Scrubs cast now - tragic death and dating considerably younger Hollywood star (2024)

Staggeringly, it’s been 20 years since Scubs first hit our screens.

The American comedy, which was also pretty dramatic at times, centred around the employees at the fictional Sacred Heart Hospital.

There were big laughs, emotional moments that left us in tears and a whole host of whacky characters working at the teaching hospital.

The main protagonist and narrator was J.D. - with almost every episode title starting with the word “My” and coming from his viewpoint.

Starting back in October 2001, the show initially came to an end after eight series, but was rebooted for the Med School ninth season which failed to have the same appeal.

Many actors rose to fame on Scrubs, but there was also a number of big names who made guest appearances such as Brendan Fraser, Heather Graham and Colin Farrell.

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Despite some of its portrayal of hospital life being questionable, the show was a hit with critics and fans, reaching 17 Emmy nominations.

Some of the original cast stayed on in their roles for the ninth season, with many new additions, but sadly it was cancelled for good in March 2010.

Quite a few of the actors went on to appear in Cougar Town, which was also the brain child of Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence.

Some have gone on to become big names, some have disappeared and there was one tragic death only last year.

Ahead of tomorrow’s 20th anniversary here’s a look at what the Scrubs cast have been up to since the show ended.

Zach Braff - J.D.

Our guide into the hospital was John Michael Dorian, better known to everyone as J.D.

Starting off as an intern, the show’s main character rose through the rans to physician and then left to be the Residency Director at another hospital.

We entered J.D.’s mind and saw his surreal fantasies and heard all his weird internal thoughts.

The breakout star from Scrubs, actor Zach Braff was nominated for an Emmy and three Golden Globes.

As well as starring in The Last Kiss and The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy, he lent his voice in films such as Chicken Little, Oz the Great and Powerful and Netflix comedy Bojack Horseman.

But he’s also gone behind the camera, making his directorial debut in 2004 in critically acclaimed movie Garden State, which he also wrote and starred in.

Zach has carried on directing movies and episodes of TV shows while also appearing on stage in New York and the West End in the play he wrote, All New People.

Most recently, he starred in upcoming American crime comedy film The Comeback Trail alongside Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones and Morgan Freeman.

His private life has also drawn a lot of interest, as the 46-year-old has been dating English actress Florence Pugh since 2019.

Zach, who has dated a string of beauties including Drew Barrymore, Kirsten Dunst and Mandy Moore, charmed Florence’s family when he met them for the first time last year.

Florence has previously hit out at trolls who have criticised the pair’s romance due to their 21-year age gap, saying: “I do not need you to tell me who I should and should not love. “I would never in my life, ever, ever tell anyone who they can and cannot love.

“It is not your place and it has nothing to do with you.

“The abuse that you throw at him is abuse that you are throwing at me, and I don’t want those followers.”

Sarah Chalke - Elliot Feid

Driven by a desire to prove her worth to her family, intern Elliot struggled socially at times but eventually became as private-practise physician.

Her on-off romances with J.D. carried on throughout the show but eventually they got married and had a kid together.

Before Scrubs, Sarah rose to fame playing Becky in comedy series Roseanne while original actress Lecy Goranson went to university.

Not wanting any more scheduling conflicts, Goranson didn't sign up to season 9 and Chalke took over completely.

When the series was revived, Lecy was back in the role of Becky so Sarah came back as a new character called Andrea, and they jokingly referenced how alike they looked.

After Scrubs, Sarah took on a re-occurring role on How I Met Your Mother as Stella Zinman.

She's since been busy with a string of movie and television roles including appearances on Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs and the voice of Beth in animated comedy Rick & Morty.

Most recently, she played Kate Mularkey in Netflix series Firefly Lane in February this year.

Donald Faison - Christopher Turk

One of the funniest character’s on the show, Turk was J.D.’s best friend and former roommate - and sometimes they were actually a bit too close.

The highly driven intern became a surgeon and then chief of surgery, but still had time to date Carla, get married and start their family.

Having become famous for his role as Murray Duvall in 1995 film and TV series Clueless actor Donald Faison went on to star in sitcom The Exes, sci-fi movie Skyline and lent his voice on Robot Chicken.

The actor also starred in Kick-Ass 2 and was reunited with Scrubs co-star Zach Braff in Wish I Was Here.

