Mayim Bialik

Art imitated life for Bialik as she earned a degree in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles before playing Amy Farrah Fowler - a character with the same job - in the hit sitcom 'The Big Bang Theory'.

She said of her studies: "I love understanding the way we think and feel and communicate - and neuroscience is the science of all that.

"I'm using my visibility to encourage girls and young women to take an interest in science and give them a deeper understanding of what they can do in that world."