‘Anatomy’ of careerbuilding show,
Get a gig on Grey’s Anatomy, and you’re likely to be in pretty good shape. At least that’s how it’s gone for many Grey’s grads.
“It gave me my career,” says Eric Dane, who found fame as Dr. Mark “McSteamy” Sloan on the show. “It definitely gave me a big start.” It also enabled him to trade in his lab coat and towel (a sexy, shirtless, post-shower scene in a fall 2006 episode was the buzz of TV) for a new uniform. Now he’s starring on TNT’s
The Last Ship, premiering Sunday (9 ET/PT), as the captain of a boat in search of a cure for a virus that’s wiping out the world.
His Grey’s sweetheart, Dr. Lexie Grey — actress Chyler Leigh — has also moved on. She says the five seasons she spent on Grey’s gave her career a big boost. “It was my first series (that went) past 13 episodes.”
Being on a series that lasted allowed her to “see a character progress from start to finish,” she says. “I grew up a lot with her.”
Leigh identified so much with Dr. Grey that when the job ended, she immediately chopped off her shoulder-length hair for a pixie cut. “It was my own symbolic moving forward and trying something I wanted to try forever. Now I had time to explore.” That led to her role on NBC’s
Taxi Brooklyn, due Wednesday (10 ET/PT), as a tough-talking cop with a troubled past. “I’ve never played anything like this. I’ve always been that quirky, smart, witty kind of character.”
Granted, there are exceptions to the rosy-future path. Isaiah Washington’s career was nearly destroyed after he used a homophobic slur in 2007 during an argument with T.R. Knight, who later quit the show just as he was deciding to come out as gay. And Katherine Heigl bailed in 2010 to start a movie career. Their exits were rocky, and their post
Grey’s careers have been, too, though Heigl, Washington and Kate Walsh are in new shows this year.
But Sandra Oh, who wrapped up a 10-year stint in May, was given a sweet sendoff as her Dr. Cristina Yang checked out of Seattle Grace for a job overseas.
Their exits all seem to prove one thing: The doctors may come and go, but it’s ABC’s intention to keep Grey’s for years to come. No doubt launching more careers.