Spotlight on Jerrika Hinton
The veteran Grey’s Anatomy actress spreads her wings to star in an edgy new show about family bonds
RISKTAKER Few actresses would decide to leave a hit TV show – a Shonda Rhimes series, no less – after just a few seasons, but that’s exactly what Jerrika Hinton (38) did. The actress says she chose to leave Grey’s Anatomy because she wanted to spread her wings, which she’s done with Here and Now, in which she plays the adopted Liberian daughter of a multiracial family alongside veterans Holly Hunter and Tim Robbins. GOODBYE GREY’S She’s appeared in five seasons of Grey’s Anatomy (seasons 9-13) as the feisty Dr Stephanie Edwards and says she was surprised viewers were upset when she left. “My first few years on the show were difficult in terms of interacting with the audience. There were some really nasty responses, particularly when they made my character a love interest.
“It was shocking, and lonely, and painful. To then come through those five seasons and find this outpouring of love . . . that was a surprise. When I left I made two Instagram posts – one for the general fans of the show and general fans of Shondaland, and a separate post specifically for the ones who look like me. I’ve always known the importance of my being on that show and my face being on TV – what that means to people who look like me.” HER HAPPY PLACE She’s fascinated with trees and her Instagram account is peppered with pictures of them. “I’m a free spirit and when something calls to me, I go, ‘Okay, yes!’ I like to go out to the desert – it’s where I find clarity. I had a photoshoot where the photographer had a balcony with this beautiful tree. And I was like, ‘You’re going to tell me no, but I’ve got to do it. I’ve got to climb that tree.’ Everyone was like, ‘Stop! No!’ And I was like, ‘I hear you, and I’ll say they warned me that this is dangerous. But I’ve got to climb this tree!’ I’ve done it since I was a kid.”