Back by popular demand

Jessica Capshaw as Dr Arizona Robbins. Photo / Supplied by TV2

If there's one cast member on Grey's Anatomy who has truly earned her place, it's Jessica Capshaw.

"Grey's was my favourite show for five years," says the chatty star whose personality isn't all that different to her alter ego, Dr Arizona Robbins. "I auditioned two weeks after I'd had a baby, and that was tough. Two times I did not get the part. And they said, 'We really love you.' I was like, 'I don't treat people I love like that."'

Her initial disappointment was soon replaced by elation when a few months later she got the call to say she'd been cast in three episodes of the fifth series.

"I thought, maybe if I don't look anyone in the eye, they'll just forget I'm here and keep me here."

Her initial detachment didn't last long. Capshaw confesses that by the time her contract was up she'd "completely fallen in love" with her new job. Fortunately, Arizona Robbins was so popular, Grey's creator Shonda Rhimes decided to write her into the show as a permanent character.

Aside from being a hit with the kids in her paediatric ward thanks to her roller shoes and pink scrub cap, much of the hype surrounding Arizona's arrival is her lesbian relationship with Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez). As if to echo the sentiments of millions of conservative American viewers, when the pair finally did get together, Callie's disapproving father threatened to cut his daughter off financially if she continued with the relationship.

This season, however, it looks like the couple are going strong.

"I feel like our relationship on this show is really getting to a point of stability. We have to have the drama; there is going to be the conflict and the things you don't expect. But I think that starting off is really about taking this new couple and giving them some solid ground to stand on."

Not everyone was so favourable when Capshaw started on Grey's, with some critics suggesting she'd just be cut after the quick dismissal of Callie's first girlfriend Erica. But Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes has said she was written out due to a lack of chemistry between the characters, something that doesn't appear to be a problem for the new couple.

"The writers have to put the story first but they also have a responsibility to the greater audience in knowing what kind of message to get across," says Capshaw. "So right now is a time for Callie and Arizona to be good for each other, to help each other. And then later on we'll get crazy."

Critics too have wondered aloud if nepotism was involved in Capshaw's hiring. Her mother is Kate Capshaw, Willie Scott in the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and wife of Steven Spielberg since 1991 when Jessica was 15.

The younger Capshaw grew up on TV sets, eventually moving in front of the camera on shows such as The Practice, with her Grey's co-star, Chyler Leigh. She also played a lesbian on The L Word.

"I don't remember, at 19, someone giving me a golden key and saying, 'Welcome to Hollywood. Which job would you like?"' she says.

"That's never been my experience of being an actor. I feel like I've always had to work very hard for what I've got and had to work really hard to stay where I was.

"And being on this show has made me feel the best about what I do in terms of being separate from my parents."

LOWDOWN

Who: Jessica Capshaw

What: Plays Dr Arizona Robbins, the paediatric lesbian, on Grey's Anatomy

When: Tuesdays 8.30pm

Memorable quote: "These are the tiny humans. These are children. They believe in magic. They play pretend. There is fairy dust in their IV bags."