That are such close pals that Donald’s wedding to second wife CaCee Cobb was held at Zach’s home, with the J.D. actor serving as a groomsman while Jessica Simpson was a bridesmaid.

Faison and Braff launched their own podcast in March last year titled Fake Doctors, Real Friends, where they spill secrets about the show and rewatch the series together with fellow cast mates.

John C. McGinley - Perry Cox

While Dr Cox cared deeply about his patients, the attending physician often gave J.D. a tough time despite the intern considering him his mentor.

Often critical and patronising, Dr Cox treated J.D. cruelly to get him ready for the tough hospital life but did occasionally express grudging admiration.

During the show there were three things actor John C. McGinley said he improvised, mocking J.D. with girls’ names, this whistle and his habit of touching his nose.

He was already a familiar face before Scrubs due to his roles in big movies such as Platoon, Wall Street, Point Break, Seven and The Rock.

More recently, the actor has appeared in the film The Belko Experiment and hit comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine in a guest role.

The author, who owns a state in a bistro with fellow actor Willem Dafoe, is a celebrity Ambassador for the National Down Syndrome Society and serves on the board for the Global Down Syndrome Foundation.

Neil Flynn - Janitor

J.D.’s nemesis was the mysterious Janitor, who was constantly pulling pranks on him during the show.

We only found out that the Janitor’s real name during the season eight finale, when he finally revealed to J.D. he is called “Glenn Matthews”.

As soon as Scrubs ended, actor Neil Flynn swapped hospitals for family life as he got the main role of dad Mike Heck in ABC comedy The Middle.

Neil has had quite the acting career, appearing in Mean Girls, Home Alone 3, Anchorman and India Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

As well as big budget movies, he has also been on the small screen in Smallville, That’70s show and lent his voice to Bob’s Burgers.

Ken Jenkins - Bob Kelso

The meanest person at Sacred Heart was chief of medicine Bob Kelso.

The selfish and intimidating doctor didn’t care much about his patients and more about money, but very occasionally showed a softer side.

He retired in season seven but kept coming back to the hospital coffee shop because he was entitled to free muffins for life.

Esteemed actor Ken Jenkins was already well known before his Scrubs role, having appeared in a a number of movies as well as The X-Files, Babylon 5 and Star Trek: Next Generation.

Much like many members of the cast he went on to appear in Cougar Town, playing Courteney Cox’s dad Chick.

Most recently he popped up in Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events as one of the members of the Village of Fowl Devotees' Council of Elders.

Judy Reyes - Carla Espinosa

The head nurse at the hospital, stubborn and opinionated Carla was a mother figure to all the interns.

She got into relationship with Turk, who she loved to boss around, with the pair getting married and having kids together.

Her affectionate nickname for J.D. was “Bambi” and despite hating each other at first became close friends with Elliot.

American actress Judy Reyes won’t stop appearing on TV screens - having roles in The Good Wife, Devious Maids, iZombie and Jane the Virgin.

She also appeared in HBO series Succession, Netflix true crime drama Dirty John and American sitcom Black-ish.

Sam Lloyd - Ted Buckland

Scared Heart’s lawyer, Ted Buckland was the loveable sad-sack who seemingly never won a case.

Actor Sam Lloyd reprised the role in there episodes of Cougar Town and was a singer in a cappella group The Blanks, who appeared in Scrubs under the name The Worthless Pigeons.

He also played the bass guitar in a Beatles tribute band called the Butties and even learned how to play bass left haded to be authentic in his role as Paul McCartney.

The actor is the nephew of Back to the Future star Christopher Lloyd - with the pair both guest starring in Malcolm in the Middle and The West Wing.

Sam had roles in The Middle, Desperate Housewives, Modern Family and Robin Williams mad scientist movie Flubber.

Tragically, Sam died last year following a battle with cancer.

Following his initial diagnosis in early 2019, the cast and crew of Scrubs rallied around Sam, launching a GoFundMe to help him in his fight against cancer.

He was diagnosed with cancer of the brain and lungs just weeks after after welcoming a son named Weston with his wife, Vanessa.

Sam died in April 2020 in LA at the age of 56 - with former Scrubs co-star Zach Braff paying tribute to his friend.

He tweeted: "Rest In Peace to one of the funniest actors I've ever had the joy of working with. Sam Lloyd made me crack up and break character every single time we did a scene together.

He added: "He could not have been a kinder man. I will forever cherish the time I had with you, Sammy."

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