Chandra Wilson Says She Went on Rides at Universal Studios Between HerGrey’s AnatomyAuditions

Mar. 15, 2025

Chandra Wilson.Photo:Michael Tullberg/FilmMagic

Michael Tullberg/FilmMagic

Chandra Wilsonis reminiscing about the fun she had on her final day of auditions forGrey’s Anatomy.

The actress, 54, shared during a panel at the Disney fan event D23 on Sunday, Aug. 11, that she went on rides at Universal Studios during a five-hour break between her audition for the production studio and her audition for the network.

After a successful audition for the role of Dr. Miranda Bailey with the production studio (including directors and producers of the then-untitled medical show), Wilson had some time to kill.

“There was like five hours between [auditions], so I went to Universal Studios and… rode some rides,” she confessed, prompting the audience to roar with laughter.

Chandra Wilson.MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images

MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images

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It must have been a good choice because although Wilson said that the original description for the character of Dr. Bailey was a “short, white blonde female,” she got the part and has played the surgeon since the pilot episode of the show aired on March 27, 2005.

Wilson also recalled that her agent gave her one note between both auditions — to “take command of the room more” from the moment she entered it.

She said she listened to that advice and also channeled her mother, who was a teacher, when performing the audition monologue, which was a scene in the pilot where then-chief resident Dr. Bailey listed her “five rules” for her intern class.

TheGeneral Hospitalalum lived in New York at the time and said she went back to the city thinking that if nothing else she got to enjoy a theme park.

About two days later, she landed the part that changed her life.

Throughout her decades-long run on the show, Wilson has split her focus between acting and directing. PerIMDb, her first directing credit onGrey Anatomy’scame in 2010 for a season 6 episode.

She also has directing credits on the fellow Shondaland showScandaland Freeform’sThe FostersandGood Trouble.

Chandra Wilson on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’.Gilles Mingasson via Getty Images

However, on a 2021 episode ofThe Ellen Degeneres Show, Wilson told guest host Mario Lopez that she kept a day job until the second season of the now wildly successful medical drama.

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“My bread and butter was my job in the document-processing department at Banker’s Trust,” she said, referring to the day job she had in New York, which was a long-term temp position that she continually called out of while filming season 1 of the show.

Wilson laughed, adding that they had to “force” her out.

source: people.com