selfish and throwing her friends under the bus. For example, she sold Sheldon out to the court officials for running a red light, despite the fact he had done it to help her after she had dislocated her shoulder, simply because she didn't want the ticket. As demonstrated throughout her relationship with Leonard, Penny has a fear of commitment, which eventually diminished as time passed. Meanwhile, during Season 10, Penny appears to have become ungrateful as she seems to forget all about the great things Leonard did for her in the past few years and believes that he's taking her for granted, when it's actually the other way around. In addition, she also has turned ignorant to everything in her life, thinking that her marriage to Leonard hasn't taken her anywhere, when in reality, a lot of fortune has come her way since then. She is also somewhat of a hypocrite as in The Vert Elasticity, she takes pretty much everything out of Leonard's bedroom simply because she doesn't like the style and completely redoes the entire style without his consent. Despite her bad attitude and selfish acts, Penny is deep down a good person and truly loves Leonard and their friends. Not much is said about her politics, though she does appear naïve about some issues like diversity and had been seen wearing a "Hillary (Clinton) 2008" t-shirt long after that election occurred.
A recurring gag in the series is Penny's fondness for alcohol. Although not technically an alcoholic, she really loves it and appears to drink more than anyone else in the series, which leads to her being the victim of jokes for this. According to Penny, she drinks a lot as a result of picking up the habit from her father ("The Conjugal Conjecture") who still drinks less than her. In the series finale "The Stockholm Syndrome", Penny temporarily goes sober and abstains from alcohol, due to being pregnant.
==Appearance==
Penny is considered a very beautiful woman. She has layered blond hair when we first see her in Season 1, Episode 1 ("Pilot"). She is of average height and has a nice hourglass figure. She is thin but obviously works out, as can be seen by her triceps. She has green eyes with some brown flecks—according to Sheldon (Season 8, Episode 16). She is obviously a catch because you see throughout the series that she dates many handsome guys. She also frequently dyes her hair throughout the show. First, it's almost a bleach blond with some brown highlights, then transitions to a dirty blond with way more brown and stays that way for a while. In Season 4, you see that she dyed it back to a light blond, and that stays that way for a few seasons until Season 8 when she cuts her hair extremely short! 
==Family==
Penny's Sister Lisa is mentioned as having shot her husband while they were both intoxicated. Her name wasn't revealed until the last season.
It's known that she has a nephew who turned 13 in season two, likely the son of Lisa.
When Christy (Penny's friend from Omaha) comes into town, Penny reveals that she has a brother and at least one male cousin, as she claims that Christy slept with the former while being engaged to the latter.
Her brother, Randall, works in a meth lab. This fact is first hinted at in "The Pirate Solution" as Penny describes him as "kind of a chemist" and tells Leonard that he would like him. It is finally confirmed in "The Rhinitis Revelation" when she asks God to make her brother stop cooking meth, but without involving the authorities. In season 7 in "The Hesitation Ramification", Penny mentions that her Dad gathered all the relatives together to see her scene on NCIS, which included getting her brother a day out of rehab. They also bought a large sandwich to share. When her scene is cut, Penny mentions that the sandwich and her brother are gone and as far as she knows her brother is on the way to Mexico. She also mentioned wanting to postpone her wedding with Leonard until he gets paroled. Randall appeared on the series in "The Conjugal Conjecture" for his sister's vow renewal.
Sheldon implies Penny's mother, Susan, is overweight and in "The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition" says that her mother must have used cannabis when she was expectant with her. In "The Status Quo Combustion", Penny is discussing her engagement with her mother, tells her that she is NOT pregnant and that that is unusual in their family. She had lost the weight by Leonard and Penny's second wedding and vow renewal.
In season two, "The Maternal Capacitance", as Penny is explaining to Beverly that her father stopped playing catch with her when she developed breasts, she quotes her mother talking to her father, and suggests his name is "Bob", though it is later revealed in "The Boyfriend Complexity" to be Wyatt. Her father visits Penny and begs Leonard to get back with her because he wants grandchildren who don't live in a house on wheels. Her parents like Leonard because he is smarter than the dumb boys that Penny usually dated.
In "The Conjugal Conjecture", Penny is happy to have her family visiting. She has a close relationship with her father and a little tenser one with her mother. She takes her brother with a smile and a joke. Later, she thinks about offering her brother Sheldon's old room after her father asks her to get him a job interview at her company.
When Penny says that she doesn't want any kids, her father probably learned this from Leonard and complains to Penny about not getting any more grandchildren. In "The Donation Oscillation", Wyatt visits LA and finds it strange that Leonard is donating sperm to Zack and that Penny doesn't want any kids. He is disappointed and Penny admits that she thinks that she is letting everyone down too. Wyatt tells her how great it is raising kids, but will support her choice.
===Family Members===
*Paternal Grandfather: Unnamed
*Paternal Grandmother: Unnamed
*Maternal Grandmother: Unnamed
*Maternal Grandfather: Unnamed
*Father: Wyatt
*Mother: Susan
*Brother: Randall
*Sister: Lisa
*Husband: Leonard Hofstadter
*Child: Unborn
*Brother-in-laws: Michael Hofstadter, Unnamed via Leonard's sister, Unnamed via Lisa
*Nephews: Neil, Jeffrey, Scott, William, Richard, Unnamed
*Unnamed Nieces/Nephews
*Uncle: Unnamed
*Cousin: Unnamed
*Pet Pig: Moondance (now deceased)
*Husband: Leonard Hofstadter
*Father-in-law: Alfred Hofstadter
*Mother-in-law: Beverly Hofstadter
*Sister-in-laws: Unnamed via Leonard, Unnamed via Michael
*Aunt-in-laws: Edna, Nancy, Unnamed
*Uncle-in-law: Floyd
*Cousin-in-laws: Unnamed
*Grandfather-in-law: Unnamed
*Grandmother-in-law: Unnamed
== Work Experience==
Penny considers herself a waitress/actress though she has told Leonard that she is a "professional" actress despite her short acting resume. Her income is derived from working at the Pasadena Cheesecake Factory as a waitress and living off the guys in Apartment 4A. In "The Occupation Recalibration" (S7E13) she quits the job as a waitress and declares she would engage herself in the acting area full-time. Leonard never discourages Penny when she joins them for takeout meals, piggybacks on their Wi-Fi connection, paying for her movie tickets and other bills in spite of Sheldon's protests to get to her to stop. In a podcast interview with Wil Wheaton, director Kevin Smith told her that he thought she was talented, and would love for her to audition for "Clerks 3". Ultimately, Penny did try out, but felt that her audition stunk. Penny became a pharmaceutical representative/salesperson, at Bernadette's company Zangen and said that she was taking a break from acting. According to her boss Dan she is his third best salesperson though she admits to Leonard she doesn't like flirting with doctors just to make sales. At the beginning of season 10, she gets assigned a better sales territory. Season 11 found her doing some PR work that she'd like to get a permanent job in when she was escorting Bill Gates around. In "The Confirmation Polarization", Bernadette pushed Penny to head up her sales team for her new drug. Penny is reluctant since she doesn't have a college education like the other sales reps. She still meet the challenge sounding quite tough like her friend Bernadette. Later in "The Conference Valuation" Bernadette are at a convention pushing her drug. Penny can feels good about herself because another company offered her a position, though Bernadette won't let her know how much they think she's worth.
Penny's acting career credits consists of:
*A topless role in a low budget horror film "Serial Ape-ist". This movie happened before she moved into Apartment 4B (in the Pilot), but is not revealed to the audience until "The Hofstadter Insufficiency" (S7E01).
*A one night showcase production of the musical Rent ("The Loobenfeld Decay", S1E10).
*A production of The Diary of Anne Frank, performed over a bowling alley; ("The Terminator Decoupling", S2E17; later mentioned in "The Psychic Vortex", S3E12 and "The Recombination Hypothesis", S5E13).
*A hemorrhoid commercial ("The Skank Reflex Analysis", S5E01; later mentioned in "The Recombination Hypothesis", S5E13; in "The Transporter Malfunction", S5E20. She says she gets residual checks from her commercial.
*Acting class production of A Streetcar Named Desire ("The Monster Isolation", S6E17).
*A bit part in NCIS that was cut from the final show ("The Hesitation Ramification", S7E12) though she was paid for it.
*Playing an ape/human clone in Serial Ape-ist 2: Monkey See, Monkey Kill ("The Indecision Amalgamation", S7E19). Fired in "The Gorilla Dissolution" after she wanted to improve her performance.
*In "The Fetal Kick Catalyst", Penny attends Van Nuys Comic-Con to sign autographs for her work in both Ape films and is surprised how popular the movie is, but is reminded how terrible an actress she is. She had her big break and her fifteen minutes of fame for one movie.
==Relationships==
===Platonic===
====Sheldon====
Penny and Sheldon constantly argue with each other, but are best friends. Sheldon is quick to take shots at Penny's intelligence, waitress job, and failing acting career (though he generally doesn't understand that these statements are detrimental) while Penny throws off his personal routines, such as during "The Panty Piñata Polarization" when Penny messes up Sheldon's laundry night. Despite their differences, Sheldon and Penny are very close, and are quick to help each other. They have taken care of each other on multiple occasions; oftentimes doing things they really don't want to do to make the other feel better. Penny has stated that they are friends.
Major examples of their personal care include when Penny takes care of Sheldon when he is sick, and when she lets him stay at her apartment when he gets locked out, even letting him sleep in her own bed. Sheldon was also quick to come to Penny's aid when she called for help after falling in the shower and dislocating her shoulder, going so far as to drive her to the hospital, despite not knowing how to drive.
Many of these occurrences end with Penny singing Soft Kitty to Sheldon to make him feel better or when he is sick; Sheldon sang it to her on one occasion as well. One of the biggest examples of their friendship is that despite his own rule of avoiding physical contact with people, Penny was the first person Sheldon hugged on the show.
Penny remains one of only four people he's hugged who aren't members of his family, the only others being Leonard, Wil Wheaton and Amy Farrah Fowler. To date, Sheldon and Penny have hugged in "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis", in "The Large Hadron Collision", in "The Bon Voyage Reaction", in "The Celebration Experimentation" and in "The Conjugal Conjecture". Sheldon also is in the habit of insulting Penny when he asks her for a favor.
