‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Star Chandra Wilson Reflects On 21 Seasons: ‘It Is My Greatest Honor’

On March 27, 2005, I remember hearing some light “buzz” around a new medical drama premiering that evening on ABC. Like many, the television promos intrigued me enough to tune into the pilot episode and give it a shot. Fast forward nearly 20 years and Grey’s Anatomy remains a fan-favorite show, cemented in the coveted Thursday night lineup spot on primetime network television.

Actor Chandra Wilson has been along for the ride since the very beginning. Continuing to play Dr. Miranda Bailey for all 21 seasons, Wilson, 55, sat down with me on Zoom, while she was on a break from filming, to reflect upon her beloved character’s elaborate on-screen journey thus far, what motivates her to want to keep telling these stories at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and if an end to this TV phenomenon is in sight.

Jeff Conway: First, can we rewind to around 2004? When did the Grey’s Anatomy project initially get on your radar, Chandra?

Chandra Wilson: I was doing Caroline, or Change at the Public Theater and we had found out that we were going to move to Broadway, so we were taking a break to open on Broadway in April and looking for other things to do in the meantime. So, in the meantime, I went to jump into Avenue Q for a minute as an understudy and while I was on Avenue Q, I got the audition for this untitled Shonda Rhimes project. They were looking for a short, White, blonde female called “The Nazi” - that’s me!

Because I had auditioned for ABC many times over the years, they agreed to see me and put me on tape. So, that’s what I did. I went up to the ABC offices and went on tape - just a regular, old audition and they told me that they wanted me to come out to LA to do the studio and the network audition. I went a day while I was on Avenue Q - flew out to LA, did the auditions and it took maybe a couple of days before I got the word that I got the pilot.

So, the pilot was 15 days, plus a couple extra days. We went to Seattle and then I had to hurry back into the tech of Caroline, or Change to start the Broadway run. That was it! Nothing else was going to happen with this show. There was an upfront and I think the upfront said something about a midseason. There was no airdate - nothing made any sense. So, right when Caroline, or Change was getting ready to close at the end of August, we were going to move to LA and do a run at the Ahmanson Theatre, and that’s when I found out - Okay, midseason pickup. We’re going to start working in October and see if we get an airdate. So, in my brain, I was like, Okay, so go to LA, do this TV thing during the day and Caroline at night - No!

Then by Christmas, we [on what would become Grey’s Anatomy] shut down for a tone change or something - so, to me, that was it. We did two months - no airdate - whatever, whatever - but they did call us back in January [2005] to finish the 13 episodes and we got four airdates borrowed from Boston Legal - just to put four episodes out - say we did it - no big deal. March 27, 2005 after Desperate Housewives wasn’t going to go anywhere. So those four weeks, our numbers did better than the Boston Legal numbers, so Boston Legal stayed on hiatus, they aired the next eight episodes, so we could end with Desperate Housewives which was the Kate Walsh [Addison Montgomery TV introduction], “You’re sleeping with my husband” episode. It’s a coincidence - that’s how it ended up and that’s how we got an airdate, finally.

Conway: Chandra, I’m curious - now going into 21 seasons, we have seen Miranda Bailey’s family life, her medical career, but what have you enjoyed most about the evolution she has had throughout this series so far?

Wilson: In real time, we got to see somebody that had goals, right? Had a professional dream - you got to see her achieve that and then some, in the same amount of time it would have taken anybody else to get that thing done and then figure out the “what next,” which is another part of the journey that we all go through. And in the middle of that, you thought you knew who she was in the beginning. All of her pink insides have been revealed over the years and she’s also a woman living with Obsessive-compulsive disorder and having to manage her mental health. What more relevant can you be in this world, to mitigate that journey, live your life, have a career and still have room to say, “You know what? I still don’t quite know what’s next and I’m open to figuring it out.”

Conway: I’m sure you hear it, too. People are always like, “Ellen Pompeo - she’s still playing Dr. Meredith Grey” but I’m like, with respect, “Hello! So is Dr. Miranda Bailey, Chandra Wilson - James Pickens Jr., Dr. Richard Webber. Let’s not forget everybody in the room.” You are an “OG” too, so what does it mean to have been a part of this series from the ground up?

Wilson: It is my greatest honor. I would always say - Look, I want to be there until the end - very last episode, very last moment when the wheels fall off because there’s something about that journey that is so exciting to me, to have started a thing and then be through to the finish of it, if that’s what it is. I’m just kind of a loyal television person anyway. I’m soaps - I’m looking at General Hospital right now. Look at that [shows me her tablet screen] - you’re interrupting my General Hospital time. So, I appreciate an “OG” cast member, where I plug in and I don’t even care if it’s three years later and they’re still there. So, that’s what that means to me.

Conway: You are a part of of pop culture, Chandra. Obviously, season two - “O’Malley, stop looking at my va-jay-jay.” Beyond that moment, what have you loved most about the moments that Bailey has had and you have been able to embody as an actor that have meant the most to you?

Wilson: I think probably the most fun I’ve had as an actor is the season six ending with the shooter in the hospital - being under the bed, being pulled from under the bed, having to say I’m a nurse, banging on the elevator. Her having that eye contact with Charlie [Percy, played by the actor Robert Baker] down there to know that - Okay, my journey right now is not to try and heal him. It’s to sit with them and help him transition.

