Born March 24: Jim Parsons

How to make the world fall in love with a geek genius of theoretical physics researching quantum mechanics and string theory whose IQ is 187 and whose social skills are nil? Hire the peerless Jim Parsons. In seven seasons of playing Dr. Sheldon Cooper, the gay Houstonite has been nominated for a SAG award, a Teen Choice award, three Critics' Choice awards, three Satellite awards, three TCA awards, four Golden Globes, four People's Choice Awards, and Five Emmys -- winning a TCA, a Critics' Choice, a Golden Globe, and three Emmys for best actor in a comedy series. More popular each season, The Big Bang Theory attracts 20 million viewers for new episodes, and it has overtaken Wheel of Fortune and Judge Judy to become Amercia's #1 ranked show in syndication. All this success doesn't come cheap. Parsons and his costars now make $350,000 per episode (compare to NPH's $210,000 and the adults of Modern Family at $175,000). Earlier this month CBS renewed it for the next three seasons, through 2016-17, and Deadline projects the leads may leap into the stratosphere of $1 million per episode. In January, Parsons and art director Todd Spiewak traded up in Los Feliz from this house to buy the 1.5-acre Robert Pattinson - Kristen Stewart love nest formerly owned by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for $6.4 million. Parsons and Spiewak, who also share this place on Gramercy Park, have been together twelve years. Today he's 41.