In "The Werewolf Transformation", Penny convinces him to let her cut his hair since his barber is in a coma. She listed times she's taken care of him, saying that she's taken him to Disneyland, kicked a bully in the nuts for him, sings him Soft Kitty when he's sick, and that he's even seen her naked once. Sheldon eventually agrees to let Penny cut his hair.
In "The Closure Alternative", Penny decides that she is passionate about her friends and tells Sheldon that she is glad he is in her life.
In "The Bon Voyage Reaction", Leonard asked Penny to keep an eye on Sheldon while he's gone. They hung out together and Penny took him shopping, further developing their brother/sister relationship. In "The Hofstadter Insufficiency", they didn't even get on each other's nerves, and Penny played the games that Sheldon wanted to play or usually played with Leonard. Sheldon even tried to comfort a lonely Penny and let her hug him with very little objections. After Sheldon had a nightmare, he knocked on Penny's door early in the morning. He woke Penny up and all she did was ask what he wanted, she was neither mad nor disgusted by his intrusion, indicating a good, stable, friendly relationship.
In "The Cooper Extraction", Amy points out to the gang that most of them would not know each other if Sheldon had not been part of their lives. Penny feels that Leonard would never have successfully asked her out at the Cheesecake Factory, while Leonard suggests that she would have ended up with Zack. In the Zack story, he spent all the rent money on some magic beans. Amy thinks that if Amy and Leonard were out of the picture, the lusty Penny would try and seduce her neighbor Sheldon much to Penny's disgust and the guys' amusement.
In "The Anything Can Happen Thursday Recurrence", Penny takes Sheldon to a psychic at a time when he can't decide what new problem of science to follow after string theory is disproved. The psychic knows that he has trouble with a girl and that following that relationship will give him the answers he seeks.
In "The Intimacy Acceleration", Penny and Sheldon conduct a psychological experiment which should result in the couple instantly falling in love. Sheldon wants to do it because he thinks its poppycock, and Penny does it because she gets to ask Sheldon a lot of personal questions that he has to answer honestly. They admit a lot of truth about themselves like Penny wishes she were as smart as the others and that she uses comedy to cover up insecurities. Finally, they stare into each other's eyes for four minutes and decide that they do have closer intimacy though just as a brother and sister. 
In "The Separation Oscillation", Sheldon gives Penny and Leonard a wedding present - a trip to San Francisco for the three of them.
In "The 2003 Approximation", Leonard finally moves out to live with his wife Penny; however, in the end Penny agrees that they will spend at least half their nights back in Leonard's old room.
In "The Celebration Experimentation", Sheldon ran into the bathroom after overwhelmed by the birthday party they were throwing him. Penny went into talk to him claiming that it was okay if he wanted to be there. She would probably have tortured him along with his sister and friends at the birthday parties of his youth, but now that she knows him, he is one of her favorite people. Penny would be happy to spend his party in the bathroom with him. Sheldon doesn't want people think that that is weird. Penny explains that everyone things he is weird, but still loves him and came to his party anyway. Later at the party, Penny makes him hug her and he has upgraded his feeling toward hugs to mildly irritating.
In "The Viewing Party Combustion", Leonard gets tired of the quarterly Roommate Agreement meetings where nothing important is ever discussed. Penny who has signed the latest on as an occupant of the apartment and wants to attend since she gets to lead them in the pledge. Leonard sulks about attending the meeting which makes Penny mad driving her and Sheldon over to her apartment breaking the group into two separate camps. Leonard also points out the weird brother/sister relationship she and Sheldon have which Amy is also jealous of. Penny often takes Sheldon's side due to her sibling feelings for him.
In "The Conjugal Conjecture", Sheldon stands up during Leonard and Penny's vow renewal to tell them how much he loves them even though he often doesn't show it. He is also included in their hug after Bernadette pronounces them man and wife and the other weird guy that came with the apartment.
In "The Long Distance Dissonance", Penny has to explain to Sheldon that Ramona Nowitzki had a romantic interest in him despite Amy being his girlfriend.
In "The Bow Tie Asymmetry", Penny organizes picking up the relatives and is overloaded by Amy's mother's comments and personality in preparation for Shamy's wedding. When the wedding is delayed due to the absence of the bride and groom she explodes when she finds Sheldon, Leonard and Amy doing science instead of getting married. Sheldon agrees with Penny so the wedding starts. Penny is overwhelmed at the ceremony of her two best friends getting married.
Both Leonard and Penny give Sheldon advice as he gets used to being married to Amy.
In "The Change Constant", the Hofstadters and the Coopers are waiting for the Nobel Prize Committee to call from Sweden. Kripke gives then a fake phone call calling them suckers. Amy then gets the call and quietly says that they won. Sheldon can't believe her so Leonard slaps him and then they all shout excitedly and have a big hug together. Sheldon has a hard time dealing with the fame and attention from his colleagues and reporters. Then after Raj gives Amy a makeover and The Elevator is repaired; he runs off with Penny to The Cheesecake Factory cursed by all the changes. Penny reminds him how much he's changed in the last twelve years and that the fact of change is really the constant in his life. Sheldon accepts that.
Stuart Bloom
Penny and Stuart briefly dated in the end of second season. They became friends and help each other.
====Howard====
Upon meeting, Howard constantly made passes at Penny in ways that made her deem him "disgusting", but they became best friends. At one point she calls Howard "pathetic and creepy", which breaks his spirit in "The Killer Robot Instability". Leonard makes Penny go and apologize; however, she ends up breaking Howard's nose when he tries to kiss her. Their dynamic remains the same on a diluted basis for the most part throughout the series, but begins to change when Howard begins to date Penny's friend Bernadette. Although Penny is not a fan of him, she admitted that she considered Howard a friend in "The Engagement Reaction", although they rarely hang out outside of the group. Howard flirts with Penny much less and becomes more casual towards her after he begins his relationship with Bernadette, which Penny obviously enjoys, although she still pokes fun at him.
When Howard was drowning his sorrows at the Cheesecake Factory bar when Bernadette's Dad wanted him to sign a pre-nuptial agreement Penny decides to set him straight. “All right, Howard Wolowitz. Listen up. You will sign anything she puts in front of you because you are the luckiest man alive. If you let her go, there is no way you'll find anyone else. Speaking on behalf of all women, it's not going to happen. We had a meeting.”
After Raj reveals on YouTube some of Howard's past creepy experiences, he apologizes to Bernadette saying that she has made him a better man. Penny gushes that that was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard and that it came from Howard of all people.
====Raj====
Like with all other women except his mother and sister (and thus one would assume all female relatives), Raj is unable to speak to Penny unless he is intoxicated or on medication and they are best friends. They hang out within the group a lot and Penny occasionally attempts to tease him into talking to her. After she goes to a People magazine reception with him, he introduces her to his parents as his girlfriend, despite their preference of him finding an Indian lady. Once he can speak to her sober, they become each other's confidants.
In the season four finale, Penny and Raj bond and after having a lot to drink, they end up sleeping together. Later, Raj reveals to Penny that they were about to sleep together when she instantly asked if he had had protection. He had trouble putting it on, and she tried to help, but he ejaculated prematurely and they didn't actually have sex. Raj asks Penny not to tell anyone and Penny promises to keep silent. Raj attempts to actually date her, but she tells him she just wants to be friends. Despite their rough past, Penny attempts to find a girlfriend for Raj and comforts him when he needs it. She also invites him along to their ladies' night out while the guys play their Dungeons and Dragons Christmas game. He discovered he had come over his selective mutism when he was able to talk to Penny about his breakup with Lucy without being under the influence in "The Bon Voyage Reaction". After Raj moves into Apartment 4A, Penny begins to bond with him through common interests. In "The Comet Polarization", Penny finds a new comet while the gang was using Raj's telescope. Raj first takes credit for the discovery until Penny demands that he be fair about it. Penny got to do some science.
====Bernadette====
Penny and Bernadette worked together at The Cheesecake Factory until Bernadette received her PhD and became a microbiologist; however, they remain best friends. Penny introduced her to Howard on a blind date. She is the first person outside of the few boyfriends that Penny is seen to socialize with on a regular basis. They enjoy spending time at Penny's apartment, comforting each other, and going out together and participating in Penny's Posse..
They also hang out with the guys together once Howard starts dating Bernadette. In "The Countdown Reflection", because Bernadette wants to get married to Howard before he goes into space, Penny, along with Amy, Sheldon, Leonard and Raj become ordained as ministers to so they can officiate at the wedding ceremony.
Penny is notably upset when she is in the middle of Bernadette and Amy's fight during "The Parking Spot Escalation". She is really hurt once Amy takes a swing at Bernadette with her purse hitting Penny in the face and breaking her nose.
Bernadette gets Penny an interview at Zangen as a pharmaceutical sales representative in "The Locomotion Interruption". Though she does poorly in the job interview, Penny and her interviewer bond over their mutual fear of Bernadette. Penny calls her scary and something of a bully. She gets the job because neither of them wants to confront her. Later on, Penny shows a great deal of maturity in wanting to do a good job especially after Bernadette pestered her to study up on the company's products. Bernadette thinks Penny got the job because her interviewer really loves her and she helps Penny study the company's product line.
Penny makes Bernadette face up to her bullying ways in "The Champagne Reflection". Her boss Dan is still afraid of her and she yelled at him and his grandson after they lost the three-legged race at the company picnic. His grandson called her the mean kid with the big boobies. Bernadette is horrified when she realizes how everyone perceives her. Her father had taught her to not take any crap, and she can be even cruel with some of her comments without even knowing it. She thought she was the sweetest person she knew and should be in a tree baking cookies like a Keebler elf. She goes to apologize to Dan and finds out that due to his fear of her, they had been doing things for her. Finally she finds out that by bursting into tears they also do things for her.
Bernadette once admitted that Penny getting a shorter haircut was a "brave" choice when everyone else said they hated it. She does get mad at Bernie at times when she double-crosses her or throws her under the bus.
