15 Major Movie Stars Who Appeared On Grey’s Anatomy – TVLine

On the smash hit medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy,” anything can happen. A bomb nestled in someone’s chest cavity? Done that! Doctors dying in a plane crash? Easy. An active shooter, a musical episode, and a ferry crash? We’ve all seen that before. But what about movie stars showing up as hospital patients, or even doctors? Since its premiere in 2005, “Grey’s Anatomy” has attracted an impressive roster of Hollywood talent.

Considering the show’s penchant for cast changes, character deaths, and shocking disasters, you probably don’t remember all the big names who have walked — or been wheeled through — the hallowed halls of Grey Sloan Memorial. From child stars to Marvel actors to EGOT winners, the beloved medical drama has hit it out of the park with its guest stars. Here are 15 major movie stars who appeared on “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Most folks know Jennifer Grey thanks to her starring role in the beloved film “Dirty Dancing,” where she acted alongside the late, great Patrick Swayze. In addition to that career-defining role, she’s appeared in films like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” where she played Ferris’ perpetually annoyed sister Jeanie, “Red Dawn,” and, more recently, “A Real Pain.” She also put her ballroom skills to good use on “Dancing with the Stars,” winning Season 11 of the reality competition.

In 2019, the actress guest-starred on “Grey’s Anatomy” for a three-episode arc. Though it was initially speculated she would play Jo’s (Camilla Luddington) mother, she ultimately portrayed the mother of Betty (Peyton Kennedy), a recovering addict under the care of Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) and Owen (Kevin McKidd). Jennifer Grey’s father, “Cabaret” actor Joel Grey, also appeared on “Grey’s Anatomy” back in Season 6, playing Izzie’s (Katherine Heigl) high school science teacher.

Before she was a Marvel star, appearing in films like “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Thor: Love and Thunder,” Tessa Thompson got her start on network television. Her first TV appearance was a guest spot on “Cold Case,” which she followed up with a recurring role on “Veronica Mars.” Another early gig for Thompson was a two-episode arc on “Grey’s Anatomy,” where she played Camille Travis, the niece of Dr. Webber (James Pickens Jr.), in Season 2. Camille comes in with abdominal pain after losing consciousness, and it’s revealed that her ovarian cancer has returned. After Camille is forced to miss her high school prom, Dr. Webber organizes one at the hospital in her honor.

Thompson returned to Shondaland in 2009, appearing in two episodes of “Private Practice” as a different character — though the two shows are set in the same universe. Her original “Grey’s” character comes back in Season 4, but she’s played by Camille Winbush of “The Bernie Mac Show” instead. Following her time on “Grey’s,” Thompson went on to star in films such as “Creed,” “Annihilation,” “Passing,” and “Hedda.” Thompson also joined the main cast of the HBO series “Westworld.”

The legendary actress Faye Dunaway starred in some of the most iconic films of the 1960s and 1970s, including “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Chinatown,” and “Network.” One of the defining faces of the New Hollywood movement, Dunaway’s memorable performances earned her many accolades, including an Oscar, an Emmy, and three Golden Globes.

The Hollywood star also appeared in a Season 5 episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” playing Dr. Margaret Campbell. Dr. Campbell is an old-school doctor and the first female surgeon at Seattle Grace Hospital. She refuses to use modern surgical technology, and a mistake during surgery results in her nicking a patient’s bile duct. She clashes with Cristina (Sandra Oh), who calls her a “dinosaur,” though she eventually agrees it’s time to retire. Dunaway’s television resume extends well beyond “Grey’s Anatomy,” with appearances on shows like “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “Columbo,” and “Alias.”

Christina Ricci’s round little face was everywhere in the 1990s, starting with her debut film role in 1990’s “Mermaids.” She then became a pop culture icon as Wednesday Addams in “The Addams Family” — a universe she returned to decades later in Netflix’s “Wednesday.” After appearing in other ’90s classics like “Casper” and “Now and Then,” Ricci parlayed her teen stardom into a robust film and television career, starring in movies like “Prozac Nation,” “Monster,” and “Speed Racer.” More recently, she delivers a killer performance (literally) as the delightfully deranged Misty Quigley on the twisted Showtime series “Yellowjackets.”

