Jessica Capshaw Biography

Jessica Brooke Capshaw (born August 9, 1976) 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 the latter show's fifth season as an attending surgeon and the new head of pediatric surgery. 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 in Columbia, Missouri, the daughter of actress and producer Kate Capshaw, and Robert Capshaw, a sales manager, marketing director, business executive, and high school principal. She is the stepdaughter of director Steven Spielberg. She graduated from Harvard-Westlake School in 1994 and Brown University in 1998 with an English degree. She then attended acting classes at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London.

Career

In the 2001 slasher film Valentine, Capshaw played Dorothy Wheeler. 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. 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, becoming a series regular in the sixth season.

She was established as a love-interest for orthopedic resident Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez). Series creator Shonda Rhimes was in contrast 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." 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.

Personal life

Capshaw married Christopher Gavigan, writer and founder of a child health nonprofit organization, on May 22, 2004 at her family's East Hampton estate. Capshaw has three children with her husband: son Luke Hudson (born September 8, 2007) and daughters Eve Augusta (born October 20, 2010), and Poppy James (born June 20, 2012). Capshaw is best friends with Rizzoli & Isles star Sasha Alexander. The pair were repeatedly told they looked alike and eventually struck up conversation after meeting at an audition.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1999	ER	Sally	Guest Appearance
	Odd Man Out	Aunt Jordan	13 episodes
2000	Big Time	Claire
2001	Valentine	Dorothy Wheeler
2002	Minority Report	Officer Evanna
	The Practice	Jamie Stringer	Series regular (Seasons 7 & 8)
	The Mesmerist	Daisy
2003	View from the Top	Air Hostess
2005	Into the West	Rachel Wheeler	Mini-series
2006	The Groomsmen	Jen
	Thick and Thin	Mary	Unaired
	Bones	Rebecca Stinson	Season 2, Episode 2 and 5 (guest star)
2007	The L Word	Nadia Karella
	Blind Trust	Cassie Stewart
2009"present	Grey's Anatomy	Dr. Arizona Robbins	Recurring cast (season 5) Series regular (season 6"present)
2010	One Angry Juror	Sarah Walsh	Lifetime made for TV movie