Metcalf pulling double duty

BEVERLY HILLS — When Laurie Metcalf decided to be an actress, the world lost a terrific secretary. The woman who struck gold as Roseanne’s younger sister on “Rosanne,” and later became Sheldon’s Bible-thumping mom on “The Big Bang Theory,” somehow missed her calling.

“I’d always supported myself by being a secretary. I was a very good secretary all through college, typed 90 words a minute,” she says seated in a meeting room at a hotel here.

“Then for the first few years that we were starting the Steppenwolf Theatre Company we were paying ourselves nothing and charging $3 a ticket, so we all had day jobs. So I was always a secretary … And I loved it. I loved being behind the desk and having your day’s work in front of you. And at the end of the day, you’ve done it, and it’s over in this pile over here,” she pats an imaginary stack of papers.

“There’s something really satisfying about it. There’s a groundedness to it that you don’t get in acting sometimes where you’re at the whim of somebody else — either getting a job or being directed — you’re not in control all the time like you can be behind a desk.”

Metcalf has chosen to be out of control in more ways than one. Not only is she starring in the second season of HBO’s edgy medical comedy, “Getting On,” which returns on Sunday, she’s also starring in the CBS sitcom “The McCarthys.” Couple that with single parenting four kids, and she has her work cut out for her.

It’s been five years since she graced the TV scene because she’s been doing theater, which she admits was her first love. In fact, Metcalf was painfully shy as a kid and began studying German and anthropology and flitting among different majors in college when she met some would-be actors who changed her life.

She joined fellow students John Malkovich, Gary Sinise and Joan Allen in the Steppenwolf Company. “I never would’ve pursued acting as a career had I not done it with a group because I was too shy,” says Metcalf, who’s glamorous today in a draped, black-knit jersey dress.

“I was still shy at that time — I’m not anymore — but I don’t think I could’ve done the rejection on my own. But in a group, that’s how we came up through the ranks as a group, or at least I did. I had that built-in support system and that definitely changed my life.”

Married to fellow actor Jeff Perry (“Scandal”) at the time, she says, “When Jeff and I were together, we were making $100 a week — we could live on that in Chicago — but I’ve always been the breadwinner.” They have a daughter, Zoe, 30, who is also an actress.

Metcalf, 59, is divorced from her second husband, actor Matt Roth, with whom she has three other kids ages, 20, 14, and 9. Laughing at the spread, she says, “I guess I was thinking I had the resources and I had the time, there just should be more kids around … that right there is a testament to how my mental health is.”

Those nine years on “Roseanne” were perfect for an ersatz soccer mom who dabbled in crafts, she says. “Thanks to TV roles, I was able to have a really great family schedule for a lot of years, Monday through Friday, weekends off, summers off. It’s like a teaching job. Wonderful. It’s the best schedule an actor can have if you have a family. There’s no traveling. It’s right here, so it’s perfect. Lots of those years were really easy that way. But then that work dried up, and I wanted to do theater anyway. Then I started this weird business where I was going away three months at a time, and they would come visit back and forth,” she says.

“That was tough at first, but you get used to it. In a way it’s kinda fun because it’s like ‘Mom goes to New York, she’s going to be there three or four months and then you guys are going to come out for a couple times for a few weeks and we’ll do EVERYTHING.’

“So there are perks to it,” she nods. “But it’s hard on everybody. And the guilt is always there. So the first half of the years I’ve had kids was a built-in easy schedule, but the second half has been harder with all the traveling I’ve done.”

Though her timidity was inhibiting at first, she’s overcome her shyness, says Metcalf. “I’d hidden behind (roles) long enough,” she says. “I like to depend on scripted words so doing interviews has always been hard for me because I just like to interpret. I feel that’s my role: I like being the interpreter through to the audience. Being in it for so long has given me a little more confidence.”

She says even serving as the mom’s voice in the “Toy Story” movies has solidified her reputation. “I ended up doing the cream of the crop in some of these projects,” she smiles.

“I feel that way with ‘Getting on.’ That show is lightning in a bottle. I recognize how rare these things are. The quality, it’s not everybody’s cup of tea, it won’t ever be. And then the chemistry of the people involved (is ideal.)”

Though she’s suffered her failures, (she was told 30 minutes before donning her costume, that her Broadway play had been canceled) Metcalf says she never tires of the job. “I still have a passion for it, and I’m very lucky that way because sometimes it burns out,” she snaps her fingers.

“I’ve seen it burn out in friends of mine. They say, ‘I can’t imagine doing theater anymore. It’s too hard.’ But I think that’s the only place I feel energized. And my favorite place to be in the world is in a rehearsal room.”