Kaley Cuoco played the role of Penny in the TV series Big Bang Theory. Kaley Cuoco is an American actress. After a series of supporting film and television roles in the late 1990s, she landed her breakthrough role as Bridget Hennessy on the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules, on which she starred from 2002 to 2005. Thereafter, Cuoco appeared as Billie Jenkins on the final season of the television series Charmed (2005–2006). Since 2007, she has starred as Penny on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, for which she has received Satellite, Critics' Choice, and People's Choice Awards.