The Big Bang Theory - Male OC Insert

The Background of Dr. James A. Foster

James Allen Foster was born in Phoenix, Arizona on November 4, 1979 to Keith and Dianne Foster, and has two older siblings: a brother named Malcolm (born 1975); and a sister named Rebecca (born 1978). At the age of 5, James moved with his family to Galveston, Texas after Dianne got a job at a law firm, while Keith found work as a salesman at a Chevrolet dealer. There, James met Sheldon Cooper, his twin sister Missy, their older brother George "Georgie" Cooper Jr., and their parents Mary and George Sr.. Over time the two families grew quite close, with James spending most of his time at the Cooper house, either helping Georgie or Missy with their homework or assisting Sheldon with his various experiments.

James was raised according to his mother's Christian doctrines, but drifted away from the religion as he got older, initially describing himself as a deist and eventually an agnostic. Meanwhile, he was initially forced to engage in baseball by his father, but had to leave the sport due to an eye injury. Nonetheless, he still enjoyed sports and frequently watched football matches with Sheldon's father and older brother.

By the time James' 12th birthday was approaching in the fall of 1991, he had academically excelled on a considerable level in comparison to his secondary school classmates, and was considered "profoundly gifted" by the staff due to his high IQ, thus rendering him eligible to enter college for the following school year. However, James decided to stay in school for an additional year partly due to him developing a crush on Missy, but mainly due to problems in his own family. His parents eventually divorced in early 1993, and his mother was granted custody of all her children. Despite this, James, Malcolm and Rebecca still saw their father once every weekend. By this time, Sheldon had left for East Texas Tech, and was eventually accepted into California Institute of Technology in Pasadena at the age of 14.

Upon leaving high school in 1994, James attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas until graduating summa cum laude two years later. He then began graduate school at Caltech, where he reconnected with Sheldon. He received his Ph.D in 1997 at the age of 17, and he then spent several years on several other dissertations before obtaining his current position. Aside from his Ph.D, James currently holds a Bachelor of Science degree (2001) and a Master of Science degree (2006).

In 2003, James met experimental physicist Leonard Hofstadter, who in turn introduced him to astrophysicist Rajesh Koothrappali and MIT aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz. The four were fast friends. That same year, Leonard met Sheldon, with whom he began sharing an apartment. The five became a group and hung out fairly often.