Jessica Capshaw

Jessica Brooke Capshaw Gavigan (born August 9, 1976), known professionally as Jessica Capshaw, is an American actress. She is known for her role as Jamie Stringer in The Practice and Dr. Arizona Robbins on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy. She was introduced in Grey's Anatomy's fifth season as an attending surgeon and the new head of pediatric surgery.[1] Originally contracted to appear in three episodes, Capshaw's contract was extended to the remainder of the fifth season, with her becoming a series regular in the sixth season.
== Early life ==
Capshaw was born August 9, 1976 in Columbia, Missouri,[2] the daughter of actress and producer Kate Capshaw, and Robert Capshaw, a sales manager, marketing director, business executive, and high school principal.[3] She is the stepdaughter of director Steven Spielberg, whom her mother married when Capshaw was fifteen years old.[4]
Capshaw graduated from Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles in 1994. She then enrolled at Brown University,[5] where she appeared in productions of Arcadia and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.[2] She graduated in 1998 with a B.A. in English.[2] During summers, she attended classes at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London,[1] where she appeared as Puck in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.[2]
== Career ==
Capshaw had a minor role in the drama The Locusts (1997), co-starring her mother, at age nineteen.[2] She subsequently had a role in Adam Rifkin's independent film Denial (1998).[2]In the 2001 slasher film Valentine, Capshaw played Dorothy Wheeler. She then had a minor role in Minority Report (2002), and a lead role in Edward Burns's The Groomsmen (2006).[2]
In 2009, she became a regular on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy. It was first reported in December 2008 that Capshaw would be joining the cast of Grey's Anatomy as pediatric surgeon Arizona Robbins, for a multi-episode arc.[6]Initially scheduled to appear in three episodes of the show's fifth season, series creator Shonda Rhimes later extended Capshaw's contract to appear in all of the season's remaining episodes,[7] becoming a series regular in the sixth season.[8]
She was established as a love-interest for orthopedic resident Callie Torres(Sara Ramirez). Series creator Shonda Rhimes was pleased with the chemistry between Robbins and Torres, citing the addition of Capshaw to the cast as an element of the season of which she was most proud. Speaking of the new addition, Rhimes said: "I love Jessica Capshaw, and when I say love I mean love. She couldn't be a more wonderful person, and I feel like the chemistry Arizona and Callie have feels like the Meredith and Derek chemistry to me. I find them delightful to watch."[9] Initial media reaction to the character was positive. Matt Mitovich of TV Guide described her as a "fan favorite", and Chris Monfette for IGN praised the addition of "fresh, new characters", such as Robbins over the course of the season.[10][11][12] In March 2018, Capshaw was let go from Grey’s Anatomy, with the producers citing creative reasons.[13]
== Personal life ==
Capshaw married Christopher Gavigan on May 22, 2004, at her family's East Hampton estate.[14] The couple have a son and three daughters: Luke Hudson (b. 2007), Eve Augusta (b. 2010), Poppy James (b. 2012) and Josephine Kate (b. 2016).[15]
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1997	The Locusts 	Patsy 	
1998	Denial 	Marcia 	
1999	The Love Letter 	Kelly 	
2000	Killing Cinderella 	Beth 	
2000	Big Time 	Claire 	Short film
2001	Valentine 	Dorothy Wheeler 	
2002	The Mesmerist 	Daisy Valdemar 	
2002	Minority Report 	Evanna 	
2003	View from the Top 	Royalty International Flight Attendant	Uncredited
2006	The Groomsmen 	Jen 	
2007	Blind Trust 	Cassie Stewart 	
2014	The Hero of Color City	Duck 	
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1999 	ER 	Sally McKenna 	1 episode: "Rites of Spring"
1999–2000	Odd Man Out 	Aunt Jordan 	Main cast
13 episodes
2001 	The Back Page 	 	TV Movie
2002–2004	The Practice 	Jamie Stringer 	Main cast
Season 7 & 8; 42 episodes
2005 	Into the West 	Rachel Wheeler 	1 episode: "Manifest Destiny"
2006 	Thick and Thin 	Mary 	Unaired
2006 	Bones 	Rebecca Stinson 	2 episodes: "Mother and Child in the Bay", "The Truth in the Lye"
2007 	The L Word 	Nadia Karella 	3 episodes: "Livin' La Vida Loca", "Lassoed", "Layup"
2009 	Head Case 	 	1 episode: "Tying the Not"
2009–2018	Grey's Anatomy 	Dr. Arizona Robbins	Recurring (Season 5)
Main Cast (Season 6-14) 214 episodes
2010 	One Angry Juror	Sarah Walsh 	TV Movie