List of minor characters of Scrubs
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The following are a list of minor characters from the American situation comedy Scrubs.
Contents |
[edit] Recurring characters
These cast members have appeared in numerous episodes since the show's beginning but remain credited as guest stars.
[edit] Dr. Wen
Dr. Wen, played by Charles Chun, is an attending surgeon who was Turk and the Todd's mentor for their first three years at the hospital. He has a somewhat serious personality, but often lightens up and enjoys jokes. There is much that is not known about him, including his first name, but it is confirmed that he is married. In Episode 1.03, "My Best Friend's Mistake", it is revealed he is inordinately fond of the Erasure song "A Little Respect".
[edit] Lonnie
Lonnie, played by Michael Hobert, is a medical resident under the supervision of J.D and Elliot. He and J.D. occasionally spar with each other over insignificant incidents, but since his introduction in Episode 3.18, "His Story II," Lonnie has been spending an increasing amount of time with J.D. and Elliot. He has even been a part of the Triple Giant Doctor (in Episode 4.13, "My Ocardial Infarction"). He has three children "that he knows of", can grow a moustache in one day, and played Big East Conference basketball for Villanova University.
Interestingly, Michael Hobert also appeared as an extra in the pilot episode, as a patient getting an MRI scan near the end of the episode.
[edit] Doug
Dr. Doug "Nervous Guy" Murphy, played by Johnny Kastl, is the nervous and terribly inept colleague of J.D. and Elliot. His incompetence is the butt of many jokes on Scrubs. After being the only person in the history of the hospital to repeat his third year of residency, he transferred from internal medicine to pathology.It is discovered in Season 4 that Doug is an expert coroner due to his numerous botched procedures and ineptness with living patients. His skill of diagnosing cause of death is that nearly to the level of savant. Doug also has several means of death named after him. This has not prevented him from still making mistakes such as forgetting his gurney, misplacing a dead body or waiting too long to get a patient before rigor mortis kicks in. He is under the impression that the dead bodies in the morgue are out to get him, after several of them fell on him. He is often seen hanging out with Ted Buckland, as they both enjoy biking, compete in triathalons, and, perhaps most importantly, are often picked on by the likes of Dr. Kelso and Dr. Cox.
[edit] Ted
Theodore "Ted" Buckland, Esq., played by Sam Lloyd, is Sacred Heart Hospital’s lawyer. Ted stumbles through life as one of its ultimate losers. He is prone to panic and outbreaks of excessive sweating, lost his hair in the eighth grade, and has even attempted suicide on several occasions. At the hospital, Ted serves as Dr. Kelso’s doormat, and has described his ultimate dream as "holding his head under the water until the last bubble goes...bloop." It is suggested that the pressures of his job caused his wife to leave him. He then moved in with his mother (sleeping in the same bed), until the bank foreclosed on his house in Episode 5.24, "My Transition".
Ted is part of an a cappella group, with three other administrative workers from around the hospital, called The Worthless Peons (played by Lloyd's real life band The Blanks).
[edit] The Todd
Dr. Todd "The Todd" Quinlan, played by Robert Maschio, is a jockish surgical resident who is friends with Turk. He is written to represent the real-life stereotype of the skilful yet stupid "scalpel jockey" surgeon [citation needed]. Todd is known for turning every sentence into a double entendre, usually of a sexual nature (a skill he apparently works very hard at, claiming he "doesn't luck into these situations" and that it takes "lots of hard work"). He loves very powerful, often painful high fives, and has invented many highfive variants; including the Miracle Five, Mental Five, I Miss You Five, Self Five, Face Five, Betrayal Five, Tough-Break Five, Assisted Five, Sterile High Five, Air Five, Inflatable Five, Fist Five, Euphemism Five and Make-it-Stop Five. However, despite his frat boy personality, Todd is a skilled surgeon. Dr. Wen has called him the best surgical attendant in the hospital, and he is ranked second place among the surgical attendants in terms of surgical skills.
Todd wears very distinctive scrubs. Unlike the other characters in the show, Todd's scrubs are cut off at the shoulders leaving his arms in full view most of the time, which shows off the tattoo on his right bicep that reads "DOC". Also unlike the other doctors, The Todd's surgical scrub hats usually have colorful, Todd-like patterns (such as scantily-clad women or streaks of fire) printed on them. He is also commonly seen sporting speedos (or "banana hammocks").
There have been numerous hints that Todd's excessive boorishness towards women is over-compensation for homosexuality, and Episode 5.20, My Lunch, he even comes out to Carla and Elliot. However, it turns out he is lying, because "chicks dig gay dudes." It is confirmed in this episode that he has had sex with a number of women around the hospital, but later in the same episode, he continues to display an attraction to men. This is perhaps because he is bisexual, or, more likely simply because his character is intended to be sexually depraved to the point where sexual orientation isn't even an issue. In the end of the episode, when asked directly what orientation he is, he simply replies "I'm The Todd". The Todd has also admitted to making out with his mother.