In 2006, Ricci appeared in one of the most memorable two-part “Grey’s Anatomy” episodes, “It’s the End of the World” and “As We Know It.” If you were one of the 38 million people who watched the first episode, you probably remember it. It follows a patient who has a bomb inside his chest cavity. Ricci plays Hannah Davies, a newly minted paramedic. She sticks her hand in the patient’s wound to stop the bleeding, only to be told she must keep it there or risk the bomb exploding. Kyle Chandler also stars in these episodes as a heroic bomb squad leader who manages to extract the weapon.

Geena Davis brought considerable star power to “Grey’s Anatomy,” arriving after a long and impressive career that included some of Hollywood’s most beloved films. She’s starred in numerous hits such as “Thelma & Louise,” “The Fly,” “A League of Their Own,” “The Long Kiss Goodnight,” and “Beetlejuice.” On TV, she’s appeared in projects such as “The Exorcist” series and “GLOW.”

Davis showed up in “Grey’s Anatomy” for a 12-episode arc in Season 11. She plays Dr. Nicole Herman, the Head of Fetal Surgery at Grey Sloan Memorial. Nicole is very good at what she does and doesn’t suffer fools. She mentors Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) in fetal surgery, but her expectations are sky-high, and Arizona struggles to keep up. Nicole has a brain tumor that Amelia successfully operates on, though it leaves her blind. She returns in Season 14 and offers Arizona a chance to work together again, just before Arizona leaves for New York to be with her daughter.

Abigail Breslin built an impressive resume before she was even old enough to drive. During the first five years of her career, she appeared in a whopping ten movies and six television shows. Her very first film, “Signs,” was an M. Night Shyamalan hit. She went on to appear in the hit indie film, “Little Miss Sunshine,” and later the rom-com “No Reservations.”

On the TV front, Breslin starred in episodes of both “Law & Order: SVU” and “NCIS” before gracing the halls of Seattle Grace Hospital. She appeared in the Season 3 episode “Sometimes a Fantasy,” playing a young girl named Megan. Megan’s chart is littered with previous injuries, leading the doctors to suspect abuse, but they later discover she doesn’t feel pain and has a disorder called CIPA. Megan thinks of herself as a superhero because of this special ability. 

Breslin took a several-year break from TV following her “Grey’s” role, returning to the medium with “Scream Queens” in 2015.

Laurie Metcalf has had a prolific career over the last four decades, spanning critically acclaimed works in theater, film, and television. She’s received two Tony Awards, four Emmys, and an Oscar nomination for her memorable turn as the titular character’s mother in “Lady Bird.” Many viewers know her as Jackie Harris on “Roseanne” and “The Conners,” in which she starred alongside her daughter. Others may recognize her as the voice of Andy’s mom in the “Toy Story” films. And who could forget her deliciously demented performance in “Scream 2”?

Amidst all of this impressive work, Metcalf found the time to guest star in a Season 2 episode of “Grey’s Anatomy.” She plays Beatrice Carver, a woman diagnosed with metastatic cancer. She hasn’t told her daughter she’s sick, and she’s still hesitant to tell her once she finds out her cancer is terminal.

The “Grey’s” universe wound up being a family affair for Metcalf. Her ex-husband, Jeff Perry, plays Meredith Grey’s (Ellen Pompeo) father, Thatcher, in 15 episodes, including the one Metcalf appears in. Additionally, Perry and Metcalf’s daughter, Zoe Perry, appeared in a Season 9 episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” and both father and daughter have appeared in the Shondaland hit, “Scandal.”

