Mayim Bialik to write and direct her first feature film

Popular Jewish actress Mayim Bialik will write and direct a feature film based on her own experiences.

The comedy-drama titled “As Sick As They Made Us,” which will deal with mental illness, will be Bialik’s screenwriting and directing debut. The news is first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

The film tells the story of a divorced mother who struggles to help her estranged brother visit their father on his deathbed. His death throws the family into disarray as she finds new love and while dealing with her difficult mother and brother, according to the website.

“Growing up surrounded by mental illness is not something that is easy to write about, nor is it easy to live through,” Bialik told Deadline Hollywood. “The challenges ripple out into the lives of children immersed in these families even as they try to make their own lives apart from the challenges they grew up with. After my father’s passing four and a half years ago, I decided to explore the complexity of mental illness and familial responsibility — especially as it falls on women — as well as to highlight the redemptive nature of a family’s love as they navigate death and continue to live life on their own terms.”

Bialik is best known as Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler from the hit show “The Big Bang Theory,” which concluded in May. She was launched into stardom at the age of 15 as the title character in the television series “Blossom.”

— JTA