“I think Sam is exactly the kind of woman that I always wanted to find in the pages of a script," the One Tree Hill and Chicago P.D. alum tells Parade.com in an exclusive interview about Samantha “Sam” Griffith, a chief of surgery at Detroit’s fictitious Lakeshore Sentinel Hospital. “She is dynamic and smart, and also fallible. She feels like a real human being that I want to hang out with, and I want to be friends with. I love that Sam isn’t ashamed of her capability, but is also always willing to learn more. I had such a blast playing her!” Besides being devoted to the medical residents she leads at Lakeshore, Sam is also an avid and talented pianist and a feisty sparring partner with her arrogant medical genius of a father, Dr. Rob Griffith, played by Harry Potter star Jason Isaacs. Keep reading for more of Parade.com’s exclusive interview with Sophia Bush!
Sophia, what are the best parts of both your character and the show Good Sam?
My favorite thing about the show is there is an infectious spirit to it. It makes you feel happy, energized, and like you want more, and that is really something; it feels a little bit like capturing lightning in a bottle.
What do you think viewers see in Sam?
I think it’s probably why we’re seeing the response we get from the folks who’ve seen the show who say that they love her, too. It’s because we want to feel represented in our totality, our complications, where the arena from which we succeed, and the arena from which we feel like we might not be enough, all of those things are true for so many of us at the same time, and it’s nice to have someone representing that on screen, and for me personally, it’s a real sort of a pinch-me situation that I get to play that person.
Dr. Sam certainly has a lot going on.
There is a lot going on, but I have to be honest, I don’t have any women in my life who don’t have a lot going on. I think for me, it is a great fit as a person who’s always traveled a lot, been curious about so much, and wants to lean more into learning, advocacy, showing up and growing.
You spent some time in Chicago for the show Chicago PD. Tell me about the die-hard fans who stood out in the cold to watch the filming.
One of the greatest things about Chicago P.D. is the city itself is a character. There’s so much pride there, you know, for their sports teams, for their shows—and it’s been lovely to have all of the fandoms of One Tree Hill, and all of the fandoms of Chicago P.D. come and say, you know, ‘We’re so excited for this next adventure.’ It’s fun that I get to play someone who experiences so much joy and gets to laugh and be happy in the workplace because it can be hard to deal with violence every day at work, even when it’s fictional. I think the thing that I love so much about Good Sam is that it’s rooted in hope. It’s rooted in the potential to save a life, to come up with a solution, and to rescue someone. This feels just so joyous to me, and I think especially after the last couple of years, people definitely need a little hope right now.
Do you have traits in common with Sam, such as being so driven and never giving up on yourself or others in your life?
Yes. I do. I think something that we both have in common is drive, and a drive for others, that’s often the thing that keeps me going. It’s easy for me to give up and be self-critical if I’m just in an insular environment. I’m trying to figure out what it is I want to do, but when I think back on what we can do together, whether that’s in terms of activism, or on the set, and I look at my whole crew, and I look at my cast, and I like being involved in a team sport, and Sam is a team leader. She wants everyone to excel. She wants everyone to lean into their strengths. She believes that the more perspectives there are at the table, the better they will do, and that is something that we have in common. So, to go from me having a show set in one city which has such incredible pride, like Chicago, to having another show that’s set in such a specific city, like Detroit, which is a place where I have deep roots. My best friend and business partner grew up in Detroit. We ran a business there for many years. We do a lot of philanthropic work in the city, and there’s just something really personal and special about that kind of kismet or fated type of energy.
Sam plays piano as a stress reliever in the show. Do you also play piano?
Oh, my goodness. The irony of this show is not lost on me, that I grew up wanting to be a surgeon, and a couple of years ago I said to myself, I’m finally going to learn to play the piano, and then I got one at a cool old vintage shop, and then the pandemic hit, and it was pretty difficult to get a lesson, and here’s this show where I’m learning to play the piano on film. I have learned a couple of the specific scales that Sam obviously would know as an incredible pianist. To be able to do those shots, we pan from face to hands, and then I have an incredible coach who, while teaching me those things, has also been teaching me a lot about body posture and movement. So, with some of the longer pieces, I can work my body at the piano in the right way, and then the really wonderful, concert-level skill inserts are done by an actual concert pianist who I sit and watch from the corner fawning over her while she does what she does because I am just so unbelievably impressed by her skill, And it makes me wish I’d taken up the piano when I was a little kid.
What about the medical rehearsals? Is there a big learning curve there? What are they like?
They’re great. For me, having wanted to do this for so many years of my life, the medical stuff certainly comes easier to me than playing the piano. I learned one-handed surgical knots a lot faster than I learned some of those scales I was referencing, but you know, it is certainly incredibly complex, and it’s also something that I take very seriously because I want to make sure that the people that I am representing on camera find that representation to be accurate. I want our doctors, nurses, and first responders to actually say ‘yes, you’re doing it right,’ and that means that we do a lot of work ourselves. We’ve got a really great team who helps us with all of the tools, all of the know-how. When I was in my 14-day isolation quarantine back in January of 2021 getting ready to do the pilot, I spent a lot of time in my room with a prosthetic suture kit, just working with surgical needles and various sizes of proline thread so that I could make sure I knew what I was doing. It’s a labor of love, certainly, to get that stuff right, and we love it, a lot.
Was there anything that you, Jason Isaacs, and your other co-stars did early to bond?
Well, the interesting thing is we all came up here in 2020 to make our pilot, and we were doing table reads, rehearsals, fittings and camera tests, and then COVID-19 hit, and so, we had an entire year to be together. We weathered the pandemic together. We gathered on Facetime, we had text threads, and Skye (P. Marshall) and I were both in Los Angeles and spent so much of the pandemic together, whether it was you know, hiking, or marching in the summer of protests, or having dinners outside in a safe distance in my backyard. We had time, and I think that this is something that really translates when you see us on screen. The level of familiarity, that the quirks that you sort of assume from each other. My God, I went on The Talk this week to promote the show, and this pun rolled out of my mouth. I was like, I’ve really been hanging out with Michael Stahl-David a lot. That man loves a pun and here we are, you know, we’re sort of adopting each other’s traits, and I think there’s something really beautiful about that, especially when you’re meant to drop into a world where the dynamics revolve around families and long-term relationships.
Why do you want readers to watch Good Sam?
It’s a special show. There’s something about it. There’s a secret sauce, and I don’t just say that as an actor or a producer of the show. I say that because I’m echoing the sentiment of every person that I’ve spoken to who has watched it, and said ‘wow, this is special.’ I believe in it. I think it brings a lot of joy and a lot of heart. I love a show that can make you laugh and make you cry, and it offers you hope at the end of every episode. I think that those are things people want and deserve, and I’m hoping we can give it to them for a long time. Watch Good Sam Wednesdays on CBS from 10-11 p.m. ET. For more on Good Sam, check out: Everything You Want to Know About CBS’ New Medical Drama Good Sam, Including Sophia Bush’s Dream to Become a Cardiologist!
