Celebrity crush: Jessica Capshaw

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Today's entry features an actress who might, along with a couple of others already on this list, get me to eventually catch up on Grey's Anatomy yet again after falling behind a couple of seasons once again.

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Name: Jessica Capshaw (images | Web site | Twitter)
Hometown: Columbia, Mo., according to her Wikipedia profile. She is the daughter of actress Kate Capshaw and her ex-husband, Robert Capshaw; her mother was a teacher at the time she was born. After her mother's transition to acting and her second marriage, she became stepdaughter of director and media mogul Steven Spielberg.
Best Known For: Jessica's longest-running acting role has come on Grey's Anatomy as pediatric surgeon Dr. Arizona Robbins, who at the end of last season married orthopedic surgeon Dr. Callie Torres, played by fellow crush Sara Ramirez. Before scrubbing in there, she had a regular role as an attorney on David E. Kelley's The Practice, also on ABC, in its final episodes. In between, she guest-starred in a couple of episodes of Bones on Fox as the ex-girlfriend of David Boreanaz's FBI agent character and the mother of his son.

Film work includes the horror movie Valentine, which co-starred her (at least initial) Grey's co-stars Katherine Heigl and (fellow crush) Chyler Leigh.
Humble Beginnings: After completing an English degree at Brown University, Jessica headed to London to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

ER brought her to her first TV appearance in 1999, and she made her film debut in 1997's The Locusts, which starred her mom. There are several TV-movies and unsold pilots on the résumé as well; only things that I'm pretty sure aired or screened at some point, or might in the future, are listed below.

Obligatory Edgy Stuff: Like many other Hollywood folks, Jessica has appeared in the nude in Allure magazine. (And it was, in a word, glorious.)
Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: Jessica's a beautiful woman with a lot of charm who can also be funny or steel-spined resolute as the script calls for it. There are a lot of reasons to feel guilty about liking Grey's Anatomy -- and I still haven't watched last year's season or this current one -- but Jessica's acting is certainly not one of them. She stands tall (well, she stands 5'5"-ish) alongside Chandra Wilson (well, who stands short -- you get my point) as a great actress who manages to consistently rise above the sometimes dubious material.

TV and Web Series Credits: Grey's Anatomy, season 8 (Amazon | iTunes) * Grey's Anatomy, season 7 (Amazon | iTunes) * Grey's Anatomy, season 6 (Amazon | iTunes) * Grey's Anatomy, season 5 (Amazon | iTunes) * Head Case, season 2: "Tying the... Not" (Amazon | iTunes) * The L Word, season 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * Bones, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Into the West (2005 mini-series) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Practice, season 8 (Amazon | iTunes) * The Practice, season 7 (Amazon | iTunes) * Odd Man Out (1999) (Amazon | iTunes) * ER, season 5: "Rites of Spring" (Amazon | iTunes)
Film and TV-movie Credits: One Angry Juror (2010 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * Blind Trust (2007 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Groomsmen (Amazon | iTunes) * View from the Top (Amazon | iTunes) * Minority Report (Amazon | iTunes) * The Mesmerist (Amazon | iTunes) * Valentine (2001) (Amazon | iTunes) * Killing Cinderella (Amazon | iTunes) * The Love Letter (1999) (Amazon | iTunes) * Something About Sex (1999) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Locusts (Amazon | iTunes)