Former Pittsburgher plays on The Big Bang Theory. Aarti Mann plays as Priya, sister to Raj, who has now become the girlfriend of Leonard, much to the shock of Leonard’s ex-girlfriend, Penny. Priya plays the central role in the final episodes.

In a phone interview, Ms. Mann hints that Penny and Priya collide, and she has to face the music. She and Leonard also come to an important crossroads. She says the show will end on two cliffhangers, one involving her character but she is not sure if she will feature on the fifth season.

Born in Connecticut, Ms. Mann moved to Pittsburgh as a child. She grew up in Mt. Lebanon and Wexford before her and her family settled in Fox Chapel.

She graduated from Shady Side Academy and specialized on filmmaking. She had never acted before but helped fellow students on film productions while in college. She claims she convinced them to offer her a featured part in front of the camera.

After college, she wrote a script for a Pittsburgh doctor is a filmmaker.

Her brother, Nishad, is a journalist while her sister, Kruti, is a filmmaker and she influenced her to the decision of switching to acting. She later booked for a national commercial for Volvo and other roles came in. She was a guest star on ‘Heroes’ in 2009.

She confesses that someday she might return to the behind-the-camera work which she studied on. Ms. Mann had not watched ‘Big Bang’ before she joined and her acting background isn’t in comedy. Asked how she ended up on the comedy show, she says she don’t know but believe she deserves the role. She featured on ‘Big Bang” as a result of the series regular Kaley Cuoco broke her leg early in the season.

After the first episode, her agent called her informing her that Big Bang wanted her back. She and her husband had just landed from India when she received the call.

As she waits to hear whether she will continue on the series, she hopes to get a dramatic role that involves crying and screaming and turmoil and she is so willing to get back to her acting roots.

She reveals she would love to do the commercials because of how fast. She says they offer the actor the freedom to improve and they are of fewer burdens with a multi-layer character. She also adds that they pay well really.