[edit] Jordan Sullivan
Jordan Sullivan,played by Christa Miller Lawrence, is Dr. Cox's acerbic ex-wife and current partner, and a hospital employee. Through most of the show, she was a member of the hospital’s board of directors, and so would only appear at the hospital on occasion, and would act quite hostile towards most of the hospital’s employees. As such, much of her role on the show was focussed on her and Cox’s private relationship. However, at the end of Season 4, she got a full-time job at the hospital. She has since attempted to soften, and has even become friends with Elliot.
Her relationship with Cox is among the most complicated on Scrubs. She is certainly his only rival for sheer sarcasm, and is seemingly the only person able to effectively retort to Cox's many remarks and rants. She and Cox used to be married, but they divorced after Jordan had an affair with Dr. Cox's former co-worker, Dr. Pete Fisher (portrayed by Jay Mohr). In Season 2 of Scrubs, she became pregnant with Dr. Cox’s son, Jack. Since then, she and Cox have rebuilt their relationship and now live together (thought they have chosen to not get married), and she has shown herself to be a wonderful mother. She is currently pregnant with their second child.
She has a sister Danni (played by Tara Reid), who dated J.D.; and a brother named Ben (played by Brendan Fraser) who was Dr. Cox's best friend until he died of leukemia. In Episode 1.06, "My Bad", Jordan slept with J.D. before he realized that she was Dr. Cox's ex-wife.
[edit] Nurse Roberts
Nurse Laverne Roberts, played by Aloma Wright, is a nurse at Sacred Heart Hospital who spends her days at the hospital watching soap operas and keeping up with inter-office gossip. She has made many comments about others having to “answer to Jesus," implying a religious background. Although her husband Lester Roberts has been mentioned many times, he, like Dr. Kelso’s wife Enid, remains an unseen character. She nicknamed her breasts "Paris" and "Nicky", but denied that this was after the Hilton sisters ("Other way around" was her defiant riposte).
[edit] Harrison Kelso
Harrison Kelso is the often mentioned (though as-yet unseen) flamboyantly gay son of Dr. Bob Kelso. He seems to have been quite a rebel throughout his life, but though his relationship to his father appears strained, Kelso seemingly accepts his son's orientation. Harrison arrived late for his father's 50th birthday with freshly pierced nipples and a barely legal Filipino boy called Pogo. Harrison also dabbles in sado-masochism. It is also mentioned that Harrison has a "gimp" named Barry. Dr. Elliot Reid also has a gay brother named Barry, it has not been mentioned whether the two are the same person.
Harrison appears to resent his father, having staged a scathing play called "Dr. Dad", which had a certain degree of success. It is later revealed that this play is a front for a methamphetamine lab. Harrison even dated the lead actor of his play. It is also revealed in season 5 that he has a boyfriend named Winston (in a postcard sent to his father, the two are dressed as Tonto and the Lone Ranger).
Harrison also had a rebellious youth. He was a fan of heavy metal and is described by Kelso as "a bit of a headbanger". He was also homeless for a short time, after being kicked out of his hare krishna sect for being "too much of a hippy".
[edit] Other recurring characters
[edit] J.D.'s interns
Season 5 of Scrubs often focussed on J.D.'s relationships with his group of interns, which included:
- Keith Dudemeister, played by Travis Schuldt is the best of J.D.’s interns. J.D. initially took an instant dislike to him, but he has since started dating Elliot (a relationship that series creator Bill Lawrence has suggested will continue[citation needed]) and J.D. has warmed up to him.
- Jason "Cabbage" Cabbagio, played by Shaughn Buchholz, was J.D.'s favorite intern, but turned out to be incompetent when it came to the medical world. J.D. had to fire him, but, before leaving, Cabbage accidentally spread an infection to Mrs. Wilk, which would later cause her death.
- Gloria, played by Christina Miles, is outrageously older than all the other interns. She is dating Leonard the (afroed, hook handed) Security Guard.
- Lisa, played by Jordan Zucker, is an over competitive intern who is often aggravated at Elliot's blatant favoritism of Keith.
- Rex, played by Aaron Ikeda, is an Asian intern who is often picked on and/or put in an awkward situation.
- Mark "Wolfman" Cabbage is one of J.D.'s interns who is overly hairy.
[edit] Hospital staff
Over the years, quite a few employees of Sacred Heart Hospital – who often started off simply as background characters – have made appearances as characters on the show. These include:
- Leonard, played by producer Randall Winston, is the hospital's security guard who is recognized by his giant afro and hook-hand. It's a running joke that people tend to associate him more with his afro than his hand. He is dating J.D.’s intern Gloria.
