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ABC’s hit show Grey’s Anatomy has its share of soap opera drama. Between the new MerLuca romance, Owen’s baby with Teddy, not to mention the unique trauma cases that are brought in through Grey Sloan Memorial’s doors every episode, the series has plenty to offer in the melodrama genre.

This star of the prime time medical drama decided to visit another television hospital that happens to populating ABC’s daytime programming schedule.

“Grey’s Anatomy’s” Camilla Luddington, Chandra Wilson, and Justin Chambers | Jennifer Clasen/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

Taking on the role

Chandra Wilson has played Dr. Miranda Bailey on Grey’s Anatomy since the show’s premiere in 2005. Wilson’s character portrays a surgeon who is also a wife and mother, having to balance several significant facets of her life.

According to Buzzfeed, when Wilson first heard of the role, she didn’t think of herself as fitting the bill. “One of the things that I had to put away a long time ago is whether I was gonna be right because if I had spent time looking in the mirror, spent time standing on the scale, I never would have done anything,” Wilson said. “So, I had to allow myself to say right here in this skin is what I am. And this is what I’m going to present.”

Luckily for Grey’s fans, Wilson took the role and ran with it. She’s earned numerous Emmy award nominations, and received a SAG Award for Best Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series in 2007, as reported by Buzzfeed.

Wilson spoke to Glamour in February and commented on why the ABC show has remained a fan favorite. “We’re like a group effort. We’re an ensemble show, and people watch it as an ensemble and they are so invested in what happens to these characters,” she said. “So whether it’s the OGs or whether it’s our new characters that come in, even if they don’t want to like somebody, they still stick around and say, ‘OK, but you know? Let me see. Let me see.'”

The director’s chair

Wilson has also shown her talents behind the camera, serving the role of director for several episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, and other series such as Scandal and The Fosters.

In February, Wilson had the opportunity to direct the record-braking 332nd episode of Grey’s, making the series the longest-running medical drama in television history. Wilson talked about preparing for the episode’s subject matter to Glamour. “I had all of my ideas about things that I thought [were] important and that the audience might want to see and what would be a treat. But then my writers and my producers had another idea for what they thought it was about,” she said. “And we came up with something that I think, for the audience, is gonna say, ‘Guess what guys? We continue. There’s more to come. Nothing is over. Nothing is ended.'”

A different hospital

Since 2014, the actress has had several guest appearances on another long-running ABC show centered around a medical facility. In 2014, Wilson played her first of several characters on the daytime soap opera, General Hospital. First, she portrayed Tina Estrada, a patient of Dr. Kevin Collins, played by Jon Lindstrom. Then in 2018, Wilson portrayed marriage and family therapist Dr. Francine Massey, according to TV Insider.

Most recently, Wilson visited the fictional town of Port Charles in May as Sydney Val Jean, East Coast fashion editor of Crimson magazine, covering the red carpet for the annual Nurses Ball. Wilson’s appearances on the soap opera are somewhat sentimental for her.

“I’ve watched GH for 35 years,” the actress said, according to ABC Soaps In Depth. “I grew up with it. It holds such a place in my heart.”

Fans can see more of Wilson when Grey’s Anatomy returns for its 16th season in September!

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