Mindhole Blowers: The Surprising Real-Life Family Connections of 5 'Scrubs' Cast Members

By Dustin Rowles | Lists | September 28, 2016 |

By Dustin Rowles | Lists | September 28, 2016 |

I was bumbling around in IMDB this morning, checking out the cast of Scrubs, because I’m a firm believer that when the world has got you by the short and curlies, Scrubs will always get you out of a jam. It may not be the best sitcom ever, but it is my all-time favorite one, and few things in life are more rewarding than Scrubs reruns.

Anyway, despite my long-time obsession with Scrubs, it turns out, there are still things I don’t know about the cast, which I realized this morning when I discovered a few neat family relationships within the cast (and creator) of Scrubs.

Did you know, for instance, that Bill Lawrence is the great-great grandson of William Van Duzer Lawrence, who — no big deal — just founded Sarah Lawrence college, which is housed on his estate, and is named after Bill Lawrence’s great-great grandmother, Sarah Lawrence?

Or how about this? Christa Miller, who is Bill Lawrence’s wife, and played Jordan Sullivan, began her life as a model. Her first television appearance was at six months old in a Wonder Bread commercial, and she was in the first ever issue of Maxim. She also had to give up her modeling career in her youth because of benign bone tumor, which she has removed at the Convent of the Sacred Heart. Do you remember what the hospital name was on Scrubs? You guessed it: Sacred Heart.

As for her real-life family connections? Her mom was the famous Ford model, Bonnie Trompeter, between 1965 and 2006. But that’s not all. Miller’s aunt is Susan Saint James, the star of Kate and Allie, which makes Miller’s uncle Dick Ebersol, the former President of NBC Sports (who also survived a plane crash that tragically took the life of his son).

This may not be that surprising given the resemblance, but I had no idea that Sam Lloyd — who played the bumbling lawyer Ted — is the nephew of Christopher Lloyd, of Back fo the Future fame.

Here’s another: Ken Jenkins, who played Bob Kelso on the show, is married to Katharine Houghton, who is not only an actress, but she is Katherine Hepburn’s niece and was, in fact, named after Katharine Hepburn.

Who knew?

I’ll just leave you with one more that you may have missed in an earlier post (because I needed five to round out the list): Scott Foley, who was on 12 episodes of Scrubs (but is better known for Felicity and now Scandal) is the brother-in-law of Patrick Wilson, i.e., Patrick and Scott married the Dominczyk sisters.