TV Talk: CMU grad scrubs in as new ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ cast member

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.

Carnegie Mellon University musical theater grad Alexis Floyd is making her mark in Shondaland, the production company founded by “Grey’s Anatomy” creator Shonda Rhimes.

First, Floyd was cast in Shondaland’s Netflix series, “Inventing Anna,” playing hotel concierge Neff, who befriends fake heiress Anna Delvey (Julia Garner). Rhimes tapped Floyd again for a series regular role on ABC’s Seattle-set “Grey’s Anatomy” (9 p.m. Thursday, WTAE-TV), now in its 19th season.

“Shonda reached out to me in the early stages of developing Simone – Simone actually had a different name at the time – and asked me to put a few scenes on tape,” Floyd recalled in a recent phone interview from Los Angeles. “She didn’t say much about the size or the scope of the role, but I respect and honor her work to an extraordinary extent and my experience with ‘Inventing Anna’ just super-solidified what I had heard to be true, which is she’s really careful about choosing her family.”

Floyd, who graduated from CMU in 2015, sent in her tape and an offer to accept the role came a few weeks later, with Rhimes explaining the size and scope of the part and her expectations for the season.

“It just really blew me away,” Floyd said. “And she’s continued to blow me away by reaching out just to check in, asking if I need anything, just making herself extraordinarily available in a really personal way. I just feel really embraced by this woman who’s omnipresent but in my experience, she feels like she’s got a hand on my shoulder at all times. It’s special.”

Floyd’s Simone is a first-year surgical intern with three months’ more experience than the rest of her intern class.

“She’s a transfer from another program and you’ll find out why she’s made the transition,” Floyd said. “Most importantly [the thing] to know about her going in is that she does have a personal connection to Seattle. She was born and raised there. Specifically, [she has a connection] to Grey Sloan [Memorial Hospital]. It’s something rather emotional that she was trying to get distance from, but the fates have her confronting this piece of her [past] on top of getting her residency program under her belt.”

Marla Gibbs (“The Jeffersons”) will guest star this season as Joyce Ward, Simone’s grandmother, who “will likely shed light on both Simone’s family dynamic and history with Grey Sloan,” per Deadline.com.

Floyd said many of her early scenes are with Meredith Grey, played by series star Ellen Pompeo, who will have a reduced presence on “Grey’s Anatomy” this season as she takes time off of “Grey’s” to film a limited series for Hulu. Floyd said Pompeo is “really supportive and present” as a scene partner.

“You’ll see [Simone] interacting with Meredith Grey quite a bit and it’ll become more and more clear why. They definitely are connected from the jump,” Floyd said. “[Simone] feels a sense of mentorship [from Meredith] and that feeling only grows over time.”

Growing up in Cleveland, Floyd was involved in community musical theater shows from age 13 on. At a Fairmount Center for the Arts summer camp, she first heard of the CMU acting programs.

“I remember my whole body kind of vibrating and being like, ‘That’s the place for you,’” Floyd recalled.

Eventually, she applied to, auditioned for and ultimately gained early acceptance to CMU, completing her senior year of high school and her freshman year of college simultaneously in Pittsburgh.

“I only applied to CMU, only auditioned there and then when I was welcomed, I did a few general education classes on campus there to finish up my high school curriculum, but, yeah, from day one it was the place,” Floyd said. “I was really embraced. I did feel like everybody’s little sister, which was kind of beautiful.”

Floyd also had a support system during her CMU journey thanks to a friendship she established in Cleveland with the Cott family. Corey Cott (“Filthy Rich”), who Floyd appeared on stage with in Cleveland’s Heights Youth Theatre production of “Children of Eden,” graduated from CMU in 2012 and Casey Cott (“Riverdale”) was a year behind Floyd at CMU.

“They really opened their wings to me,” Floyd said. “Their family ended up moving to Pittsburgh for a time and coming to see me in stuff and so that was nice, too.”

Post-graduation, Floyd landed a recurring role on Freeform’s “The Bold Type” in 2019 and before that found assistance from another CMU grad, Krista Marie Yu, class of 2011.

“She actually gave me my first day job in L.A. She was a hostess at this restaurant and she put in a good word for me,” said Floyd.

It may be the same hostess position Yu landed after 2001 CMU grad Lea Coco recommended Yu. “Wow, I dropped the ball. I didn’t pass on the torch [probably because] I didn’t last very long.”