In "The Neonatal Nomenclature", Penny tries to help Bernadette go into labor by trying some yoga positions. She is preparing while showing her bare midriff which causes pregnant Bernadette to call her a skinny bitch.
In "The Reclusive Potential" both Penny and Bernadette tell a hungover Amy about the wild time she had out drinking with the girls during her bachelorette party to make his feel less lame. She was told she Riverdanced on the bar and got cozy with a bunch of shirtless firemen.
In "The Confirmation Polarization", Bernadette pushed Penny to head up her sales team for her new drug. Penny is reluctant since she doesn't have a college education like the other sales reps. Penny still met the challenge sounding quite tough like her friend Bernadette.
Bernie feels good that Penny also runs her team with fear. Later in "The Conference Valuation" she and Bernadette are at a convention pushing her drug. Penny can feels good about her self because another company offered her a position, though Bernadette won't let her know how much they think she's worth.
====Amy====
 When Bernadette and Penny were having a ladies' night, Amy injected herself into Penny's life by getting herself invited. In no time, she claims that she and Penny are best friends and calls her "bestie". When she initially hangs out with Penny and Bernadette, her lack of social skills makes it somewhat awkward, but as she spends more time with them, they bond and the three become their own group as a counterpart to the group of guys or "Penny's Posse".
The two gradually form a tight friendship and continue to spend more time together and are quick to aid one another whenever the other needs it. Amy is aware that Penny is the planet that her social life revolves around and quickly reverses her course if she is mad at her or is annoyed by her. Amy gave Penny a large unflattering painting of the two of them to celebrate their friendship, which at one point the former realizes the latter hates. Penny rushes over to Amy's apartment to rescue their friendship and re-hangs the painting in her apartment on the fourth wall of her apartment (facing the audience).
In "The Shiny Trinket Maneuver", when Amy had her argument with Sheldon, Penny took Sheldon to the jewelry store to buy a gift. Sheldon ends up getting Amy a tiara. Penny tricks Amy to come over confronting Sheldon and is happy putting the tiara on Amy, which makes Amy ecstatic. In "The Weekend Vortex", Amy confides in Penny when she had an awful time at her aunt's birthday party because Sheldon backed out on his promise to attend an MMORPG marathon. Penny gets them to play quarters where the loser will need to drink a glass of beer. Amy turns out to be very good at the game from all the time she spent as a child throwing coins wishing for friends, and as a result, Penny gets intoxicated. She convinces Amy to make a scene and the two barge into the guys' apartment as they are in the middle of their marathon. Amy fails to keep up her ruse of leaving Sheldon for a make-believe character named Arman, and Penny comes to her rescue by telling Sheldon the truth. Penny is also very upset to be in the middle of the argument between Amy and Bernadette over Howard's parking space in "The Parking Spot Escalation", especially after Amy accidentally hits her in the face with her change-filled purse, giving Penny two black eyes and a broken nose.
In "The Cooper/Kripke Inversion" Penny asks Sheldon if he is ever going to sleep with Amy. After Sheldon says that it is a possibility, Penny gets very excited for her friend and nearly beats Leonard up. In "The Love Spell Potential", Penny tells Sheldon's and Amy's "D&D" characters to "do it" in the game, which upsets Amy and causes her to leave. In "The Spoiler Alert Segmentation" Penny ruins Amy's chance to move in with Sheldon because she is not ready for Leonard to move in. Sheldon also didn't want Amy moving in either. To prove that she could do it, Amy tells everybody that she should move in with Penny which scares Penny. In "The Anything Can Happen Thursday Recurrence", Amy did admit to Leonard that she is jealous of the close personal friendship between Sheldon and Penny and how comfortable he is around her.
In "The Hook-up Reverberation", Penny wonders how she could get Raj's new girlfriend Emily to like her. Amy says that she could hang around her pretending to be her friend and before you know it you're in her apartment drinking her wine and eating her food. Penny says that that won't work even though Amy's suggestion mirrors her own relationship with Penny.
In "The Space Probe Disintegration", Penny and Amy finally get the chance to choose what they'll do with Leonard and Sheldon (as they usually call the shots in that regard). During their outing, it's revealed that Penny hypocritically does the same thing when hanging out with Amy; however, Amy insists that she's fine with it because she promised herself that if she got friends, she'd do anything they said. Penny tells her that a lot has changed since then, especially considering that not only does she have great friends, she's also smart, pretty, and has a boyfriend now. At that moment, Amy is given the opportunity to make everyone do what she wants.
In "The Matrimonial Metric", after the gang gets mad at Amy and Sheldon for testing them to see if they should be in their wedding party, Penny has an epiphany. Leonard says that Amy should choose her as Maid of Honor since they are best friends. Penny denies it until she realizes how much time they spend together and how much they support each other and that Amy IS her best friend. She runs over to Amy's saying that she can choose who wants, but she's an idiot if she doesn't choose her because they are best friends. Amy is ecstatic that Penny admits this and hugs her calling her "Bestie!"
In "The Reclusive Potential", Amy has her bachelorette party with Penny and Bernadette. She originally doesn't like their idea of their party - tea and making quilts. So they then decide to go to a bar and get drunk. Later Amy wakes up and thinks that it's lame that she passed out at her own party. Penny and Bernadette tells her that she River-danced on the bar and cavorted with some shirtless firemen to make her feel better. Then Amy thinks that she has the makings of being a wild woman.
In "The Monetary Insufficiency", Amy and the girls go shopping for wedding dresses. Amy picks one that doesn't look too appealing, but Sheldon says she looks beautiful and she decides to keep the dress. Penny says that she doesn't like it hurting Amy's feelings, but then Penny just explains that that dress one not one she would have chosen and Amy concludes that they are two very different people. 
In "The Bow Tie Asymmetry", Penny organizes picking up the relatives and is overloaded by Amy's mother's comments and personality. When the wedding is delayed due to the absence of the bride and groom she explodes when she finds them doing science instead of getting married. Sheldon agrees with Penny so the wedding starts. Penny is overwhelmed at the ceremony of her two best friends getting married.
====Leslie====
Penny was shown to have a good relationship with Leslie Winkle, Leonard's lab partner at the university. Leslie sometimes called her "Blondie".
====Priya====
Priya was envious of Penny because of Leonard's previous relationship with her, and eventually asked him to stop communicating with Penny. Though Penny did so, she became angry towards Priya for dating Leonard, as she had only recently realized she still had feelings for him. When Priya becomes friendly with Penny in "The Engagement Reaction" episode where they strike up a friendly conversation and bond in the process over Leonard's romantic quirks.
====Stephanie====
Penny wanders into Leonard's apartment begging to have a cup of coffee, and it is here that she first encounters Stephanie. Dr. Stephanie Barnett asks Leonard who this woman is who comes into his apartment in the morning in her underwear. Both Penny and Sheldon make it difficult for Leonard to explain. He describes Penny as one of many neighbors who wander throughout the apartment building which has no dress code. Leonard exclaims that he has never slept with Penny. Sheldon adds that it wasn't from a lack of trying. Penny goes to check out Leonard's bedroom and finds enough of Stephanie's stuff that Leonard realizes that they are living together. 
====Emily Sweeney====
thumb|left|340px|Penny pitching to Emily.
In "The Hook-up Reverberation", Penny and Leonard meet Emily for the first time, and she treats Penny rather coldly. At Bernadette's suggestion, Penny stops by Emily's office to do her sales pitch in front of a real doctor. Penny does her pitch enthusiastically; however, Emily ignores her. She doesn't like that Penny had crawled into bed with Raj. Though Penny is mad at Raj, he gets them together and they apologize to each other. After they part, both women say how much they hate the other one. In later episodes, she hangs out with her and the rest of the gang as friends.
====Beverly Hofstadter====
Beverly is Penny's mother-in-law. In the beginning of her first appearance, Beverly drove Penny to tears when they first met analyzing her childhood and her relationship with her father.
The next Christmas she was visiting and Leonard didn't mention that he and Penny were a couple. Beverly goes drinking with Penny and they seem to become great drinking buddies. Penny even witnesses a drunk and soon-to-be divorced Beverly kissing Sheldon.
At the news of Leonard and Penny's engagement she was not excited though she was happy that Sheldon liked her. She did help Penny get even with Leonard when she found out he was manipulating her for sex.
During Sheldon's birthday party, Beverly thanked Penny for not inviting her to their Vegas wedding; however, she said that she was insulted about getting no invitation at a later date. Penny was trying to bond with her mother-in-law during a dinner at her apartment; however, she was finding more in common with scientists Bernadette and Amy. Finally, after Penny gets really angry with Beverly and yelling at her and Beverly admits she was hurt about not being invited to her son's wedding. Penny and Beverly connect and bond after Penny offered to have a reaffirming of vows ceremony while Beverly was still in Pasadena.
In "The Explosion Implosion", after Penny answered a phone call from Beverly for Leonard, the pair developed a close bond with Beverly dishing on her recent amorous activities. Amy was jealous of Penny's close relationship with Leonard's mother, while Leonard was more annoyed that his mother told Penny she was proud of her - something Beverly has never said about him. When Leonard confronted his mother, Beverly told him how great Penny was, that out of all of her children's spouses, Penny was the best one and admitted she was proud of Leonard - if only for marrying well. Beverly also noticed that Leonard was trying hard not to cry, so she let him hang up quickly since Leonard was already being driven to tears.
====Alfred Hofstadter====
Alfred is Penny's father-in-law. The two have met at some time after "The Maternal Congruence", and previous to "The Convergence Convergence" and he appears to be very fond of her. He toasts the happy couple at their wedding re-do and is interrupted by his ex-wife. Penny notes what happens when Alfred and Mary Cooper leave early for the hotel. She also loves the fact that Leonard and Sheldon's parents have possibly gotten together.
====Bert====
In "The Dependence Transcendence", Bert hosts a Caltech party that only Amy and Penny attend. He feels that Amy is the coolest girl at work and that Sheldon is cool only because he is dating Amy. As the girls are leaving, he tells them that he is in love with both of them. Penny is in good terms with him and also their friend.
