Art is imitating life for actress Skye P. Marshall in the CBS medical drama Good Sam.
Marshall stars alongside Sophia Bush (Dr. Sam Griffith) and Jason Isaacs (Dr. Rob Griffith) in a series that is centered around a gifted heart surgeon, Dr. Sam Griffith, who leads the charge at a Chicago hospital after her boss falls into a coma.
Not only is Marshall’s character conducting her residency in Chicago, but it is also the city that she calls home in real life.
“My character, Dr. Lex Shirley, is similar to me, she’s quite ambitious, very laser focused, a bit emotionally unpredictable, but she is very loyal," she told Shadow and Act in a recent interview
Reflecting on the series, Marshall says that the journey, much like her life, is quite the ride for viewers.
“You just get to see the journey of, not just the department of the cardiac surgeons, but also our relationships with each other and how we are able to break trust and regain trust and everything that we as humans have to go through,” she continued. “But these humans also have to put their stuff to the side and save lives on a daily basis. So it’s really exciting and quite the roller coaster. My character is also from Chicago which is really awesome as well.”
Marshall, who just so happens to be a United States military veteran who served both pre and post-9/11, not only mirrors some of those experiences within her role in Good Sam, but she also reflects on what led her to where she is today.
“My father’s a doctor and my mom’s a teacher, neither of those really works for me so I did what a lot of people do in the neutral and I majored in communications, but in order to get that I had to go to the military because I didn’t have an inheritance, I didn’t have a college fund,” she recalls. “It didn’t work in my favor to go to college on my parents’ dime, so I went to the military. Uncle Sam was my sugar daddy, he brought me all my books.”
Well before Good Sam, the Air Force gave Marshall a glimpse at what life within the medical field looked like.
“That’s where I had my very first boots on the ground experience in a hospital and I bounced all around the hospital, volunteering in the ER so that was my first experience and I really loved and enjoyed it,” she shared.
For Marshall, it was one thing to do a complete career pivot to head to Hollywood, but even further, it is all about taking on roles that are intentional is a huge part in what lights her fire every day.
“When it comes to the roles that I choose, my goal is to choose a role that can move the culture forward in some way, form or fashion,” she expressed.
“So when I saw this opportunity to play a cardiac surgeon, I jumped at it and thank goodness because the creative team has been fully supportive of where I wanted to take this character,” Marshall chimed.
Watch Skye P. Marshall as Dr. Lex Shirley each Wednesday on CBS’ Good Sam and check out the interview below:
