Actress Beanie Feldstein is 100% living her best life right now, from Lady Bird and Booksmart to What We Do in the Shadows. Her older brother Jonah Hill is still the better known Hollywood star, but the past few years have been huge for her career -- and she just got to fulfill her childhood dream of being on Grey's Anatomy.
On top of that, Grey's Anatomy OG Patrick Dempsey saw her post about the guest role and applauded. Yes, Derek Shepherd, McDreamy himself! Beanie also got backup from other past Grey's stars, in addition to the ones she just got to share scenes with. That must've been surreal for her.
Beanie Feldstein is 26, and she was born in June 1993, so she was only 11 when Grey's Anatomy premiered in March 2005. (Yes, that makes me feel old too!) She played Tess the new "resident" at Grey Sloan in Grey's Anatomy Season 16, Episode 15, "Snowblind," which aired February 27, 2020. For Tess' heartbreaking storyline, Beanie spent most of her scenes with James Pickens Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber. Turns out, Tess was not really a doctor, she was in the hospital as a patient, fighting cancer once again.
The 2020 episode was a fantastic showcase role for Beanie Feldstein and she was over-the-moon about the dream coming true. Here's what she posted, with Patrick Dempsey's approval highlighted:
Amazing! Good for her. And Grey's Anatomy was lucky to have her!
Beanie Feldstein's Instagram post included several photos from the Grey's Anatomy episode and also behind-the-scenes with co-stars. One star who was upset to not get to act alongside Feldstein was Jessica Capshaw. Capshaw played Dr. Arizona Robbins on the show from 2009-2018 but was written out at the end of Season 14. Here's what she commented on Beanie's Instagram post:
Our timing is clearly off and we need to recalibrate...how could I have missed this?!?!? I’m very sad that Dr. Robbins wasn’t there to meet you...hope you had the best time!!! Xoxoxo.
Stranger Things' Maya Hawke also weighed in, writing, "Oh my god I’m sooooo envious I could dieeee."
Actress Dakota Fanning also chimed in with a comment, writing, "Dr. Desmond!!!!!" the fake doctor name of Beanie Feldstein's character.
It's clear there are A LOT of celebrity fans of Grey's Anatomy, beyond Beanie Feldstein, but good for her for getting that big moment. And how bittersweet that it precedes the show's big goodbye to actor Justin Chambers' character, Dr. Alex Karev.
If Beanie Feldstein has been a fan since the beginning, she must've watched Alex Karev's journey across 16 seasons and I imagine she would've loved to act alongside Justin Chambers. But he left the show rather abruptly earlier in the season, with his last episode airing in November 2019. However, Grey's Anatomy is only just now airing an official goodbye episode for Alex Karev, since they needed to figure out how to write out the character.
That goodbye episode of Grey's Anatomy -- which may end up killing Alex off, although that will take some careful explaining -- airs this coming Thursday, March 5 on ABC.
If they do kill off Alex, well, Patrick Dempsey knows a thing or two about having a character written out that way. So if the former Dr. Derek Shepherd is still keeping up with Grey's Anatomy appearances behind-the-scenes, it would be interesting to get his take on all of this...
