Why Sam From Good Sam Looks So Familiar

With many of television's most popular shows still enjoying their mid-season breaks, a fresh wave of would-be hits has indeed arrived on people's screens. And it's safe to say CBS' new medical drama "Good Sam" is among the most talked-about new series of the year. Set inside the fictional Lakeshore Sentinel Hospital, the series follows a talented, but stilted heart surgeon named Dr. Sam Griffith who comes into her own when her boss, mentor, and father Dr. Rob Griffiths (Jason Isaacs) falls unexpectedly into a coma. 

As things so often do in small-screen dramas, matters get difficult for the younger Dr. Griffiths when her father wakes up and wants to return to the operating room. "Good Sam" is just a few episodes into its first season and has already mined that intriguing setup for some seriously engaging drama — most of which is anchored by the work of the undoubtedly familiar actor who plays Sam. Here's where you've seen Sam from "Good Sam" before.

The actor currently earning raves for her work in "Good Sam" is Sophia Bush. If she looks familiar to you, it might be because you were a fan of the long-running WB and CW teen drama "One Tree Hill." That series was, of course, set in the fictional North Carolina town of Tree Hill, and in its early seasons focused largely on the relationship between antagonistic teen brothers Lucas and Nathan Scott (Chad Michael Murray and James Lafferty respectively) as they come of age on and off the basketball court.

For the bulk of the show's nine-season, 187-episode run, Sophia Bush portrayed Tree Hill's own Brooke Davis, who briefly dated Nathan, seriously dated Lucas, and eventually found herself in a dicey love triangle with Lucas and his on-again, off-again future wife Peyton Sawyer (Hilary Burton). Yes, Bush's time on "One Tree Hill" was rife with the sort of overtly schlocky teen melodrama the best of the old-school CW shows reveled in. And if you counted yourself among "One Tree Hill" fandom, you at one time or another undoubtedly found yourself under the spell of Bush's Brooke, because she always managed to turn that melodramatic schlock into heartfelt drama.

Though Sophia Bush has appeared in several films over the years, perhaps most notably with a brief supporting turn opposite Ryan Reynolds in "Van Wilder," she's had far more success on the small screen. And of the actor's numerous television roles, few have been as well-loved as that of Erin Lindsay, whom she portrayed in the "One Chicago" franchise. While that role found Bush guesting on the likes of "Chicago Fire," and "Chicago Med," and even crossing over on "Law & Order: SVU," her Detective Lindsay was a mainstay among the CPD's Intelligence Unit during the first four seasons of "Chicago P.D." 

She was often the heart of the show as well, with Bush's hard-nosed detective proving to be one of the most accessible characters in the series' prickly narrative landscape. While the role and the show remain calling cards for the actor, Bush's early departure from the long-running series was the result of what she claimed were exceedingly harsh work conditions both in terms of comfort (i.e. filming during Chicago's infamously frosty winters), and at least one co-star or crew member assaulting her on set. Working conditions aside, most fans might agree "Chicago P.D." has not been the same since Bush left.  

Since walking away from a purportedly toxic experience on "Chicago P.D." in 2017, Sophia Bush has kept better than busy, booking a gig opposite the late Chadwick Boseman in "Marshall," landing a one-off appearance on Netflix's ensemble anthology rom-com "Easy," lending her voice to Disney/Pixar's "The Incredibles 2," and scoring a legit streaming hit with Hulu's 2021 creeper "False Positive." Most recently, Bush landed a recurring supporting job on Hulu's romantic dramedy series "Love Victor,"  which is a sort of spiritual successor to the lauded (per Rotten Tomatoes) 2018 film "Love, Simon." And just like its predecessor, "Love, Victor" tells another tale of a true-hearted teen coming to terms with his sexuality.

As for Sophia Bush, she portrays nonprofit-running Veronica on the series, who also happens to be the love interest of the father (Mekhi Pfifer) of Victor's (Michael Cimino) best friend Mia (Rachel Hilson). While Veronica understandably doesn't get a ton of screen time, Bush certainly makes the most of every moment (particularly those she shares with Hilson), making a fully three-dimensional character of one who likely doesn't always read as such on the page.