====Halley Wolowitz====
In "The Proton Regeneration", she says her first word to Penny calling her "Mama". This shocked her parents (who overheard on a baby monitor) and made Penny gleeful at having something to rub into their faces. At first the Wolowitzes are reluctant to let the inexperienced Penny take care of Halley, but "Aunt Penny" loves Halley and meets the challenge.
====Anu====
In "The Tam Turbulence", Penny and Bernadette have dinner with Anu to meet Raj's fiancée and they like the woman especially since she has connections all over LA as a hotel concierge. At the restaurant they do spot LeBron James.
====William Shatner====
In "The D & D Vortex", the girls convince Wil Wheaton to let them play in his celebrity D&D game so they can meet Joe Manganiello. At one point Penny is ready to attack the ogres to which Bill says that he likes her “moxie”. Penny replies that she loves his grandpa words. Actress Kaley Cuoco and William Shatner did Priceline commercials together playing his daughter.
===Romantic===
====Kurt====
Kurt is Penny's ex-boyfriend at the beginning of the series. In the pilot episode, Leonard and Sheldon went to his apartment and tried to retrieve Penny's TV set from him, but they did not succeed and returned home without pants. Penny left him because he cheated on her, but they got back together and went to her Halloween party in "The Middle-Earth Paradigm" where Kurt tormented Leonard. When Penny experienced financial difficulties, Leonard and the guys tried to convince Kurt to pay Penny back money he owed her. At first Kurt refused, but eventually, he paid Penny back to date her again.
====TJ====
A guy she met and was together with for six months. They never really talked and Penny never learned what the TJ stood for. TJ is only mentioned once in "The Recombination Hypothesis" during Leonard's imaginary date with Penny and it is unclear if TJ is an actual character from Penny's past or an imaginary character from Leonard's dream.
====Doug====
Doug is a guy with whom Penny just had a long-weekend fling just to get over her relationship with ex-boyfriend Kurt.
====Mike====
Mike is a guy who Penny dated in "The Nerdvana Annihilation". In "The Tangerine Factor", Penny broke up with Mike after he posted several "details about their sex life in his blog. Leonard inadvertently gets Penny to try and reconcile with Mike, but she finds him having sex with another woman.
====Unknown Name====
In "The Staircase Implementation", Penny is seen seven years prior in her bedroom in Omaha viewing a pregnancy test with one of her high school boyfriends. She is happy that she is not pregnant.
====Leonard====
Leonard is Penny's soulmate, true love and best friend.
Leonard almost immediately falls for the girl who moved across the hall from him and his roommate in the pilot episode, and has spent much of the entire series trying to win Penny despite the doubts expressed by many of his peers. Penny first shows a romantic interest in Leonard near the end of "The Hamburger Postulate", when she hears of his failed attempt at a relationship with Leslie Winkle, though the sign is seen only by the audience. Despite these signs, she continues to date other men, though she regularly visits Leonard's apartment every day to see him. 
She and Leonard went on their first date in the finale of the first season, but they were unable to start a relationship because Penny feared he would get bored with her due to his high intelligence compared to her own. Leonard continues his pursuit of Penny throughout the second season, even going as far as confronting her towering ex-boyfriend, Kurt in an effort to retrieve the money he owes her. 
Leonard and friends decide to head the North Pole for the summer to assist Sheldon. Penny becomes very upset at the thought of Leonard going and out of Leonard's hearing, admits to herself that he wished he wasn't going. After Leonard returns, Penny immediately kisses him, having missed him greatly. Leonard happily returns her affections and they later make love for the first time. 
Despite another rocky start, Penny remains happy with Leonard throughout most of season 3, forming the kind of stable relationship that she hadn't seen in over two years.
Things went downhill, however, when Leonard told Penny "I love you," and he became angry and insecure at her unwillingness to reciprocate. The pressure he places on Penny along with a heated argument that occurred between the two during a bowling match eventually caused her to tearfully end their relationship, leaving Leonard heartbroken. Wil Wheaton pushes her so that she leaves making her bowling team forfeit.
They later agree to stay friends, even though it's clear that Penny has never stopped liking Leonard, as she revealed in a game of truth or dare with Amy and Bernadette, she only broke up with him because she became scared after Leonard told her he loved her. When the girls point out that she could lose Leonard to another woman as a result of her decision, Penny gets very upset and storms into her bedroom and slams the door.
When Penny's father Wyatt visits, she asks Leonard to join her in the ruse she has put on saying that they got back together after Wyatt was heartbroken at their breakup. He kept bugging Penny to get back together with Leonard since he was the only one of her boyfriends her father liked. Leonard gleefully joins in, but after he pushes Penny too far, she eventually tells her father the truth. Wyatt is upset that Penny would lie to him, but forgives her. After Penny leaves the room, Wyatt begs and urges Leonard to not give up on her. He says he'll give it a shot. Wyatt uses reverse psychology by feigning anger at Leonard and yelling at him to help along and Leonard leaves. It is unknown whether they would have gotten back together, had this ruse and the anger-feigning never happened.
Though Penny keeps an emotional distance between herself and Leonard throughout the fourth season, her feelings for him are hinted at on more than one occasion. Once was during a New Year's Eve party at the comic book store, when Penny stares uncomfortably at Leonard while she kisses her date, Zack Johnson. Earlier that evening, Penny let it slip out to Leonard that he was one of the reasons why she had been feeling sad recently. 
Their friendship eventually becomes strained when Leonard begins dating Raj's sister Priya, causing confusion for Penny as she starts to reconsider her feelings for him. The situation gets worse when Penny and Priya grow jealous of each other, forcing Leonard to cut his ties with Penny permanently. During their time apart, Penny becomes very close to Amy and Bernadette, who provide comforting support and help her understand the depth of her emotions regarding Leonard's new relationship. 
In the season finale, Penny admits to Raj that she "screwed up," and never should have broken up with Leonard. 
Penny again reveals her regret in season 5 to Sheldon (without mentioning Leonard directly), telling him that he should never take his relationship for granted. The result was Sheldon thinking that she had a thing for him.
Penny finally makes her move after Leonard and Priya break up later in the season, asking Leonard out to the movies, but hiding her feelings by keeping things casual and telling him that sex was off the table. Leonard misses the hint; however, and the night turns into a disaster when the two attempt to make each other jealous by flirting with other people they encounter during the date. They do make up in the end, and Leonard's hopeless infatuation for Penny surfaces when he becomes submissive once more in an attempt to sleep with her. 
At the spur of the moment in "The Recombination Hypothesis", Leonard asks Penny out on a date after he imagined what getting back with her might be like. He also realizes he overanalyzes everything too much. Their real date ends successfully and they agree to take their relationship slow in "The Beta Test Initiation".
In "The Launch Acceleration", Penny suggested that they move up their relationship; however, Leonard ruins the mood when he asks her to marry him during intimacy. They later meet and Penny, unlike their first split, managed to reject his proposal and still stay in a relationship with him. During "The Countdown Reflection," they watch Howard's space launch while holding hands to comfort each other.
Things remain awkward between them in the months following the failed marriage proposal. Raj, who was butting into one of their dates, insisted that Penny tell Leonard that she loves him, but she was not ready and threw him out of the apartment.
Penny later expresses more doubts about whether she truly loves Leonard to her friends in "The Decoupling Fluctuation," describing her passion for him as "boring" compared to her previous relationships. She nearly breaks up with him at the conclusion of the episode, but changes her mind at the last moment and ends up sleeping with him to hide the truth, especially after he looks at her with a "sad puppy dog eyes" face. The next day, Leonard again expresses his unparalleled love for Penny via text message, making her feel even guiltier as she struggles with whether or not she wants to be with him. 
Their relationship takes a completely different turn, however when Penny visits Leonard's workplace with Amy and sees Sheldon's attractive assistant Alex flirting with him in the cafeteria ("The Higgs Boson Observation"), causing Penny to become jealous and confused about her feelings for Leonard once again.
Her feelings continue to grow in "The Holographic Excitation," when Penny decides to drop by Leonard's laboratory after Amy and Bernadette urge her to take a more active interest in his work. Despite her lack of knowledge in science, Penny becomes fascinated as Leonard uses holographic imaging to explain the basis of string theory and the holographic principle, speaking in a way that sparks her passion and earns him the kind of affection (bordering on love) that he had last seen during their first night together after he returned from the North Pole. 
In "The 43 Peculiarity", Penny is working with a British fellow student named Cole on an oral class project. Leonard is jealous so he follows him down the apartment stairs and tells him to watch out for "Penny's boyfriend" since he is a gang member. Penny is upset with Leonard and the two later meet in the hallway and have an argument. Penny tells him that she cannot believe that he does not trust her and that he embarrassed her in front of Cole who knew who he was since his picture is on her refrigerator. Penny continues to tell him that he is the one she is with and unwittingly mentions that he knows that she loves him. Leonard is stunned and tells her that that is the first time she ever said that she loves him. He then interprets her stunned reaction and asks if they aren't going to make a big deal about her confession. She agrees and runs off to cry. 
In "The Egg Salad Equivalency", after Alex asks Leonard out to dinner and he didn't tell Penny about it, she begins to feel really insecure about their relationship. Penny also gets angry with Leonard when she discovers that he enjoyed the attention from Alex. Leonard apologizes by playing her an apologetic song on his cello and reassuring her that nothing will ever happen between him and Alex. She decides instead of feeling bad, she will do something about it. First, she looks into science classes at college, but they sound boring. Then she buys some geek glasses to look smart, which does affect Leonard as he pulls her into his bedroom.
In "The Bakersfield Expedition", she develops an interest in comic books and Thor's hammer. 
In "The Spoiler Alert Segmentation", Leonard suggests that he move in with Penny after he again gets exasperated with Sheldon. He asks her if she's all right with it, but she only agrees not to hurt his feelings and even tells Sheldon. When Amy confronts Penny since she can't move in with Sheldon, Leonard overhears. Penny tells him that he never asked her if she was ready and Leonard ends up back in apartment 4A.
In "The Tangible Affection Proof", Leonard takes Penny out to dinner for Valentine's Day. Penny feels that all the efforts never meets the expectations. Penny sees a former boyfriend proposing to the girl that broke them up. Leonard again tries to propose and Penny stops him. That night Leonard tells Penny that she made a mess of the whole evening. Penny finally admits that she has commitment issues and the obvious path of their relationship ending in marriage scares her. Leonard then puts the responsibility of proposing on her and she should do it when she's ready. In the end, she does ask him to be her Valentine, to which he accepts.