Canadian actress Nia Vardalos has a Hollywood story like no other. A trained comedian and alumna of Chicago’s Second City, she wrote and performed “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” as a one-woman show before adapting it into a film. The movie became the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time in North America, making a killing at the box office with its minuscule budget. The film spawned a short-lived TV series and two sequels. Vardalos has dabbled in television as well, appearing in a Sam Raimi-inspired episode of “Chucky,” “DuckTales,” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

In 2012, Vardalos guest-starred in a Season 8 episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” called “Hope for the Hopeless.” She plays a woman named Karen, who’s in need of a liver transplant. Her sister, Marcy, played by Peri Gilpin of “Frasier” fame, agrees to donate part of her liver, but she and Karen constantly argue, and Marcy paints herself as a martyr for her good deed. Vardalos also appears in a Season 5 episode of “Grey’s” spin-off “Station 19,” playing an unrelated character.

When the producers of “Grey’s Anatomy” decided they were going to introduce yet another one of Derek Shepherd’s (Patrick Dempsey) sisters, they must have known they needed to bring in the big guns. Cue the arrival of Neve Campbell, who plays Derek’s sister, Lizzie. After Derek’s hand injury, he needs donated nerves to repair its function, and Lizzie flies to Seattle to help him out.

Though their relationship appears somewhat strained, Lizzie expresses a desire to be more involved in Derek and Meredith’s (Ellen Pompeo) lives — though we never see her again after these two Season 9 episodes. Speaking with TVLine about her guest spot, Campbell shared, “They’ve been on that show for nine years and they definitely know what they’re doing, so it was fun to be around a group that had been working together so long.”

“Grey’s Anatomy” acted as a reunion between Campbell and Dempsey, who had worked together 12 years before in “Scream 3.” Campbell, of course, is the face of the “Scream” franchise, having appeared in six of the horror films. She first rose to prominence following her role on the Fox drama “Party of Five,” which was still on air when “Scream” premiered in 1996. She also appeared in the cult classics “The Craft” and “Wild Things.” Campbell now stars in the Netflix series “The Lincoln Lawyer,” which is set to return for a fifth and final season, as of this writing.

The great Rita Moreno is the only EGOT to appear on “Grey’s Anatomy,” and we don’t imagine her record will be broken any time soon. Moreno’s illustrious career began all the way back in the 1950s with small parts in films like “Singin’ in the Rain.” She starred in “West Side Story” in 1961 and earned the first part of her EGOT. The other letters came to her in the form of an Emmy for “The Muppet Show” (and later “The Rockford Files”), a Grammy for a recording for the children’s series “The Electric Company,” and a Tony for “The Ritz.” By 1978, Moreno had checked all the letters off her list.

Nearly 40 years later, Moreno took time out of her busy schedule to appear in a Season 12 episode of “Grey’s Anatomy.” She plays Gayle, the unhappy wife of a dying man. Her husband, Griffin, played by Lance Henriksen of “Aliens” and “Millennium” fame, crashes his car and needs brain surgery. Griffin left Gayle for another woman years ago, but she won’t divorce him because she wants her half of his money. When he wakes up from surgery and forgets his mistress ever existed, Gayle reconsiders her wish for his death — though their reunion is cut short.

By the time Keke Palmer guest-starred on “Grey’s Anatomy” in 2014, the former child actress had already appeared in 21 television shows and TV movies. Her on-screen film debut came in 2004 with “Barbershop 2: Back in Business,” but her true breakthrough was the titular role in the hit “Akeelah and the Bee.” She also signed a record deal around this time and later became a Nickelodeon star as the lead of “True Jackson, VP.”

Suffice it to say, at the ripe age of 20, Palmer was already an industry veteran when her role on “Grey’s Anatomy” came along. Palmer plays Sheryll Jeffries, a pregnant 17-year-old. Sheryll ran away from home after learning she had hypoplastic left heart syndrome and thinking she was going to die. Now that she’s pregnant and has something to live for, she hopes to join Cristina Yang’s trial for children suffering from the disorder, but Cristina tells her she’s too old. 

Following her “Grey’s” appearance, Palmer went on to star in films such as “Nope” and “One of Them Days,” and, more recently, leads the Peacock series “The ‘Burbs.”