It was exhilarating! I don’t care how many times we have to do the take - it was exhilarating and those kinds of moments happen all the time. Bailey getting married, Bailey become the Chief, Bailey becoming the Chief Resident and doing her own little dance. She gets to do a happy dance, too! Getting navy blue scrubs - that’s like been a pivotal moment. Oh man! When you get to navy blue, that’s something.

Conway: Chandra, you bring up season six - that’s when you started directing episodes, as well. What joys do you get out of being a creative in the directing space that you don’t get out of acting in the same way?

Wilson: Wow! It’s certainly a different part of my brain. As a Virgo, it’s my anal retentive part. The joy of directing comes to me with understanding directing for series television is creating the puzzle pieces needed to put together to make the product to give to the producer. Being able to see those puzzle pieces on the floor and know that - Yes, I have that - good! We can move on. I love being able to set the tone of the floor and let everybody know that everything is okay, and if you got a question, guess what? Ask me and I have the answer for you. I’m certainly an actor’s director but I’m a crew director, as well.

If I know that props [department] is going out of their way to make sure that we have this certain plant there, well I want to make sure that camera crosses right on through that plant and we highlight that thing because you put a lot of work in that. If you got a dry erase board with a whole bunch of stuff on it and they come in after each take and erase it and put it back down, I’m featuring that board! I have such appreciation for everything that everybody does in order to make this thing happen. That’s coming from [my background in] theatre and having that understanding and being able to spill that over into this medium, as well.

Conway: Chandra, we are heading into season 21. Does it feel like there is an endgame coming? Are you hearing things from Shonda Rhimes? Are you hearing things from Betsy Beers? Are you talking to people? Does it seem like this could go 25-30 seasons, or does it feel like we are making a turn for a full-circle moment soon?

Wilson: I honestly do not have the slightest idea. I know from on the creative end, they’ve written the end of the show so many times and for whatever reason, we get there and the studio will say, “You sure about that?” We continue!

We’re just always right in the middle of the times. I never would have imagined our Covid season and that was some of the most essential work, I think, that we’ve done - not only as a dramatic series but as providing a service. It really felt like a service here. Who would’ve known that we would’ve needed to provide a service here? So, it just continues to evolve and to roll forward, and until somebody finally makes up their mind that they’re done with the thing, we show up and we just read the scripts and bring the babies to life.

Conway: So Chandra, what can you tease, if anything, about what we can expect from Dr. Miranda Bailey in season 21? And the writers - what keeps you interested as an actor that there are still stories to tell as Bailey?

Wilson: As an actor, I still get every script, open it up and learn something new about Miranda. I have never in all these years claimed ownership of Miranda Bailey. I have never been somebody to say, “You know? She would say such and such.” I don’t have the slightest idea what she would say. I open that [script] and that’s what she says and that has kept me from being somebody that wouldn’t take a risk or would just say no to something. Human beings surprise you all the time and do things that seem out of character. It’s allowed me to be able to be that kind of an actor and that’s what continues to keep me engaged as an actor.

Conway: And what’s coming up for Bailey?

Wilson: That for 21 seasons, I have never known, and I continue to not - and I think that’s my secret sauce - because if I knew, I would probably go and mess with it.

Conway: After all you have already done in your career, Chandra, even beyond Grey’s Anatomy, what do you still itch to do? Is it in acting, directing, producing? What is in the back of your head that you constantly want to finally scratch?

Wilson: So, the cool thing about me is that in 1991 when I graduated from NYU and I was doing a play off Broadway, and I got my equity card and I got medical insurance because I had enough weeks, I had made it. That was it! Everything that I thought I was supposed to get from college. Seriously! Everything after that has been icing on the cake.

With that said, my mindset is still wide open to what’s left out there. I guess I had envisioned dramatic series television, but I certainly hadn’t envisioned directing for television - maybe for theatre. I certainly hadn’t envisioned producing, so my mind is open to whatever she has got planned for me and hoping that all of this that I’ve done equips me for wherever that is where I need to be.

Conway: What would you say to the Chandra Wilson that was just getting involved with Grey’s Anatomy, unaware of what it was going to ultimately do? If you could go back and give yourself advice, a warning - something that would’ve been helpful to have known then, after everything you have achieved and accomplished up until now, what would you have said to that Chandra?

Wilson: Basically, I would’ve said - Baby girl, you’re okay and you’re ready for this ride - and it’s okay. You got a good head on your shoulders and it’s okay.

Conway: Lastly Chandra, if you could speak to Dr. Miranda Bailey after playing her for these 21 seasons thus far and could say something to her now - with her highs, her lows - her wins, her losses - after embodying her and learning to understand her, what would you say to Bailey, if only you could?

Wilson: Me as Chandra, say to her? I would go to her if I needed an internist because I think that she would have a great bedside manner and I think that she would do her best to take really good care of me and treat me like family - even if she cursed me out, every now and then. So yeah, I’d let her know that if ever I needed an internist, she’d be the one I’d go to.