Jessica Capshaw Signs on For More Grey’s Anatomy

Jessica Capshaw Signs on For More Grey’s Anatomy
By CelebTV.com Staff
Topics: TV News
Celebrities: Katherine Heigl 1 Comment
Looks like there is finally someone who wants to stick around Seattle Grace hospital.

Grey’s Anatomy has signed on newcomer Jessica Capshaw to a contract, EW.com reports.

Capshaw currently plays pediatrician Arizona Robbins–and the latest lesbian crush for Dr. Callie Torres.

Initially, the former Practice star was only signed on for three episodes, but Capshaw’s return will hopefully silence critics who felt Grey’s was anti-gay when Callie’s first girlfriend, Dr. Hahn, was abruptly dismissed from the show.

Jessica’s contract comes just as rumors that two of the show’s original characters, Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight, are hanging up their scrubs for good.

Jessica Capshaw
Biography
The last name may sound familiar ... her mother is the actress Kate Capshaw. However, she has worked hard on establishing an acting career on her own and not trading on her family name. Instead of delving into the Hollywood acting trade after high school, she attended Brown University, studying theater at Brown and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. "It was a choice that I made which was not to say, 'Hollywood, here I come.' You have to really want to do this to do it. No matter who you are." And she continued to work hard, auditioning and winning several roles in film and television over the past five years.
Jessica was born on August 9, 1976 in Columbia, Missouri, the daughter of a teacher and principal of the local high school. Her mother began to do some modeling work in the area, and the family moved to New York to pursue her mother's budding modeling career at the Ford Modeling Agency. Her parents divorced when she was three, and she lived primarily with her mother, ultimately arriving in Los Angeles when her mother's acting career began to take off.
Check out the following articles to learn more about Jessica's life and career
People Weekly TV Guide (1999) Talk US WeeklyParade Magazine TV Guide (2003)
While her mother was getting the acting bug, she also showed interest in the performing arts when she was a young child. As described in her ABC biography for "Odd Man Out", as a little girl she would climb up on her bathroom wash basin and tell herself stories in the mirror. Jessica was also the center-of-attention at Christmas family reunions when she would perform short plays. Her first formal introduction to acting came while she was a student at Harvard-Westlake High School, a private school in western Los Angeles with a well-known performing arts program. She appeared in several stage performances including "The Cherry Orchard", "Tea and Sympathy", and "The Grapes of Wrath". She also got a first hand look at the inner workings of filmmaking when she interned for the Oscar-winning film "Schindler's List" in the summer of 1993. (Kate Capshaw married director Steven Speilberg in 1991.)
After high school Jessica started a rigorous training regimen in her studies of the fine arts and acting. She attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor's degree in English literature. During her four years at Brown, she also studied theater in the university's Theater Arts Program and performed in the plays "Arcadia" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". While at Brown she studied abroad for a semester at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, where she performed the role of Puck in William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
Getting an early start on her acting career, Jessica performed in roles in television and feature films while still attending Brown. Her television debut in the spring of 1996 was a guest role in a highly acclaimed episode of the ABC crime series "High Incident". The 1997 release of "The Locusts" was her feature film debut in which she portrayed a plain small-town girl in 1960's Kansas. She altered her appearance for the role by donning glasses and dying her hair brown. She added to her formal training at this time, studying under the tutelage of the famed New York acting coach Harold Guskin who has also taught such well-known actors as Michael J. Fox, Kevin Kline, Jennifer Connelly, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Seventeen Magazine, May 2002

Vogue, December 1997
After graduating from Brown, she hit the pavement and performed small parts in the films "The Love Letter" (1999) and the romantic comedy "Denial" (1998) and a guest part on the television series "ER" in the spring of 1999. She also had a major role in the small-budget, independent romantic comedy film "Killing Cinderella" which was released in 2000. Her first big break came in the fall of 1999 with a regular role on the ABC comedy series "Odd Man Out". She portrayed Aunt Jordan, a booker at a modeling agency, who was one of five females living in a house with her nephew, the sole male in the house. The series did not get good ratings and only aired for 13 episodes with the last episode airing in January 2000. Despite its short airing, this series brought Jessica important public recognition in a regular series, and she stayed in the public eye with many public appearances.
This led to her most recognized role to date - Dorothy in the 2001 horror film "Valentine". Jessica describes her character, "Dorothy was always the really shy girl and is always battling all these demons. She had a family that wasn’t so caring and she was just kind of different than everyone else. Now she’s grown up to be something quite different, and very much looks like she belongs, but still feels like the little girl that didn’t belong." This was her first lead role performing with a slew of young talent including Denise Richards, David Boreanaz, and Marley Shelton.
What has Jessica been doing since "Valentine"? Check the The Latest News page to get up to date on Jessica's career including her new role on ABC's The Practice.