Jeffrey Dean Morgan on Why Fans Still Love His 'Grey's Anatomy' Character
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Like most actors, Jeffrey Dean Morgan had big dreams for his life once his career took off in Hollywood. But his dream involved living 3,000 miles away. With donkeys.
Morgan is checking in for his Parade interview from his makeshift office in the middle of his sprawling 120-acre “Mischief Farm” in the quaint village of Rhinebeck, New York. He and his wife, One Tree Hill alum Hilarie Burton, bought the one-time thoroughbred ranch about 15 years ago. The two have since expanded their property—and started both a rescue animal operation and a family.
Photo by Erik Tanner/Contour
“This was my fantasy,” says Morgan, who is known for his roles on The Walking Dead and Grey’s Anatomy and is appearing in the upcoming Prime Video adaptation of The Boys (premiering June 13). “My great-grandmother had a farm that I worked at as a kid one summer, so when I met Hilarie, our dream was to have a piece of land with animals. Now we’ve got a wide array of screwed-up animals that have been abused. Our kids [son, Augustus “Gussie,” 14, and daughter, George, 6] also go to school here, and it’s where we spend most of our time.”
Morgan, 58, has also cultivated such a thriving career that The Boys (premiering June 13) producers recently altered its shoot schedule to accommodate his packed calendar. That’s how Morgan was able to pop up throughout Season 4 of the sly spoof of superhero-worship culture that pits the titular international task force against the depraved “Supes.” Without giving away the farm, Morgan can reveal that he plays a bureaucratic character who has a long history with embattled Boys leader Billy Butcher (Karl Urban). “All I can say is that they’re old buddies and you’re in for a surprise,” he says.
The Seattle native filmed the part immediately after wrapping the first season of the spinoff The Walking Dead: Dead City, on which he’s played the charming and often terrifying zombie-fighting antihero Negan Smith on the post-apocalyptic franchise since 2016. He barreled into the role a full decade after showing his softer side as doomed Seattle Grace patient Denny Duquette on Grey’s Anatomy. (If you remember where you were when Dr. Izzie Stevens learned that her favorite patient stroked out, you’re not alone.) In between? He took on the full narrative spectrum, including turns on Weeds, Supernatural, The Good Wife, Shameless and Watchmen.
Considering that Morgan toiled in the industry for nearly 20 years before Grey’s, the actor still can’t quite believe his credit list keeps growing. “I was kicking around for a long time and now I’ve worked stupid steadily for the past 20 years,” he says. “I look at my career, and it makes me smile.”
Before heading out for a long weekend in Boston with his family for work, Morgan got down to business for this week’s Parade cover story.
Mara Reinstein: How did you end up on The Boys?
Jeffrey Dean Morgan: I have a relationship with [creator] Eric [Kripke] that goes back 100 years from Supernatural. I watched the first couple of episodes of The Boys from Season 1 and kind of flipped out because I'd never seen anything like it. That’s saying a lot, because in this day and age, so many shows are just a repeat of something else. So I went on about it on social media, and Eric saw it. I knew even if I just did one episode, I would be happy.
How did you balance filming the two series?
My schedule was always screwed up because I was shooting [The Walking Dead: Dead City] in New York City. So we worked it out that they waited until after I wrapped. They held up everything and waited four months for me to finish my job. Then I went to Toronto for a couple months and filmed all my scenes and finished out The Boys. It was f--king great. I thought I’d be in one episode and I think I’m in six or seven.
Given the trajectory of your career, did you ever remotely imagine you’d be such an in-demand star?
No, no. I mean, it all came to me pretty late in life. I was in my late 30s when I did Grey’s and Supernatural. And to be doing Supernatural and The Walking Dead and The Boys . . . I mean, those are three of the biggest genre shows in the history of the world. It’s crazy.
Was there a point when you were going to tap out of acting?
Yeah. I’d been an actor for 20 years and just thought I was really done.
What was the low point?
I had done an episode of one of those Star Trek spinoffs [Star Trek: Enterprise in 2003], and I played a Xindi alien. I was in full prosthetics, and I hated it. I got claustrophobic and was like, Why am I doing this? You couldn’t even tell it was me, and they wanted me to change my voice. I was really done. But the problem was that I really didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t have any education.
Why did you move from Seattle to L.A. in the first place? Let’s hear the story.