Penny was concerned about the passion Leonard showed for science, comics and various television shows while she had no passion in her life. Her dreams had always been to become a famous movie star and live a glamorous life. Anything less than that she felt was settling. Her epiphany comes that she is passionate about her boyfriend Leonard and all her wonderful friends. 
In "The Bon Voyage Reaction", Leonard takes a job working on a Stephen Hawking expedition in the North Sea for four months over the summer. Penny will miss him but knows that it is a good opportunity and sends him off. At the airport, she is fussing over him like his wife sending him off on a business trip. She also has to watch Sheldon over the summer, too.
In "The Hofstadter Insufficiency", Leonard hurts Penny because he seems to be having such a great time on the ship; she thinks that he is not even missing her. In "The Deception Verification", Leonard makes up for it by showing up early and hides in her apartment so that they can spend time together as a couple before telling the gang that he's back. It works until Amy and Sheldon find them together after they think that Penny is cheating on Leonard.
In "The Raiders Minimization", Penny purchases a psychology book that Beverly Hofstadter has written about all his problems growing up called "The Disappointing Child". Leonard is extremely embarrassed, so Penny does whatever he wants to make him feel better, including having sex in his lab. He mentions her actions to Howard, who failed to repeat the results on Bernadette, so Bernadette tells Penny. She dresses up for sex to tempt him, and then for revenge makes him Skype with his mother to discuss him using his mother's past with him to manipulate elements of his sex life.
In "The Romance Resonance", Howard makes a romantic gesture to Bernadette by writing her a song. Leonard mentions that Penny never does anything like that, except for sex which doesn't count. Penny is determined to romance Leonard. Raj can only suggest that she cook for him or reenact a scene from a romantic movie. Finally, after a candlelight dinner, Penny puts on some romantic music, spreads rose petals into her neatly cleaned bedroom and presents Leonard with the first edition of his favourite book from when he was growing up, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Unfortunately, Leonard had already purchased it after he had seen it in a secondhand bookstore with her. Penny gets upset telling him about all the thoughtful things he had done for her and shows him her collection. An airplane ticket to Nebraska so she could see her family, a rose given to her "just because", and the eleven-page letter he wrote her after the first time they slept together. Leonard was very touched that she kept all these things. He then kisses her, showing that Penny did do something romantic and they lovingly embrace; it's also revealed that she kept the very first pregnancy test she used when they started having sex. 
In "The Thanksgiving Decoupling", Penny reminisces about a Thanksgiving she had in Las Vegas with former boyfriend Zack Johnson which included one of those silly fake weddings. Penny appears devastated when her friends inform her that the wedding was real and she is married. This understandably causes a rift between the two as Penny and Leonard argue about how quickly she should get her annulment so Penny invites Zack over to their Thanksgiving dinner at Howard's mother. Zack appears as dimwitted as ever telling them that breaking up can be hard on the kids which they don't have. Finally, Penny and Leonard make up and she tells him that the next time she gets married it will be for real, for love and (jokingly) or for money and lovingly strokes his chin.
In "The Hesitation Ramification" (S7E12), Penny is frustrated that she has nothing to show for herself after ten years in LA. Leonard points out that she does have him. A tipsy Penny then gets down on one knee and proposes. Leonard hesitates to answer her and she storms out. Leonard is worried that Penny is now going to break up with him. In the next episode "The Occupation Recalibration" (S7E13), Penny tells Leonard that he did the right thing since she was a mess that night and they do stay together.
In "The Table Polarization", the gang wants to add a dining room table to Apartment 4A which Sheldon objects to. Penny gets Leonard to pick out a dining set that she likes and gets Leonard to stand up more against Sheldon. Sheldon objects to Penny changing Leonard to go against him. Penny points out that Amy has changed Sheldon who agrees and then decides to break up with Amy.
In The Friendship Turbulence", Penny's car breaks down and she is afraid she has to go back to work at The Cheesecake Factory. Leonard later pick's up Penny so she can get her old job back. She is not thrilled to go back since she left telling the bitches goodbye and that she'll see them at the Oscars. Leonard tries to make Penny feel better by lightening the mood; however, he is treading a thin line between her loving him because he's trying, and her hating him for making her feel worse. He opens the door of a strange car that Penny mentions is not his. He pulls out a key and tells her that he thought they would take her car revealing he's brought a new one for her. The car is nothing fancy, but she can use it to go to auditions and doesn't have to return to her old job. Penny is both shocked and touched; she hugs and kisses Leonard tightly
In "The Mommy Observation", Penny seems to feel that if she were a successful actress and had to move around, Leonard would leave his job even if it was a tenured position to follow her since she would be making more money.
In "The Proton Transmogrification" Penny asks Leonard to marry her to get their marriage proposal rejection score from 2 to 1 to even. She also gets upset when she is now getting all the Star Wars in-jokes during their Star Wars' Day celebration. She is slipped deeper into their geeky world.
In "The Gorilla Dissolution", Leonard and Penny get back in her apartment after getting fired from her movie. Penny wants to start making smarter decisions about her life. She says that they could get married and Leonard asks her to be serious. Leonard asks her if he is a smart decision, like choosing a healthy boring bran muffin. Penny doesn't care what pastry he is because she is CHOOSING HIM. Leonard wants to be a pastry like a strawberry Pop-Tart that she is excited about. Penny tells him to forget about it. Leonard does want to marry her but feels that she is just feeling sorry for herself because she was fired. Penny explains that it may seem that way, but getting fired made her think that fame and fortune is not what is going make her happy. Leonard wants to know what she needs. "You, you stupid Pop-Tart!" Leonard finally says that he guesses that he is in, which also bothers Penny. Leonard then retorts that it is an excited "I guess I'm in" and they agree that they are engaged which seems somewhat anti-climactic. To change the mood, Leonard pulls a ring out of his wallet that he has had for a couple of years, gets down on one knee and asks Penny formally. Penny says "yes" and he slips the ring on her finger. She still has ape hair glued to it and they embrace happily.
In "The Status Quo Combustion", Leonard and Penny announce their engagement; however, the gang is more excited about Raj and Emily hooking up. Leonard goes searching for the missing Sheldon and finds him at the railroad station leaving time to think about all the changes in his life. Leonard wants him to come home, but Penny convinces Leonard that he should let him go.
In "The First Pitch Insufficiency", they go on a double-date with Shamy where Sheldon is bragging about how their relationship is so much better than Lenny's. Shamy has an 8.2 out of ten for relationship stability based upon well-proven criteria. Leonard looks at it; however, Penny doesn't want to take the test. She already has his doubts and doesn't need them confirmed. They are engaged and still have very little in common which scares her. It also scares Leonard, but he still wants to face all their problems together. His reassurance really touches Penny and Amy who would like Sheldon to say things like that.
In "The Prom Equivalency", Amy and Bernadette throw a do-over prom on the roof of the apartment building. Penny is at first reluctant to attend the party because they always disappoint her, but Leonard tells her that he really wants to take the most beautiful girl to the prom, this time. She wears her old red prom dress. The roof is decorated wonderfully and Penny really gets into the mood. While others are still getting there, Penny and Leonard dance along without any music on the roof. First, they conclude that they probably would not have approached each other if they had been at the same prom. They are both definitely in a romantic mood, while Penny is also glad they aren't having the drama normally seen at proms.
In "The Space Probe Disintegration", Leonard tells Sheldon that his attitude is why he and Penny are not living together. After a tearful period thinking about them him moving out, Sheldon lets him go one night a week to stay at Penny's. Sheldon still sleeps on her couch that night.
In "The Commitment Determination", Sheldon keeps pushing them for a wedding date. The couple insists that they aren't in a hurry, are in a good place emotionally, and are concentrating on their careers. Thinking about the wedding details, they decide on a small church wedding dressed in black tie tuxes and no releasing of butterflies. Suddenly, Penny smiles and sits close to Leonard. She tells him that she's free that night. They could go to Vegas and just get married. Leonard agrees. Sheldon is happy for them, but still doesn't want them to sit in his spot. Driving to Vegas, Penny is very happy and glad that they took their time to get to know each other so that there would be no surprises and no regrets. Leonard has one regret about a time when he was drunk and kisses a woman on his North Sea expedition. Penny is not happy but still wants to marry him.
In "The Matrimonial Momentum", Leonard and Penny are at a wedding chapel and decide on their wedding package, which includes a live stream that allows their friends to watch from home. In the chapel, the minister asks Leonard and Penny if they had prepared vows. To Penny's surprise, Leonard has. He says that they are made from atoms that have travelled over 14 billion years to create them so they can come together as a couple and make each other whole, which overwhelms Penny. Penny sweetly says that he is the love of her life and her best friend and improvises, quoting the lyrics to 'You've Got a Friend in Me' from the Disney film "Toy Story". The minister asks if that was from "Toy Story." Penny says it was and informs him that she quoted the lyrics because he loves them. Leonard gets misty-eyed and confirms that he does. Leonard and Penny are pronounced man and wife. Unfortunately, Stuart and Howard are the only ones remaining who catch it, due to Sheldon insulting Amy, causing her to finally break up with him, causing most of the group to leave. Leonard decides to carry Penny across the threshold into the suite, but huffs and puffs as he carries his wife into the hotel room. They kiss, but Penny still can't stop thinking about Mandy the girl on the boat. Leonard again insists that the kissing wasn't that great, especially since he also chipped her tooth. Penny wants to know if he feels guilty. Leonard jokingly says that he does not feel guilty because the girl had dental insurance. Leonard then adds that he does feel guilty when he sees her every day at work, freezing when he quickly realizes his mistake. Penny is now truly shocked that he never told her this fact. Instead of spending the night in Vegas, they return to their apartments, still fighting. Penny spends the night alone while Leonard spends it with Sheldon.