- Dr. Mickhead, played by Frank Encarnacao, who has been seen and mentioned several times throughout the show. One of the first mentions of his name was brought up in a joke ("You should hear what the interns are calling Dr. Mickhead"). A small story arc in Season 5 involved his involvement in the murder of his wife. He can be seen smokeing outside the hospital at the the beginning of My American Girl.
- Randall Winston, played by Martin Klebba, a dwarf who works as a janitor and is also friends with the main Janitor and wrestles him from time to time. J.D. has frights about him punching crotches and remarks about the "powerful tiny fists" whenever he sees or thinks about Randall. Part of Hibbleton, the Janitor's band. Character is named for one of the show's producers who also play's Leonard the Security Guard.
- Dr. Jeffrey Steadman, played by Matt Winston, is a brown-noser to Dr. Kelso. He was J.D.'s and Elliot's resident when they were interns.
- Troy, played by Joe Rose, a cafeteria worker and sometimes sidekick of the Janitor. Not very intelligent, but hates J.D. as he, without thinking, said Troy was stupid. Part of Hibbleton, the Janitor's band. it has been alluded that Troy is an ex-con and attended Yale.
- Dr. Zeltzer, played by Bob Clendenin, a skilled oncologist who enjoys prostitutes and seems to have rather unusual sexual tastes (he and his wife once drugged Dr. Cox and Jordan with roofies and remarked "Party time...").
- Lloyd the Delivery Guy, played by writer Mike Schwartz, is a member of the Air Band with Turk, Ted, and the Janitor. He plays air drums. He has been in rehab and is now sober, but in an early episode was a patient at the hospital after getting his penis stuck in a flashlight.
- Franklyn, played by Masi Oka, a nerdy Japanese laboratory assistant. He dislikes pulling strings and sometimes outright rejects analysis.
- Hooch, played by Phill Lewis is a black surgeon who Turk and J.D like to mess with. When he was first introduced, he was an easy-going guy, but during an episode where Turk and J.D. repeatedly said his name, he gradually became angrier and eventually snapped. Hooch is now very aggressive; he once knocked a man out with his shoe for trying to exit an elevator he was guarding for J.D. Upon seeing Hooch's extreme behavior, J.D. and Turk always respond with "Hooch is crazy."
- Dr. Kim, played by Lo Ming, who makes all his patients take off their pants, no matter what the issue.
- Lisa the Gift Shop Girl, played by Sarah Lancaster, the attractive girl who runs the Sacred Heart Gift Shop. She briefly dates J.D. She is later revealed to still work at the hospital, but J.D. can't see her because she wears a wedding ring.
- Colonel Doctor, a doctor who nobody seems to know the name of, yet gets his nickname from bearing a striking resemblance to Colonel Sanders.
- Snoop Dogg Intern was mentioned during one episode by J.D. (he asked "Where my ho's at?". J.D. replied "I haven't seen them") ("My Porcelain God"). In most episodes, he can be seen in the background as an extra.
- Dr Jim Bianca sometimes refered to as the "albino doctor from radiology", has been mentioned in at least 3 episodes, but remains an unseen character. Has cheated on his wife with Nurse Tisdale and various other women in the hospital.
[edit] Major guest cast
Important roles have been played by:
- Nicole Sullivan, as flighty and nervous recurring patient Jill Tracy. She and Elliot got along extremely well due to how alike they are. She was known to suffer from depression and relationship problems, which became more extreme up until the day she died. She was originally misdiagnosed as fatally overdosing on cocaine, but the cause was later revealed to be rabies.
- Elizabeth Bogush as Alex Hanson, a social worker at the hospital and who dated J.D. during the first season. She was revealed to be a drug addict.
- John Ritter, as J.D.'s father Sam Dorian. As on 8 Simple Rules, Scrubs featured an episode dealing with the character's death, following the real-life death of Ritter.
- Kelli Williams, as Kristen Murphy, Turk's medical student and Dr. Cox's love interest.
- Scott Foley, as Elliot's two-time ex-boyfriend Sean Kelly.
- Brendan Fraser, as Jordan's brother and Dr. Cox's best friend Ben Sullivan, who died of a sudden heart attack during season three. He previously had leukemia but he went into remission.
- Tom Cavanagh, as J.D.'s older brother Dan, who still lives with his mother in his home town and works at a bar. J.D. is slightly embarrassed of him, which Dan is aware of. He also had a fling with Elliot Reid, J.D.'s on-again-off-again girlfriend. Cavanagh was apparently chosen due to his physical similarity to Zach Braff.
- Heather Locklear, as Julie, a representative of a pharmaceutical company, lusted after by the men of the hospital. Had a relationship with Dr. Cox which lasted less than a full episode, as Jordan came back, interested in renewing their relationship.
