High-Dose Humor

At times silly, at times serious, "Scrubs" chronicles the weird
and wild life of brand-new medical intern J.D. Dorian.

ALICE BURDICK SCHWEIGER

Special to the Jewish News

ach Braff may not have
gone to medical school, but
playing an intern on the
NBC sitcom Scrubs has
given him a good idea what it's like
to be a doctor.
"I can see how hard doctors work
and how dedicated they have to be in
order to have a career in medicine,"
says Braff, who plays first-year medical
resident J.D. Dorian. "They have to
sacrifice a lot along the way."
Scrubs, which debuted this fall and is
the first comedy series to be picked up
for the full 22-episode season, focuses
on the life and insecurities of three
hospital interns. With college buddy
and roommate Chris Turk, a surgical
resident played by Donald Faison, and
the beautiful and driven Elliot Reid,
played by former Roseanne cast mem-
ber Sarah Chalke, J.D. faces a lineup
of equally bizarre doctors and patients.
"J.D.'s a great character, a young guy
trying to come across like he knows
what he's doing, but in reality is very
nervous —inside he's freaking out
about being in over his head as a doc-
tor," says Braff.
"A very cool thing is that my charac-
ter also narrates the show, so we hear
what he's thinking about his environ-
ment. And his neuroses will always
come through.
"Our show is more like APVI*S*H
than other medical shows on the air
today," adds the actor. "Like
M*A'S*H, you can be laughing one
minute and shortly after have tears in
your eyes."

Doctor In Training

To prepare for the role, Braff, 26, went
on rounds at Los Angeles hospitals,
shadowing doctors and experiencing
different aspects of an intern's job.
"I observed in the intensive care unit
and the emergency room," says the
actor, who spent part of his time at
the huge public hospital in South
Central L.A., arguably the most dan-
gerous turf in America.
"Their ER was way overcrowded
and people with knife and bullet
wounds were triaged right in front of

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everybody. It was like watching doctor
trainees working in a war zone."
Braff also brought some personal expe-
rience to the part, having served three
years on the Home Rescue squad while a
student at Columbia High School in
South Orange, N.J., where he grew up.

N.J., Braff was exposed to all the hor-
rors a large city can dole our
including the victims of car accidents,
train wrecks, stabbings and shootings.
But the one case that still lurks in his
mind revolves around a clean-cut
young man in his early 30s who died

"You spend a lot of
of a cocaine and alco-
time learning basic
hol overdose in the
Zach Braff as J.D. Dorian:
pleasant living room
first aid, taking vital
7.D.'s a great character, a
signs and performing
young guy trying to come
of his clean, neat sub-
CPR and then, at 17,
urban middle-class
across like he knows what
you become the low
home.
he's doing, but in reality is
man on the totem
"He was dead and
very nervous — inside he's
pole with an emer-
we can't bring him
freaking out about being in
gency team," he
back," he says softly.
over his head as a doctor"
explains. "You spend
What a waste.
most of your time
lugging equipment
Child Actor
and taking over CPR when the para-
medics and EMTs are exhausted."
It crossed Braff's mind to study medi-
Working in a suburb of Newark,
cine, but it faded after watching his

"

"

father, Hal Braff, sing, dance and act
in an impressive production of Hello,
Dolly! at the Baird Theatre in his
hometown.
"I started hanging around the theater
when I was about 8, totally fascinated
with what was going on backstage," he
recalls. "And it was very exciting to watch
my dad performing — he was so good at
it — then take the curtain calls."
In the morning, his talented father
would get up and sue the hell out of
somebody in his capacity as a corporate
litigator. His mother, Anne, is a psy-
chologist specializing in adoption cases.
Happily divorced and happily
remarried, Braff's parents also provid-
ed him with plenty of companionship,
thanks to two older brothers, an older
sister and three stepsisters.
"We're really close and work hard in
creative fields," he says. "One brother,
Adam Braff, is a writer for The Chris
Isaak Show. The other brother writes
short stories. One stepsister, Jessica
Kirson, is a comedian; another is a
photographer. Everybody's out there in
some way.'
At his father's strong suggestion, Braff
pulled up his socks at the age of 11 and
enrolled at Stagedoor Manor in Loch
Sheldrake, N.Y. It's a hard-core summer
training camp for aspiring child actors
that spawned such talent as Jennifer
Jason Leigh, Jon Cryer, Natalie
Portman and Robert Downey Jr.
Sported by a talent manager in a stu-
dent stage production, he made his pro-
fessional acting debut three years later at
age 14, when he was cast in a television
pilot produced by Bruce Paltrow. His
co-star was Paltrow's daughter, Gwyneth.
"It was by the creators of St. Elsewhere
and was a show called High, about a
high school," says Braff. "But it didn't
get picked up, so I did some theater in
New York until I was 18, and was cast in
Woody Allen's Manhattan Murder
Mystery (1993). It was a small part, but I
was proud of it. And working with
Woody Allen was amazing — he was
the nicest guy."

Big Breaks

Following graduation from high school,
Braff entered Northwestern University
to study film. By the time he earned his
bachelor's degree in 1997, he had won
several festival awards for his student
short film Lionel On A Sun Day. It was
enough to land several jobs directing TV
commercials and public service
announcements.
He moved back to New York and
began getting work. "My first part was
in a New York Public Theater produc-