Why Dr. Grace Song From Chicago Med Looks So Familiar

The American midwest of the "One Chicago" series sure is fit to burstin' with conventionally attractive public service professionals, putting out Chicago fires and Chicago P'ing some D. In the medical field. Meanwhile, the Windy City sees its fair share of fresh, symmetrical faces — most recently in the form of Dr. Grace Song, the latest addition to the "Chicago Med" family. In-universe, she's another uncertain element in the hospital's new finance-first business model. In the real world, however, and this happens sometimes, she's not actually a doctor at all, but rather a professional actor. The kind with an agent and a list of previous roles.

Teresa Victoria Carpio, better known as T.V. Carpio, is a definitive "I know that face" sort of performer. With just shy of 20 on-screen acting credits since the early 2000s, it's fair to say that she's been around the block a time or two. That's not even counting her impressive stage career — she was in "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark." Not a lot of people can say that. At least, not without the assistance of a medical device. Here's the inside skinny on where you might have seen her before she started treating wind chill burns and Red Line concussions in America's favorite town with a giant robot bean in the middle of it.

It was 2007, and Hollywood was still over a decade away from thinking "let's make a movie about a world where the Beatles never existed" and putting out "Yesterday." Rather, they thought "let's make a movie about only Beatles songs," and they put out "Across the Universe" instead.

It was an ambitious project, helmed by Broadway's "The Lion King" mastermind Julie Taymor and featuring a cavalcade of stars in a series of high-concept, stitched-together music videos. Its story vaguely orbited events and names featured in music by the boys from Liverpool, which brings us to T.V. Carpio's role as Prudence, who not only wanted to hold your hand but was, by all accounts, dear.

"Across the Universe" may not have wound up being the shot in the arm that the jukebox musical genre needed, but according to an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2011, it played a vital role in redefining Carpio's career by getting her an "in" with Taymor. Their professional relationship would serve to get Carpio's foot in the door when Taymor's "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" went swinging into pre-production, eventually landing her the role of original big-bad Arachne when the first performer cast in the part wound up with a concussion.

So it's 2011, and cable television is finally realizing that nobody will get mad at it if it talks about drugs and butts and stuff. Moral ambiguity is the name of the game. It's getting so you can't leave a single bad lying around a television studio lot without a dozen hopeful writers trying to break it.

By way of example, there is "The Client List," Lifetime's based-on-a-true-story story about a seemingly unspectacular housewife (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and her decidedly scandalous side hustle as a sex worker. For two seasons, viewers were shocked and outraged by these sordid tales, and by her clients' borderline unbelievable BMIs.

Beginning in Season 2, T.V. Carpio appeared in her most regular gig to date, playing police officer Shelby Prince for 11 episodes. She even got to pretend to date Colin Egglesfield, star of "All My Children" and regular contender for the title of Best Egglesfield on Television. It couldn't last, as the show was canceled following its 2nd season, but what a rush.

If you recognize T.V. Carpio from one project, it's probably "Across the Universe" or "The Client List." But if you know her from a second, different project, there's a good chance that it's "Big Sky." Probably.

For nine episodes stretched across Season 2, Carpio portrayed stay-at-home mom Rachel on ABC's crime thriller, beginning with the second season premiere "Wakey Wakey." As the mother of Max (Madelyn Kientz) and girlfriend of Tracy "T-Lock" Ridgeton (Arturo Del Puerto), Rachel had more than her share of drama to deal with. While it's an unfortunate fact that the character hasn't been seen since the Season 2 episode "The Shipping News," maybe her head-turning work on "Chicago Med" will be what finally convinces the producers of "Big Sky" to give fans that Rachel-centric spinoff series that the fans keep asking for. 

How's she doing after what happened to T-Lock? Does she feel fulfilled in her life as a mother? How big is her sky? These questions need answers. The ball's in your court, ABC.