In "The Separation Oscillation", Leonard finally confronts Mandy, his kissing buddy from the North Sea, about the incident and it doesn't seem to mean much to her. Leonard also realizes that he really was trying to sabotage the relationship. He went and talked with Penny and tells her. She too realizes she has been trying to sabotage their relationship. Leonard then confesses, "I've loved you from the moment we met and I will keep loving you until the end of time." Penny is very touched and tells him that that was the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to her. He follows with getting down on one knee and asks, "Penny, will you please stay married to me?" and she replies "Oh, damn it. You topped it." She and Leonard kiss and eventually reconcile. They then head into the bedroom to formalize their marriage. Later Sheldon gives them a wedding present - a trip to San Francisco for the three of them.
In "The 2003 Approximation", Leonard finally moves out of his apartment and eventually moves in with Penny into her apartment. The sleeping arrangements are still a little complicated. Even though they are living together in 4B, they sometimes sleep in 4A, in Leonard's old room. This is due to Penny having a change of heart at the last minute after feeling sorry for Sheldon who was having a hard time dealing with his breakup with Amy and Leonard moving out. In "The Helium Insufficiency" it is also apparent that Leonard is still maintaining an office in 4A.
In "The Valentino Submergence", Leonard and Penny go out to dinner for Valentine's Day and have to wait for an hour and suffer through an unsympathetic maitre d'. Penny decides to flirt with him, gets nowhere and is called "ma'am". She tries to get him to acknowledge that they are almost the same age; however, he is 21 and she is 31. Next, she drags Leonard out of the restaurant "while she is still young". After a fast food meal in the car, they look for something young and fun to do. The "Moulin Rouge" movie is too late, no skinny dipping or dancing either. They end up dressed as cupids breaking in on Sheldon's "Fun with Flags" programs yelling "Happy Valentine's Day" and that they are "young and fun".
In "The Positive Negative Reaction", they discuss having children. Although Penny says she is not in a rush, she's actually open-minded to the idea, and that someday they can.
In "The Solder Excursion Diversion", Penny stops by when Leonard and Howard are working late on their guidance system prototype and she stays helping them make parts for it. She is very happy getting to play a scientist. She and Bernadette are both furious when Raj tells them that they went to go see a movie and lied to them, but all is forgiven when they return with flowers, an apology, and the offer to pay for dinner.
In "The Big Bear Precipitation", while spending the weekend in a cabin, Penny learns that Leonard has been keeping a secret bank account for emergencies because he doesn't feel that Penny can handle money due to her large credit card debt. Penny, who makes more than him, admits that she does not like her job having to flirt to get her sales; however, she will keep at it because it is the responsible thing to do.
In "The Viewing Party Combustion", Leonard gets tired of the quarterly Roommate Agreement meetings where nothing important is ever discussed. Penny who has signed the latest on as an occupant of the apartment and wants to attend since she gets to lead them in the pledge. Leonard sulks about attending the meeting which makes Penny mad driving her and Sheldon over to her apartment breaking the gang into two separate camps. Leonard also points out the weird brother/sister relationship she and Sheldon have which Amy is also jealous of. Penny often takes Sheldon's side due to her sibling feelings for him.
In "The Line Substitution Solution", Penny attempts to bond with Leonard's mother, Beverly, only to discover that she, like everyone else, feels insulted about their spur-of-the-moment elopement. So, to make up for it, Penny suggests another ceremony so everyone can be involved. Later that night in "The Convergence Convergence", she tells Leonard about the idea, he agrees, and it's official.
In "The Conjugal Conjecture"; the actual ceremony is officiated by Bernadette. Penny tells him how much she loves him and how glad they did elope. Leonard just tells her how much he loves her and that he can't believe she is with him. Also that he doesn't care if he knows why.
In "The Cohabitation Experimentation", Sheldon and Amy move into Penny's apartment for a five-week cohabitation experiment after Amy's apartment suffers a plumbing problem. The Hofstadter's are so excited about finally having a place of their own that they put on music (which Sheldon would never let them do) and have a private dance party in their underwear.
In "The Fetal Kick Catalyst", Penny is signing autographs for fans of the Serial Ape-ist movies where the fans think that she is a terrible actress and can't believe that the nerd Leonard is her husband. The fans sit around Leonard as he tells his story how he won the hot actress.
In "The Veracity Elasticity", Leonard learns from Howard that Penny has secretly been moving his collectables into storage. Although he's mad that she doesn't feel guilty about it, he does understand that she really hasn't been feeling comfortable like she belongs there. He allows her to redecorate their room any way she wants it. Upon seeing Penny's new design for the bedroom, he immediately hides some of her stuff in her old closet.
In "The Birthday Synchronicity", Bernadette has a false alarm trip to the hospital before she has her baby interrupting both Lenny and Shamy who are trying to have sex.
In "The Holiday Summation", the Hofstadter's cheerily head off to cut their first live Christmas tree and have a horrible experience. Leonard lets go of the axe sending it flying, the tree slips of the car roof while driving it home, Leonard collapses under the tree while carrying it up The Stairs and after getting it into the apartment, they find an animal lurking in the tree. It ends up being shoved down The Elevator shaft.
In ”The Romance Recalibration”, Penny feels that Leonard is no longer trying in their marriage; specifically he sits around in his underwear playing video games and never brings her flowers. Leonard thinks that he is the only one in their marriage that has ever worked at it. Leonard follows Penny to the spa that she took Amy instead of Leonard and they decide that they do have some challenges in their marriage. Reluctantly, both ask Sheldon to prepare them a Relationship Agreement like his and Amy's especially since he and Amy appear to be so happy living together.
In "The Emotion Detection Automation", Leonard and Penny have an argument over Randall coming to Pasadena, an argument where Leonard's friendly, reasonable and thinking-carefully personality goes the other way around.
In "The Escape Hatch Identification", Beverly thinks Leonard and Penny are trying to keep their "terrible" marriage intact since they took Raj in for a while and also asked Randall to live with them, which is not true since Leonard and Penny are okay in their marriage and are not looking for roommates, but are instead being generous to let someone they know quite well to live with them until they can get a house of their own.
In "The Cognition Regeneration" Leonard demonstrates some uncertainty when Penny is tentatively offered a job with her old boyfriend, Zack Johnson. The worry turns out to be moot when she isn't officially offered the job, because Zack's fiancée objected to him working with his old girlfriend.
In "The Proposal Proposal", Bernadette suggests that Leonard and Penny should have a baby in order to try and calm Howard and Bernadette's worries about having another baby so soon, but Leonard and Penny say that they're not gonna have a baby just to make Howard and Bernadette feel better, but when they are ready or when Leonard is certain Penny is going to leave him.
In "The Bitcoin Entanglement" (S11E09), Leonard and Penny visit Zack to reclaim Leonard's old laptop that Penny had given him years ago. Zack also shows them an old video a drunk Penny made after she broke up with Leonard seven years before. She did love him but was scared of a permanent commitment.
In "The Conjugal Configuration", Larry Fowler is hiding out in Sheldon and Amy's apartment. Mrs Fowler comes over demanding that her husband return. He decided to take a break from their marriage. His wife comes over to talk things over with Penny and decides that she is a good person and they should become friends. Penny marches over to 4B and demands that Larry goes home. Penny gets mad at Leonard when he compares their relationship to the bickering Fowlers however they eventually reconcile and share a hug.
In "The Procreation Calculation", Penny declares that she doesn't want to have children because their life is so great as it is. Leonard then declares that that is one thing on his bucket list that he'll never do like when he wanted to own a batmobile. In the end, Penny does rent him a batmobile for the day.
In "The Imitation Perturbation", Leonard reminds Penny of their first kiss on the couch during her Halloween party as they host one for the gang. Penny can't remember it until she admits that she does, but she was drunk and mad at Kurt. She would rather remember their first official kiss like the one at Leonard's birthday party where she gave it freely. Leonard agrees that that will be their first official kiss.
In "The Grant Allocation Derivation", he has to distribute some excess grant money which he takes very seriously. Penny finds that very sexy until Leonard can't decide between the last three.
In "The Propagation Proposition", Zack and his new wife Marissa want to have a baby, but Zack is infertile. They decide to ask Leonard to help them out since he thinks he's nice and smart. Leonard said yes and wanted to help them out. Penny was against it and then said that he could do it since she had decided to not have any children. Leonard at first was willing to help them out until he decided he didn't want a child in the world that he and Penny weren't going to raise.
In "The Stockholm Syndrome", Leonard and Penny are keeping a secret that she is expecting. When Penny returned from drinking with Sheldon at The Cheesecake Factory, they hopped into bed without "wrapping" something. Penny seems happy, but is unsure about the whole baby thing. Sheldon and Amy pay for their clothes, ticket and hotels so they can all attend the Nobel Prize ceremony. When Amy and Penny were at the tailor's, Amy was ecstatic when Penny's dress had to be let out, she didn't care why which meant the secret was still safe at the time. Sheldon notices that Penny was quite sick on the plane, so the secret comes out and he is glad he won't get sick. Leonard is mad that Sheldon doesn't congratulate them and the Hofstadter's say they are heading home. Penny is very sick and claims that she has to be there for Amy, with Leonard doing the same for Sheldon. At the ceremony, Sheldon puts aside his self-centered speech and realizes that his achievement isn't just his, but also his family and friends who encouraged him and tolerated him. Sheldon introduces his friends to the world and tells him how much he loves them.
====Zack Johnson====
Zack is a dim-witted guy who is the Vice President of the family company that designs the Cheesecake Factory's menus (as well as other restaurant's menus) which is how he met Penny. In "The Lunar Excitation" (S03E23), he goes on a date with Penny who, allegedly due to having dated Leonard, finds his stupidity insufferable and winds up having a drunken sexual encounter with Leonard on the same night. 
Penny gets back together with Zack again in "The Justice League Recombination" (S04E11), later admitting to Leonard that she only did so in order not to be alone on New Year's Eve. In this episode Zack attempts to befriend Leonard, Sheldon, Raj and Howard. He dresses up as Superman for Stuart's New Year's party, helping them complete their Justice League theme and win the contest for best group costume. He and Penny apparently broke up again sometime afterwards.
