The American medical drama TV series, Grey's Anatomy revolves around the lives of some interns, residents, and medical doctors in Seattle Grace-Mercy West Hospital in Seattle, Washington. The first episode premiered on March 27, 2005, and the show has continued to air up to six seasons. Since then, Grey's Anatomy is one of the most watched prime time television series. The 7th season will soon air in September 2010.
The Grey's Anatomy cast is what the show's producer a color blind casting concept. This is because there is a racially diverse cast among the group of surgical interns, residents, and their mentors. Although, the characters' races aren't pre-specified to follow along with creator Shonda Rhimes' idea of diversity.
The first five primary characters who are first presented as interns and later on progressed in the surgical program after a year are Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), George O'Malley (T.R. Knight), Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), and Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl). These five are mentored by Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) who is a general surgeon and becomes the Chief Resident and later the attending general surgeon of the imaginary Seattle Grace-Mercy West Hospital.
Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr) is the Chief of Surgery and leads the surgical program. Webber had an affair with Meredith's mother when Meredith was only a kid. And under Webber are the attending physicians Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) who specialize in neurosurgery, and Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington) specializing in cardiothoracic surgery. Derek finds love with Meredith, while Preston begins a blooming relationship with Cristina.
As the second season began, new Grey's Anatomy cast members are introduced and they are plastic surgeon Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), orthopedic surgeon Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) and OB/GYN & neonatal surgeon Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh). These particular three have a close association to the other stars particularly Addison for the reason that she is Derek's wife and goes to Seattle to reunite with him. Mark is Derek's former best friend who has an extramarital relationship with Addison leading to the breakdown of Derek and Addison's marriage. Callie on the other hand, gets to be the love interest of George. The two eventually get married though divorces in the end. Soon after the 3rd season, the character of Addison departs the show, though still makes guest appearances from time to time.
Intern Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) is introduced in an episode of the third season. One of the highlights of this season is when Preston leaves Cristina at the altar, which signifies his departure from the TV series.
After recurring appearances in seasons two and three, cardiothoracic surgeon Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith) finally becomes a main character throughout the fourth season. Yet, Erica leaves the show on the fifth season. This season also introduced two new characters – pediatric surgeon Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) who gets to be the love interest of Callie, and trauma surgeon Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) who becomes Cristina's love interest. Another recurring character is Dr. Sadie Harris (Melissa George) who is Meredith's good friend for many years.
Grey's Anatomy cast sixth season brings George O'Malley's death, and Izzie's leaving after her relationship with Alex ended. New character attending physician Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) is introduced specializing in cardiothoracic surgeon. When Seattle Grace hospital combines with Mercy West hospital, residents Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams), April Kepner (Sarah Drew) Reed Adamson (Nora Zehetner), and Charles Percy (Robert Baker) are introduced. Although when season six finishes, Reed and Charles' characters dies after a fatal shooting. On the upcoming season seven, Jackson and April are going to be one of the main characters.
