Alexis Floyd (Inventing Anna) is joining the cast of the mega-popular ABC drama Grey’s Anatomy as a series regular for the show’s upcoming nineteenth season, according to Deadline. The site reports that Floyd will play Simone Griffin, a new first-year surgical resident at Grey Sloan Hospital.
Deadline provided a description for Floyd’s character: “A funny, whip smart, high achiever with a complicated family dynamic. She grew up in Seattle, but never wanted to work at Grey Sloan because of a painful personal history with the hospital.”
Deadline also noted that in the season 18 finale of Grey’s Anatomy, the teaching program at Grey Sloan was shut down, with the hospital being asked to start fresh and rebuild it. The move sent the surgical residents at Grey Sloan Hospital packing.
Floyd, who Deadline notes is also a singer, choreographer and a stage and screen actor with a degree from Carnegie Mellon University in musical theater, got her start appearing in multiple shorts throughout the early 2010s, before receiving her first big break in a major recurring role in season three of the Hulu comedy-drama series The Bold Type as Tia Clayton.
After appearing in The Bold Type, Floyd sent in an audition tape for the Netflix drama Inventing Anna while she was working as a concierge at a yoga studio in New York City while pursuing an acting career, as Deadline noted. She sent in the audition tape to play Neff, whom she ended up playing in the series.
Inventing Anna is created and executive produced by Shonda Rhimes (Scandal), who also created and executive produces Grey’s Anatomy.
Floyd made a statement on joining the cast of Grey’s Anatomy to Deadline.
“Grey’s Anatomy, like all of Shonda’s canon, is a genre re-defining show that remains masterfully committed to diversity, relevancy and vulnerability,” Floyd said. “Joining the cast in its 19th season is an immeasurable honor, and quite simply, it’s gonna be wicked fun.”