Chandra Wilson plays Miranda Bailey in Grey's Anatomy. Her character also appeared in seasons two and three of Private Practice, as well as seasons one, two, and three of Station 19 and the web series Grey's Anatomy: B-Team. She is also a director for Grey's Anatomy.
Biography
Her mother enrolled her into many after-school activities, including dance, acting, and modeling. She began performing in musicals at the age of five with Theatre Under the Stars. She attended Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and later went on to acquire her BFA in Drama from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts through which she spent four years at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Chandra's first series regular job was on ABC's "Bob Patterson" (2001) in the role of Claudia Hopper. She has made numerous other television appearances including guest-starring and recurring roles. She has also appeared in national television commercials for Blockbuster Video, Burger King, Scope, and the United Negro College Fund as well as numerous radio commercials.
Aside from film and television, she has several New York stage credits. Her portrayal of Bonna Willis in the production of "The Good Times are Killing Me" by Lynda Barry (both at the Second Stage and Minetta Lane Theatres) won her a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance.
Some of her other stage credits include "Paper Moon: The Musical" at the Papermill Playhouse, "The Family of Mann" by Theresa Rebeck, "Believing" for the Young Playwright's Festival and the Broadway production of "On the Town" directed by George C. Wolfe.
Chandra Wilson and her husband have 3 children.
Career
Filmography
- Christmas Harmony (2019)
- Muted (short) (2014)
- Frankie & Alice (2010)
- Accidental Friendship (2008)
- A Single Woman (2008)
- Strangers with Candy (2005)
- Head of State (2003)
- Lone Star (1996)
- Philadelphia (1993)
Television
- Grey's Anatomy (2005-)
- Station 19 (2018-)
- General Hospital (2014-2019)
- Grey's Anatomy: B-Team (2018)
- Private Practice (2009)
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2002-2005)
- The Sopranos (2004)
- Queens Supreme (2003)
- Sex and the City (2002)
- Bob Patterson (2001)
- Third Watch (2001)
- 100 Centre Street (2001)
- Cosby (2000)
- CBS Schoolbreak Special (1992)
- Law & Order (1992)
- The Cosby Show (1989)
Director
- Grey's Anatomy (2009-)
- Good Trouble (2019)
- The Fosters (2015-2017)
- Scandal (2015)
Directed Episodes
Grey's Anatomy
Season 6
Season 7
Season 8
Season 9
Season 10
Season 11
Season 12
Season 13
Season 14
Season 15
Season 16
Notes and Trivia
- Chandra likes to knit in her free time.
- She is a soap opera fan.
- She is an activist and serves as the association's spokesperson for Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome as her daughter Serena developed the disease in 2010. She even pitched the idea for Grey's to feature the disease, which was accepted. The episode was Second Opinion.
- After all her years on the show, she still has difficulties remembering the medical terms.
- She directs two episodes every season.
- She was working as a bank temp across from the south tower of the World Trade Center during the September 11th attacks.
- She has no plans to join Twitter because she thinks she wouldn't really use it and because she's got a really thin skin, so one mean tweet would make her want to shut her account down. The other actors sometimes joke that they're tired of taking messages for her on their own Twitter accounts.
- She is so humble about her career that she even says she may return to the bank and work as a teller, a job which she held onto for the entire first season of Grey's Anatomy.
- When asked to give her favorite moments, Chandra replied with the following list:
- Bailey's intern speech from A Hard Day's Night.
- Bailey's speech for the Chief of Surgery job from Sledgehammer.
- Bailey telling George not to look at her vajayjay in As We Know It.
- Bailey's date with Ben at his apartment in Push.
- Bailey deciding to stay with Cristina during her surgery in Make Me Lose Control.
- Bailey and Meredith arguing on the softball field in Put Me In, Coach.
- Bailey breaking down upon finding out the elevators weren't working in Death and All His Friends.
- Directing the episode Do You Know?.
- Bailey's speech to the nurses about Mark being a whore in The Becoming.
- Bailey's scene with all the petri dishes in Do You Believe in Magic.
- Chandra Wilson donated a tour of the "Greys Anatomy" set and the chance to meet the cast to an event for organization called MitoAction.