Mandy Moore delivered one of the most memorable TV performances in recent years on “This Is Us,” playing unbreakable matriarch Rebecca Pearson in all of the show’s six seasons. Before this Emmy-nominated performance, Moore was a movie star and teen idol, appearing in films like “A Walk to Remember” and “Saved!” She’s also released seven studio albums since 1999, and remains best known for the hit single “Candy.”

After taking a three-year break from TV following her brief Season 3 appearance on “How I Met Your Mother,” Moore returned to the small screen in 2010, appearing in four episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy.” Moore plays Mary Portman, who we first meet in the two-part Season 6 finale. A patient of Dr. Bailey (Chandra Wilson), Mary is awaiting surgery when a shooter, Gary Clark (Michael O’Neill), sends the hospital into lockdown. Mary is forced to help Bailey treat Charles (Robert Baker) after Gary shoots him. She survives the ordeal, only to die in her second Season 7 episode after the rescheduled surgery sends her into a coma. That same year, Moore voiced Rapunzel in the Disney film “Tangled.”

In 2007, when Elisabeth Moss appeared on a Season 3 episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” she’d already played the president’s daughter in “The West Wing” and a schizophrenic teenager in “Girl, Interrupted,” but hadn’t yet been introduced to the world as Peggy Olson in the acclaimed drama “Mad Men.” 

In “My Favorite Mistake,” Moss plays Nina, who comes into the hospital with her mother, Cathy (Catherine Dent). Cathy has a condition that causes her muscles and ligaments to turn into bones, and she’s suffering from internal bleeding. Nina encourages her mother to get surgery to stop the bleeding, but she dies on the table, leaving Nina bereft.

A few months after that episode of “Grey’s” aired, “Mad Men” premiered on AMC, taking Moss’ career to new heights and earning her six Emmy nominations. While “Mad Men” was still on air, she starred in Jane Campion’s “Top of the Lake” series, before playing the lead role in “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Her harrowing performance earned her five more Lead Actress Emmy nominations and a win. Moss has also starred in films such as “Us,” “The Invisible Man,” “Her Smell,” and “Shirley.”

Seth Green’s two-episode arc on “Grey’s Anatomy” is memorable for the sheer amount of blood that came spewing from his person, among other things. In Season 4, he plays Nick, a patient who has a tumor removed from his neck. Though the surgery is successful, his carotid artery is left exposed. Lexie (Chyler Leigh) is tasked with monitoring him and forms a bond with Nick, whose sense of humor remains despite difficult circumstances. Unfortunately, Nick’s artery ruptures, spraying buckets of blood everywhere, and he dies before they can get him to surgery.

In a behind-the-scenes interview, Leigh noted that her most exciting scenes to date were those with Green, whom she calls “awesome.” Apparently, the fake blood smelled like a mix between Hershey’s chocolate syrup and mouthwash. “It was very bizarre, but it tasted great,” Leigh joked.

Green was already a Hollywood veteran by the time he starred on “Grey’s” in 2007. He began his career as a child actor in the 1980s, appearing in dozens of TV shows before his breakthrough role on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” in 1997. He’s starred in films such as the “Austin Powers” trilogy, “Josie and the Pussycats,” “Can’t Hardly Wait,” and “Be Cool.” He’s also the co-creator of the Adult Swim series “Robot Chicken.”

“American Pie” to “Grey’s Anatomy” isn’t a career trajectory many can claim, but for John Cho, that’s exactly what happened. Okay, well, not exactly. Cho did indeed star in the “American Pie” film series, playing John and helping coin an R-rated term that we can’t repeat here. In 2004, Cho starred alongside Kal Penn in “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” the stoner buddy comedy which spawned two sequels. Then, in 2006, Cho appeared on “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Cho plays Marshall Stone, a surgical intern who winds up in the hospital for the wrong reasons. He drives home after staying late to watch a surgery, and falls asleep at the wheel. This causes an accident that sends several people to the hospital, and one of them dies during surgery. Following his role on “Grey’s,” Cho played Sulu in J. J. Abrams’s “Star Trek” movies, starred in the independent film “Searching,” and appeared in shows like “Cowboy Bebop” and “The Afterparty.”