Grey’s Anatomy: Sandra Oh’s Audition Almost Landed Her In A Different Role – Looper

In Lynette Rice’s tell-all book “How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy,” Sandra Oh recounted her experience auditioning for Shonda Rhimes and producers Betsy Beers and Peter Horton: “It was great. And then they came back and said, ‘We want you to read for Bailey.'” At that time in her life, Oh recalled, she was working on advocating for herself and articulating her needs: “I didn’t want to play Bailey. I said, ‘What else is available?’ And they said, ‘Cristina is available.'”

Cristina Yang — the ambitious surgical intern and would-be “person” to Meredith Grey — was initially conceived as a blonde white woman, a characterization that was soon swept under the rug owing to Rhimes’ color-blind casting process. It was the doctor’s unapologetic drive, however, that drew Oh to the part.

Cristina’s character, though still a rough sketch of what she would eventually become, was more aligned with Oh’s desires as a performer. “For me, at that time, I was interested in playing a role that was the antagonist,” Oh continued. Indeed, Cristina is introduced as a prickly and competitive intern. “In the pilot, she was the antagonist and also not in a position of authority. Bailey had authority; she was their teacher,” Oh added.

Oh expanded upon her attraction to playing a student in an interview with Vanity Fair: “I was more interested in the role of the student because you have to find stuff out, you don’t have answers … That’s where the story is.” Luckily for Oh, her intuition was correct, and Cristina grew to be much more complex than a ruthless, wannabe surgeon. In due time, she even became a teacher herself.