In "The Thanksgiving Decoupling" (S07E09), Penny mentions the fake wedding ceremony she and Zack went through on a Thanksgiving trip to Las Vegas three years ago. Leonard explains that those wedding chapels are real and that Penny is legally married to Zack, who also thought the ceremonies were fake. Penny realizes that she is married and is Mrs. Zack Johnson. While dinner is being prepared, Penny has annulment papers downloaded, fills them out and calls Zack over to sign them. Dense as ever, Zack wonders if he should do it to their kids. Penny reminds him that they have no children and he asks if she's sure about that, since she didn't even know she was really married to him. He signs it and they all sit down to a Thanksgiving dinner.
In "The Cooper Extraction" (S07E11), Leonard makes up a story about what if Penny would have ended up with Zack. Leonard imagines that Zack would use the money for rent to buy magic beans, and then Zack and Penny would both pee in their pants.
In Zack's recent appearance "The Fermentation Bifurcation" (S09E22), he admitted that he's always liked Leonard and Penny together, especially after seeing that they got married. Zack also expresses his interest in science, and becomes slightly wiser than the others when he points out how the military could get their hands on the project that Leonard, Sheldon, and Howard are working on, as well as quickly deducing Raj's infidelity.
In "The Bitcoin Entanglement" (S11E09), Leonard and Penny visit him to reclaim Leonard's old laptop that Penny had given him years ago. Zack also shows them an old video a drunk Penny made after she broke up with Leonard seven years before. She did love him, but was scared of a permanent commitment.
In "The Propagation Proposition", Zack and his new wife Marissa want to have a baby, but Zack is infertile. They decide to ask Leonard to help them out since he thinks he's nice and smart. Leonard said yes and wanted to help them out. Leonard at first was willing to help them out until he decided he didn't want a child in the world that he and Penny weren't going to raise.
==Quotes==
"Hi (Hi, Hi) (Hi, Hi)...Hi?"
[Meeting Sheldon and Leonard for the first time]
"Amy's right...I do want to fling my poo at her."
[To herself after seeing Priya]
"Sheldon, you forgot something...this plasma grenade. (Explosion) Look, it's raining you!¨
[Teasing Sheldon after beating him in Halo]
"Okay, sweetie...I know you think you're explaining yourself, but you're really not."
[To Sheldon when she can't understand Sheldon]
"Who's Radiohead?"
[Challenging Sheldon at his knowledge]
"Not since I found out that the teddy bear you gave me had a webcam in it."
[To Howard when he tricks her at the door]
"When I go, I usually just get hammered and ride the cable cars."
[Talking about San Francisco]
"Come on, Sheldon, you can't leave. Don't you need to stay here so the mother-ship can find you when it returns?"
[To Sheldon when he tries to relocate.]
"Okay, Leonard, I know I said I could handle your roommate, but I was wrong, we're going to have to break up."
[To Leonard when Sheldon wakes them up at night]
"Just move your scooter before I pick it up and throw it in the dumpster!"
[To Howard after he makes a dirty joke to her]
"Soft Kitty, warm Kitty. Little ball of fur. Happy kitty, sleepy kitty. Purr, Purr, Purr."
[To Sheldon whenever he's sick]
"She agreed to go out with for free, what more do you want?"
[To Howard about Bernadette]
"Sheldon tried to take the ring and I punched him."
[After giving Sheldon a whopper in the nose]
"Bark once if you want me to call PETA."
[to Cinnamon]
"They're gonna get beat up at Walgreen's."
[About Howard and Raj going Goth]
"Do or do not, there is no try."
[Quoting Yoda after intercourse]
"It's just rum. It stopped being eggnog about a half hour ago"
[To Leonard at Christmas]
"Actually, that's not true, Leonard. Recently I've been thinking that given the parameters of your experiment, the transport of electrons through the aperture of the Nano fabric metal rings is qualitatively no different from the experiment already conducted in the Netherlands...observed phase shift in the diffusing electrons inside the metal ring already conclusively demonstrated the electron analog of the Aharonov-Bohm quantitative interference effect...That's it, that's all I know. Oh, wait! Fig Newton's were named after a small town in Massachusetts not the scientist!"
[Penny unknowingly insulting Leonard's work]
"Yeah, you can't sit there... oh no, you see in the winter it's close enough to the radiator so that he's warm, but not so close that he sweats. In the summer, it's directly in the path of a cross breeze created by open windows there and there. It faces the television at an angle where it isn't direct so he can still talk to everybody, but not so wide that the picture looks distorted."
[Explaining to Bernadette why she can't sit in Sheldon's spot]
"What's up, buttercup?
What's the word, hummingbird?
What's the gist, Physicist?"
[Greeting Sheldon at the door]
"Leonard, look. Sheldon's hugging me!"
[To Leonard as she and Sheldon embrace]
"Hey, guys, what'cha doing? Going out to discover electricity?"
[To the guys with their kites]
"Who do we love?!"
[As Sheldon knocks on her door]
"I got my geek on, boys!"
[To the guys]
"Out of coffee, need coffee."
[Coming over for coffee]
"I smell Chinese food."
[Using smell to find food]
"What up, Moon Pie?"
[Teasing Sheldon over the phone]
"Leonard...will you be my Valentine?"
[After she agrees that she will propose to Leonard]
"Your mom still here? - Come on in."
[To Leonard when asking for alcohol]
"Mrs. Cooper, hey, it's Penny. Yeah, I think I broke your son."
[To Mrs. Cooper after she gets Sheldon]
"Oh, this isn't alcohol. This is a magic potion that makes me like you."
[To Sheldon about playing D&D]
"I drink my potion."
[To everyone as they prepare to battle imaginary ogres]
"I'm happy Leonard's found someone... not that anyone asked".
[To the guys about Leonard dating Priya]
"Awww, he's got the same look my little nephew gets when he can't figure out how I got his nose."
[Teasing Sheldon about why he can't figure out the magic trick]
"Sweetie, I understand you have scars that non-professional can heal."
[To Sheldon]
"Well then, good news! Today's the day a girl's finally going to touch you in your little special place." [Before kicking the hacker in the groin]
"Yeah, My mom gave me the same lecture about my virginity." [To Leonard about opening the toys she bought]
"All right, Howard Wolowitz, listen up! You sign anything she puts in front of you. Because you are the luckiest man alive if you let her go there is NO way you can find anyone else. Speaking on behalf of all women, it's not going to happen - we had a meeting." [To Howard about the pre-nup]
"Oh, a couple of virgin Cuba Libres who turned out to be a little slutty... Hey you do your experiments, I do mine." [To Leonard about tricking Sheldon into getting drunk]
"Yeah, well, your Ken can kiss my Barbie." [To Sheldon about Laundry Night]
"Sheldon, that's not what girlfriends are for. Although you don't use them for what they're for, so what do I know?" [To Sheldon about relationships]
"So that means, you're a doctor, you're a doctor, you're a doctor, you're a doctor and ... Howard you know a lot of doctors." [Teasing Howard about not having a doctorate]
"No, no, no, no, I didn't forget. Um, there's this cat in a box and until you open it, it's either dead or alive or both. Although, back in Nebraska, our cat got stuck in my brother's camp trunk, and we did not need to open it to know there was all kinds of dead cat in there." (To Sheldon about Schrödinger's Cat)
"Happy Valentine's Day." [To Sheldon about getting sick]
"Apparently, the one fella tried to adjust the thermostat, then the other fella went bat-crap crazy." [Sarcastically describing Leonard and Sheldon's fight]
"You wanna turn yourself into some sort of robot?... Okay, here's my question: Didn't you already do that?" [To Sheldon about living longer]
"Holy crap on a cracker!" [Shuddering over Sheldon and Ramona]
"Aw, honey, the buses don't go where you live, do they?" [To Sheldon about touching his onion rings]
"And what kind of doctor removes shoes from asses?" [Sarcastically threatening Sheldon about being in her apartment]
"What up, Shel-bot?" [To Sheldon's computer monitor]
"What's up, buttercup?"
"What's the word, hummingbird?"
"What's the jist, physicist?"
"What? Attacked you? I said 'Do you wanna?'!" [To Leonard when they talked about the night she went drinking with Sheldon two months ago.]
"Well, I can't get more pregnant." [To Leonard when he suggested they have sex]
==Trivia==
*Penny was 21 years old at the beginning of the show, which means she is the youngest of the gang. Penny is a Sagittarius, meaning she was born between November 22 and December 21. In "The Prestidigitation Approximation", Howard does a fake magic card trick in which the sum of the digits of one's birth date, excluding the year, are used to get the number of the card to be selected. Penny turns over the fifth card, making her birthday in the span of the Sagittarius one of four possibilities: November 30, December 2, December 11, or December 20. If Penny's birthday is November 30th (1+1+3+0=5), it would match the birthday of Kaley Cuoco (Saturday, November 30, 1985) exactly. The only possible birth date of Penny would be Monday, December 2, 1985, if one alternatively interprets the rules of Howard's card trick as requiring one to turn over the card corresponding to the sum of the digits of the month and adding the day. In "The Platonic Permutation" Leonard confirms that Penny's birthday is December 2. Though David Underhill refers to Penny as a "gorgeous 22-year-old" in "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis" (air-date December 15, 2008), he could have simply estimated her age, as it certainly appears to be close to Christmas and the episodic events probably span days rather than weeks (if one were to ignore the hypothesis that the air date is reality in the show).
*Penny has been seen naked by three of the boys, Leonard, Sheldon and Raj in the series. Howard is the only person who never sees her naked.
**Leonard had coitus with her multiple times in season 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. (Only one time in season 5). Leonard eventually became the only one to see Penny naked due to marrying her.
**Sheldon peeked at her while trying to help her get dressed due to her injured shoulder in "The Adhesive Duck Deficiency".
**Raj and Penny got undressed and had a one-night stand in "The Roommate Transmogrification" (though it was revealed in the episode after that they never had intercourse at all).
*In "The Robotic Manipulation", Sheldon calculates that Penny dated an estimate of 193 (±8) men and had relations with approximately 31 of them.
*Penny grew up on a farm and rebuilt an entire tractor engine all by herself at the age of twelve.
*Penny was a junior rodeo champion.