- D.L. Hughley, as Turk's rambunctious brother Kevin. He is divorced, claiming he "got the hell out of there", when in actuality his wife took the kids and left him.
- Dick Van Dyke, in the second season as Dr. Townshend, Kelso's opposite in terms of relation to the staff, J.D.'s attending for one episode. Reluctantly fired by old friend Kelso (who began his career the same time) for a botched checkup on a patient and refusing to follow contemporary methods of treatment.
- Freddy Rodríguez, as Carla's brother and Turk's nemesis Marco.
- Rick Schroder as slightly controlling male nurse ("murse") Paul Flowers, whom Elliot dated during the 2nd season.
- Amy Smart, as J.D.'s drama-creating one-time love interest, and wife of a comatose car crash victim, Jamie Moyer or Tasty Coma Wife (TCW).
- Ryan Reynolds, as J.D. and Turk's college buddy Spence.
- Tara Reid, as Jordan's sister and J.D.'s two-time ex-girlfriend, Danni Sullivan.
- Michael J. Fox, as Dr. Kevin Casey, a medical attending and also a surgeon with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Has a good rapport with Cox in bossing the younger staff around. He also is the only doctor shown in the series (except possibly Kelso) whose medical genius rivals Cox's.
- Lela Lee as Bonnie, an fellow surgeon who had a brief rivalry with Turk in Season 2 for Dr. Wen's attention.
- Bellamy Young as Dr. Miller, in the middle of Season 3 was one of the new surgeons and is at times the female version of Dr. Cox in regards to her personality. Dr. Cox was at one point attracted to her.
- Heather Graham as attending psychiatrist Dr. Molly Clock, whom J.D. had a crush on and was Elliot's friend and mentor. She was notable for being completely impervious to Dr. Cox's sarcastic barbs.
- Julianna Margulies, as cold-hearted malpractice attorney Neena Broderick.
- Josh Randall, as Elliot's boyfriend Jake, who was introduced towards the end of the 4th season.
- Travis Schuldt as Keith Dudemeister, an intern under J.D.'s supervision who came to Sacred Heart at the beginning of Season 5. He is said to be a very competent doctor, which annoys J.D. to no end. He was also Elliot's "booty call" for a brief period, but their relationship has progressed to a dating status.
- Cheryl Hines as Paige, Dr. Cox's born-again Christian sister who reminds him of their troubled childhood and abusive father.
- Jason Bateman as Mr. Sutton, an unappreciative patient who raises ostriches in Season 5. Bateman was originally slated to play a larger role, but was unable to because shooting of the episode followed surgery to remove throat polyps. There is speculation that he will reprise his role in a later episode. Braff made an appearance in Bateman's FOX sitcom Arrested Development in 2004.
- Michael Learned as Mrs. Wilk, a kind and genial patient whose lengthy stay at the hospital and apparent recovery were ultimately for naught when she succumbed to an unexpected infection.
- Elizabeth Banks as Dr. Kim Briggs, a divorced surgeon and love interest of J.D.'s near the conclusion of Season 5. In the last episode of that season, it was revealed that she was pregnant, although virtually no information about the baby was revealed.
[edit] Employee Cameo Appearances
Cameo Appearances where the actor is implied to be an employee at the hospital.
Gary Busey, appeared as Doctor (unnamed), after a lecture from Carla wanting employee photos Elliot comments that she, "...always looks like Gary Busey." Camera follows her out of scene to reveal the real Gary Busey commenting he, "...always does also." He is seen wearing a lab coat and packing a clipboard (dressed in same manner as Dr. Cox) thus implying he is another physician in the hospital.
[edit] General Cameo appearances
Many cast members of the sitcom Spin City, which was co-created by Scrubs' creator Bill Lawrence, have guest starred on Scrubs. In addition to Michael J. Fox and Heather Locklear, mentioned above, Alan Ruck, Michael Boatman, Barry Bostwick, Alexander Chaplin, and Richard Kind have appeared.
Other guests: Polyphonic Spree, Clay Aiken, Fred "Rerun" Berry, Gary Busey, Carrot Top, David Copperfield, Lee Ermey, Erik Estrada, Colin Farrell, Dave Foley, Colin Hay, Sean Hayes, Phill Lewis, Maureen McCormick, Christopher Meloni, Jay Mohr, Mandy Moore, John Bennett Perry, Matthew Perry, Mary-Kate Schellhardt, Molly Shannon. George Takei, Larry Thomas, Jimmie Walker, Billy Dee Williams, Hattie Winston, Ben Heff, and DJ Qualls.
| Scrubs |
|---|
| List of Scrubs episodes | List of relationships on Scrubs | Sacred Heart Hospital |
| Characters |
| J.D. | Elliot | Turk | Carla | Dr. Cox | Bob Kelso | Janitor | List of minor characters of Scrubs |
