Cast of Grey's Anatomy
From LoveToKnow Soap-Operas
The cast of Grey’s Anatomy is very diverse. The show's producers use ‘blind-casting’ – a method that does not pre-specify what a character "looks like" when casting the role.
Meet the Cast of Grey’s Anatomy
The Grey’s Anatomy cast is led by Ellen Pompeo in the title role of Meredith Grey. The show focuses on Seattle Grace Hospital in Seattle, Washington. Most of the main characters are surgeons or are studying to become surgeons.
The Residents
Ellen Pompeo
The role of Meredith Grey is Pompeo’s first major acting role. As Meredith often narrates the opening and closing moments of each episode, her character’s ‘dark’ places drive the storylines. Her character is immediately attached to Patrick Dempsey’s Dr. Derek Shepherd. Pompeo enjoyed some guest roles on Friends and Law and Order previous to her role as Dr. Grey.
Sandra Oh
Christina Yang is the overachiever portrayed by Sandra Oh. The actress got her start in Canadian television and film before transplanting across the border to the U.S. She gained critical acclaim for her role on Arli$$. Oh appeared as a frequent guest star on the television show Popular as well as Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Judging Amy, American Dragon: Jake Long and Six Feet Under.
Katherine Heigl
Former model turned surgeon Izzie Stevens captured hearts when she fell in love with doomed patient Denny. Katherine Heigl possesses a highly photographed face. She starred in the 1995 Steven Seagal vehicle Under Siege 2: Dark Territory as Casey Rybeck’s niece. Heigl enjoyed her first regular television role when she was cast as Isabel Evans on the science fiction show Roswell.
Heigl won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2007 and withdrew her name from consideration in 2008 stating she didn’t believe her work in that season was Emmy-worthy. Her comments preceded a storm of speculation that Heigl was leaving Grey’s Anatomy. Heigl starred in the feature films 27 Dresses and Knocked Up during the 2007-2008 television season.
Justin Chambers
Prior to his casting as the acerbic, womanizing Alex Karev on Grey’s, Chambers playfully romanced Jennifer Lopez in The Wedding Planner. Chambers worked as a model for Calvin Klein. He appeared on the now-defunct Another World and initially scored a lead role on the procedural Cold Case, but left after only three episodes.
Alex Karev is rough and hard on his "friends" and enjoys "scoring" with multiple female characters. However, his rough exterior protects an internal vulnerability. During the show’s fourth season, his storyline with the amnesiac ferry victim drew rave reviews.
T.R. Knight
Knight plays George O’Malley, the shy, but lovable intern who’s nursed many bad relationships during his run on Grey’s. Prior to his casting as O’Malley, Knight enjoyed guest-starring roles on Law & Order, Sesame Street and CSI. Knight possesses a long list of credits on Broadway, off-Broadway and in the theater. His sexuality was the center of controversy that stormed the show’s behind-the-scenes and led to his "coming out" officially.
Off-screen, Heigl and Knight are very close friends. During the season’s closing moments of the third season, viewers learned that O’Malley failed his intern exam, but in the opening episodes of the 5th season he was able to retake it having only failed the initial exam by one point. Knight won a Screen Actors Guild award for his role as George O’Malley.
Chandra Wilson
Wilson has earned critical acclaim and multiple nominations and awards for her portrayal of Miranda Bailey. Bailey trained the five initial interns and delivered her lines with powerful sassiness. Despite her guest-starring credits on Law & Order, Sex and the City and other shows.
Wilson worked in a bank when she auditioned for the role of Bailey. Constantly charming the viewers, Wilson’s Bailey is the moral center and heart of the hospital. In Season four, Bailey earned a promotion to Chief Resident, an honor her character and actor richly deserved.
Sara Ramirez
Born in Mexico, Ramirez burst onto the scene of Grey’s as an orthapeadic surgeon living in a portion of the hospital. Her whirlwind romance and marriage to George would be cannon balled by his affair with best friend Izzie. Ramirez earned her own share of fans and in the closing moments of fourth season, she shared a kiss with Brooke Smith’s Erica Hahn. Prior to her role on Grey’s, Ramirez earned a Tony Award for her role in Monty Python’s Spamalot!
The Attendings
Patrick Dempsey
Dempsey played many feature film roles in the late 80s and early 90s in films such as Can’t Buy Me Love, Loverboy, Mobsters and later in the films Sweet Home Alabama and Scream 3. In the mid-90s, he played Sela Ward’s unstable brother on the show Once and Again. His casting as Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd catapulted him back to the A-list. His romance with Meredith, marriage to Addison and friendship with Mark Sloan are all lead stories on the show. In 2007, he starred in the Disney film Enchanted and in 2008, he played the lead role in the romantic comedy Made of Honor.
Kate Walsh
Walsh made a splash in the final episode of the series’ freshman season when she debuted as Dr. Addison Montgomery Shepherd, Derek’s estranged wife. Her arrival detonated the budding relationship between Meredith and Derek. She quickly won her own following as the smart and savvy surgeon who nearly destroyed her own marriage with an affair and came to Seattle to fight for her marriage. Walsh left Grey’s after the 3rd season when her character granted Derek a divorce and she moved to Los Angeles where she now stars on the Grey’s spinoff Private Practice.
Isaiah Washington Washington won critical acclaim with his portrayal of Dr. Preston Burke. His role lent a needed air of gravitas to the medical drama. In 2006, an on-set altercation between Dempsey and Washington drew national media attention. The controversy involved Washington calling fellow actor Knight a faggot. During the 2007 Golden Globes, the incident came up again as Washington denied the allegation publically.
His co-star Heigl defended Knight and criticized Washington. At the end of the third season, Washington’s contract was not renewed for season 4 and Burke was written out of the show, forever sundering the Christina-Burke relationship. Washington would later appear in the short-lived Bionic Woman re-make on NBC.
Brooke Smith
Smith guest-starred on Grey’s Anatomy in the second season as a rival cardio-specialist and foil for Washington’s Preston Burke. She joined the cast full-time in Season 4 as the head of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. Smith’s acerbic Hahn added a needed injection of professionalism to the show with Burke’s absence. At the end of season four, she shared a kiss with Callie Torres and created Internet buzz and speculation about the possible love story in the offing.
Eric Dane Dane played multiple roles on shows such as Saved by the Bell, The Wonder Years, Married with Children and Roseanne. He appeared in the feature film X-Men: The Last Stand. He made guest appearances on Grey’s during the second season and became a regular during the third season as plastic surgeon Dr. Mark “McSteamy” Sloan. His affair with Addison ruptured his friendship with Derek.
The Chief
James Pickens. Jr Pickens began his television career on the daytime soap Another World where he played Zack Edwards from 1986 to 1990. He appeared in guest roles on The West Wing, Beverly Hills, 90210 and many other shows. An original cast member, he plays the Chief of Surgery and shares a romantic past with Dr. Ellis Grey, Meredith’s difficult mother. His wife Adele leaves him during the course of the series because he is a workaholic.
Future Breakout Stars
Chyler Leigh joined the cast of Grey's Anatomy in the fourth season as Dr. Lexie Grey, a new intern assigned to Dr. Yang. Lexie is Meredith’s half-sister and she is eager to impress and form a relationship with the older Grey.
Learn More
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