How Grey’s Anatomy Saved Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Acting Career

A couple of years before his time as Denny Duquette on “Grey’s Anatomy,” Jeffrey Dean Morgan was in one episode of “Star Trek: Enterprise.” And just one episode made him consider quitting acting altogether. He was playing a Xindi-Reptilian, and it involved a full face mask. That’s what Morgan had the issue with. On “Hot Ones,” he explained just how horrible it was: “It turns out I’m claustrophobic. I had a really hard time doing the makeup process, and I had straws in my nose.” It was so stressful for Morgan that shooting that one episode made him question his career. He talked about going home and thinking, “I don’t ever want to be an actor again. I was sure that this was just wrong, and it almost made me quit.” We’re so glad that he stuck with it! We can’t imagine “Grey’s” without Morgan as Denny.

“Grey’s Anatomy” wasn’t Morgan’s first role by any means, it was the one that gave him freedom to choose what projects he wanted to work on. From what he said about his time on “Star Trek,” we’re pretty confident that there won’t be any roles roles that involve him having to wear a full face mask. We’re okay with that — we love to see his megawatt smile.