*The previous occupant of Penny's apartment was a 200-pound transvestite named Louie with a skin condition, who worked as a police officer, according to Sheldon. He is seen during a flashback in "The Staircase Implementation", where he refers to Sheldon as 'crazy'.
*Penny is the only member of the main set of characters whose last nor middle name was never spoken or revealed, even though Bill Prady claimed it eventually would be.
*In "Pilot," Penny claims to be a vegetarian, but will eat fish and the occasional steak.
*Penny often smells like either vanilla (because she wears the oil) or cheesecake (because she works at The Cheesecake Factory). Sheldon has also stated in "The Decoupling Fluctuation" that she uses green, apple-scented shampoo, insisting that she switch back to that from coconut.
*Penny's acquaintance Christy could be a reference to Kaley Cuoco's time on Charmed. Penny was also the name of the witches' grandmother. The reference may also apply to Penny's father's name, Wyatt.
**Her beliefs in psychics, ghosts, astrology, voodoo, and other 'superstitions' (but not healing crystals) may be also be a reference to Kaley Cuoco's time on Charmed.
*Penny is very similar to Paige Michalchuk from Degrassi.
** Both were the most popular girls in high school, they're Caucasian blondes, their personalities are similar, and they have a tendency to refer to people by a given nickname (Penny calls people "sweetie" while Paige calls people "hon").
**Furthermore, Penny occasionally shows hints of bisexuality, while Paige is confirmed to be bisexual.
*Penny eats Chinese food with a fork and double-dips her egg rolls (unappealing attributes, according to Sheldon).
*In "The Staircase Implementation", it is revealed that Penny was almost a teenage mother.
*Penny is often kindhearted and shows empathy toward others, but can become quite fierce when provoked.
*Penny is very protective and supportive of Leonard and encourages him to stand up for himself.
* When under pain medication, Penny exhibits some of Sheldon's behaviors.
*Penny has an amazing sense of smell.
*Penny believes in psychics, ghosts, astrology, voodoo and other 'superstitions', but not healing crystals.
*Penny went to community college but dropped out for unspecified reasons. She goes back near the beginning of the sixth season, taking one history course. By the middle of the season, she is also taking an acting class and at the beginning of season 7, she is taking a psychology class as well.
*Every member of the gang (except Stuart) have seen Penny with black eye(s).
**All of the guys first saw her with a black eye in "The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition" (S02E19)
**Amy and Bernadette first saw Penny with two black eyes in "The Parking Spot Escalation" (S06E09).
*A running gag of the show involves Sheldon knocking on Penny's door and saying her name after every three knocks. He repeats this statement thrice or until she answers the door.
** This stemmed from Sheldon catching his father having an affair as revealed in "The Hot Tub Contamination".
*Penny often resorts to freeloading. When Sheldon's mom pointed out her disapproval of a top (shirt) belonging to Penny, she said that she had received free drinks by wearing that top. It is also known that, while she was dating Leonard, she never paid for her movie tickets. She also gets free meals from hanging with the guys since her portions were always paid by Leonard; she said they were loans, but she knew Leonard would not ask her to pay it back. She also gets free internet by using Sheldon and Leonard's wi-fi—leading Sheldon to regularly change the password to ones which accuse her of freeloading.
* She turned down Sheldon's offer for a date (although Sheldon only asked her to make Amy jealous) as Penny was the only other woman that Sheldon knew well.
*Penny was a bully in high school, making fun of a girl with a stutter and taping another girl up and leaving her out in a corn field until the next morning; she (along with the entire Zangen staff) would later become subjected to Bernadette's bullying ways. Being friends with Bernadette and Amy was her redemption for her mean girl ways. Even marrying Leonard was also part of her redemption. She even apologized to the girl she bullied in high school. It's never confirmed if the girl (now woman) accepted it on the phone.
*Penny is remarkably adept at games in general, excelling at Halo, Age of Conan, and chess, checkmating Leonard on her first try (though the latter may have been because, as Sheldon has pointed out, Leonard is terrible at chess).
*Penny owns a red 1980s Volkswagen Cabriolet Mk1 convertible car. Featured in several episodes, the car appears to be in a bad condition, which is not helped by Penny, who pays no heed to the warning lights of the car. While sitting in her car, Sheldon will continuously remind her that the 'check engine' warning light is on, an action that irritates Penny tremendously. Penny starts as a very bad driver: in "The Guitarist Amplification", a point of argument between Penny and Leonard is when Penny finds out that Leonard complains about her driving behind her back. Later in the episode, she runs a stop sign without even noticing it, and then, when Leonard mentions it, she looks back to find it and Leonard, panicking, shouts "EYES ON THE ROAD, EYES ON THE ROAD!" She had gotten a car from Leonard in "The Friendship Turbulence" when her car broke down and she could not afford to fix it.
* When Penny is shocked, she bats her eyelashes several times while considering a reaction.
* Over the course of the series, Penny has exhibited traits of alcoholism. She is often seen drinking wine or other harder beverages while in her apartment, both alone and in the presence of her friends. She often seems to use wine as a means to deal with her issues. She will many times use this method on her friends as well to help them deal with their problems, most notably when she realized alcoholic drinks are able to help Raj overcome his selective mutism, or to help Sheldon overcome his stage fright.
*She often says "OMG" or "Oh My God" when shocked, to the annoyance of Sheldon.
*Despite Amy's admiration for Penny, she does realize her limitations in her intelligence and her acting career.
*In "The Scavenger Vortex", no one wanted Penny on their team because she was a "liability".
*Penny thinks that the wedding chapels in Las Vegas perform fake weddings.
*Penny was unknowingly married to Zack Johnson, as a result of her not believing in Las Vegas weddings being real as mentioned above.
*In "The Adhesive Duck Deficiency", when Sheldon was dressing her, due to her dislocated shoulder, he had to put her hurt arm into the sleeve. He grabbed what he thought was her arm, but was actually her breast.
*It was discovered by Sheldon that Penny has a Chinese character tattooed on her right butt cheek. She believes it to signify "courage", but Sheldon reads it as "soup".
*Though Wyatt (Penny's father) has been featured in the show, "The Maternal Capacitance" references the name of Penny's father to be called "Bob".
*So far Penny has been the only person in The Social Group to witness a Shamy kiss onscreen until Shamy's wedding.
*In the count of the number of proposals to each other, Penny has three, Leonard has three through the time they got engaged.
* She is called "Blondie" by Leslie Winkle.
*It was rumored that Lisa Kudrow would be cast as Penny's mother, but this was disproved when CBS announced in July 2016 that Katey Sagal was cast as her mother, Susan and appeared in the Season 10 premiere. Cuoco Is a real life fan of Kudrow.
*Penny makes what she thinks is a smart decision and tells Leonard that they could get married. Penny also proposes for them to elope to Vegas when they can't get around to setting a wedding date.
*By the end of the eighth season, Howard is the only guy who hasn't seen Penny naked, though he saw her topless when viewing her movie "Serial Ape-ist".
*Leonard had prepared vows for their wedding ceremony; however, Penny winged it with "You've Got a Friend in Me".
*Penny owned a pet pig called Moondance which lived happily on the farm in Nebraska until Wyatt drove a tractor and rotivator over it.
*Penny was one of the gang that married Howard and Bernadette, while Bernadette married Leonard and Penny at their wedding redo ceremony.
*Bernadette, Raj, Leonard, Penny and Amy are the only characters of the social group/main cast whose parents have both been seen on-camera - Sheldon's father died when Sheldon was a child, Howard's father abandoned him and his mother when Howard was eleven, Stuart's mother and father have been mentioned and are both alive, Emily's father has been mentioned and it is not known if he is dead or alive and there has been no appearance or mention of Emily's mother or Leslie's mother and father to date.
*According to a July 2016 article posted on the TBBT Facebook page, we would meet Penny's mother and brother in the Season 10 premiere. Her mother, Susan, was played by actress Katey Sagal (who played Kaley Cuoco's mother on 8 Simple Rules), while her brother, Randall, is played by actor Jack McBrayer (30 Rock). According to the article, Susan is "stressed out and neurotic from a life dealing with her troubled—yet cheerful—son," who, as has been mentioned numerous times, is a drug dealer and ex-con.
*There has been no mention or showing of Penny's college education since "The Relationship Diremption". It's also unclear if she ever finished at all after re-enrolling in Season 6.
*In "The Platonic Permutation", Leonard read Penny's journal and revealed everything in it that he learned about her:
**Penny's birthday is December 2.
** When Penny was growing up she had a dog named Pepper.
**The street that Penny's family house and farm was on was Perkins Street.
**The last four digits of Penny's Social Security Number are 7, 6, 2, 1.
**Penny's favorite Spice Girl was Baby Spice.
**Penny's favorite *NSYNC band member was Justin.
**Penny did not have a favorite member of the Backstreet Boys because "NSYNC forever!"
*Sheldon is afraid to wake her before 11 a.m. because Penny has an "I'll punch you in the throat" rule if he does this.
*Penny is right-handed.
*Penny is a vegetarian, except for fish and the occasional steak, and she loves steak.
*Penny loves the series "Sex and the City".
*Penny is the only one of the original five main characters of the show to be absent in two episodes due to a real broken leg and low screen time in at least 1 episode.
*She has a tattoo of Cookie Monster.
*In "The Procreation Calculation", Penny decided not to have kids and Leonard is upset at first, but respect her wishes. They both decide to be the cool uncle and aunt to Howard and Bernadette kids, Sheldon and Amy's kids, Penny's nephew and Leonard's nephews and nieces. 
**By the series finale, Penny ends up pregnant with Leonard's child.
** They each have one brother and one sister.
** They are the second born child in their respective families.
**They had issues with the opposite-gender parent while growing up.
**Their careers are in some ways similar. While Leonard is a smart, brilliant and successful scientist and physicist and well-educated and accomplished academic, his work in experimental physics somehow appears to mirror Penny's average education status and her pharmaceutical sales career in which she has often had to flirt with doctors to make sales. This makes it similar due to Leonard's work being sometimes derivative and his friends having more accomplishments, as well as him being the least successful of his family.
*Leonard and Penny love each other and even though they say they have nothing in common, both do get into the interests of the other whether it is their careers or their hobbies.
==References==
==Gallery==
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