So I grew up in Seattle during the grunge rock movement in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. I knew all those guys, but I certainly wasn’t a musician. I thought about doing art because I had a graphic art company and was doing some album covers. But I had one buddy who was an actor and moving to L.A., and I helped him move. I met a casting director, and she was like, “You should try this.” I mean, what did I have to lose? I immediately got a lead in a Roger Corman movie [1991’s Uncaged] with a girl from Head of the Class. I remember driving down Sunset Boulevard with a camera mounted to the front of a convertible Cadillac and thinking, Jesus Christ, I did it! Then I struggled for the next 20 years.
Maybe a thousand patients have cycled through Grey’s Anatomy since 2005. Why does your Denny Duquette character still stand out?
I think Katie [Heigl] and I had some really special chemistry that translated well on film, and the character was so damn good. He was real and good at the same time, if that makes sense. And everybody—even men—liked Denny. But the women just went crazy. After it first came out, there was a period of time when I couldn’t even go to a grocery store. It was nuts. I would get tackled by crying women in the tomato section. The timing was also really good—it’s when 30 million people a week were tuning in to that show.
But you know it wasn’t just the numbers.
I agree. Between that and Supernatural, a career was born. [Director] Zack Snyder put me in [2009’s] Watchmen because of Grey’s Anatomy. His wife and kids made him watch it. He was like “Who the f--k is that guy?!”
You also starred in P.S. I Love You with Hilary Swank in 2007, but haven’t really done the rom-com thing since that film. Was that a conscious decision to avoid typecasting?
Well, I remember there was a period of time when people were like, “Oh, you can be like America’s Hugh Grant.” I loved that because I love Hugh Grant so much. So I did P.S. I Love You and [2008’s] The Accidental Husband with Uma Thurman and Colin Firth. There was a minute when I thought my career was just starting—even though I’d been doing it for 20 years!—and I wanted to do as many things as possible because it might all be gone tomorrow. Then the Watchmen came knocking, and it got me hooked into the genre.
You mean the comic book genre?
Yeah, I loved it. I love comic books. I was a fan of comic books when I was a kid, but I had stopped paying attention to that world. I got back into it with Watchmen, and this was before Marvel was going nuts with all their movies.
Wasn’t there talk of a Walking Dead movie?
We had talked about doing that before the spinoffs came to be. That was led by Andrew Lincoln because he didn’t want to do TV anymore. I got it, because he lived on the other side of the pond and he’s got kids. Movies are contained and over in six weeks. But ultimately, it made more sense for AMC to not give up the series for the film world. Now we’re shooting year two of Dead City. I still like playing Negan, and I should say I never thought I’d still like him.
Negan is an iconic character now, don’t you think?
He’s moving and grooving. It’s not one-note. Every year I can find something different to hold on to that feels new to me. That’s why I like him so much.
Like The Walking Dead, you joined The Boys deep into its TV run. What was that experience like?
It was an unbelievably cool set. A lot of the people I knew from Supernatural. And I was allowed to have the time to play around and make it right. It wasn’t a huge rush job. And the whole cast is perfect.
Can you watch The Boys with your kids?
Gussie has seen some stuff. Same with Walking Dead. George hasn’t seen it. But they will. My dad is a big fan.
There are many framed photos and autographs in the background of your office. Which is your most prized possession?
It’s the picture I took of my wife and daughter in the bathroom of the Bowery Hotel. [He takes it down from the wall to show it to the camera.] My wife hates this picture. But I f---king love it. I also love this picture from my first day as Negan on the set. It’s some of the Walkers from The Walking Dead. I took it with my phone. I promise it’s cool.
Related: Hilarie Burton Shares Sweet Wedding Photos to Celebrate Anniversary With Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Hey, does the family ever sit down to watch Hilarie in One Tree Hill?
I’ve never seen it still to this day. But I think my son wants to watch it, so I’m going to watch it with him. Yeah, Hilarie doesn’t want me to see it at this point. She’s like, “It’s terrible. Don’t watch it.” But look, I think she’s an amazing actor and I just like to see her bouncing around as a teenager.
The two of you certainly cover a lot of fun 21st century television!
Well, thank you. I don’t think we think about it much. We’re just trying so hard not to screw up our children that we rarely talk about our careers or where we stand in any of them. But I’m so proud of her, and what she’s doing now on the farm [with the animals] is tremendous. I’m her biggest fan for sure.
So to what do you attribute all your later-in-life success?
I think I’m very lucky. Well, I don’t think it’s all luck. I still haven’t ruined my reputation by being a big asshole. I know a lot of people who are really good actors who don’t work because they’re assholes. So I’m going to go down just trying not to be one. I don’t want to embarrass my kids!
This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity
Next, 'The Boys' Season 4 Is Shaping Up to Be Super Indeed! Spoilers, Cast Updates and More
