Why Dr. Asher From Chicago Med Looks So Familiar

This article contains discussions about drug addiction and mentions a drug overdose.

Dr. Hannah Asher has been a recurring presence on NBC's storied medical drama "Chicago Med" since 2020. The young OBGYN has a heroin addiction that she's been struggling with since her first appearance in Season 5. Hannah has a relationship with Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss), but the lies she's told him regarding her addiction keep them apart. Hannah's dependency also has had a strong impact on her professional career. Eventually, it consumes her to the point where Will doesn't feel safe sending patients to her. 

Will has her placed in a rehabilitation faculty, and when Hannah eventually emerges a sober person from her trials in Season 6, they try being a couple. Unfortunately, Hannah can't stay clean, and eventually ends up in the hospital's ER during the episode "When Did We Begin to Change," having overdosed. She survives but leaves Chicago to try to stay sober on her own. The character recently returned, clean once more, in Episode 16 of Season 7, "May Your Choices Reflect Hope, Not Fear." She's accepted back into the fold by Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson), who gives her another chance at working for Gaffney Chicago Medical Center.

The actress who plays Hannah has a very long resume with some very memorable roles. If you're a fan of Hallmark TV movies, historical dramas, or soaps, you've likely seen her before. This is why she looks so familiar.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Jessy Schram started out her Hollywood career, per IMDb, as a teen actress. Fans who don't recognize her from "Chicago Med" likely recall her from the "Jane Doe" series of Hallmark TV movies. Schram played Susan Davis, the daughter of series protagonist and former CSA-member-turned-housewife Cathy Davis (Lea Thompson). Cathy spent nine films trying to balance marriage and motherhood with puzzle-solving and code-breaking for the government. Susan is a lovable, but troublemaking cheerleader who often finds herself in the line of danger thanks to her own scheming. 

Schram has since graduated to heading up Hallmark films of her own and become something of a familiar face for fans of the network and its spinoffs stations; she's appeared in eight different films for The Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies and Mysteries from 2017 to 2021, including "A Nashville Christmas Carol" and "Country at Heart."

While filming the "Doe" series of movies, which aired on the network from 2005 to 2008, Schram continued to appear in other projects. She popped up in one episode of "Drake & Josh" in 2004 and appeared in "American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile" in 2006.

One of Schram's most popular roles during her "Doe" period was her outing as Hannah Griffith in four episodes of the second season of UPN's "Veronica Mars." Sweet-natured Hannah has a brief relationship with Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), which sparked disapproval from her parents and her fellow students at Neptune High. 

Logan didn't make things easy for the innocent-natured Hannah — he'd pretend he didn't know her when friends like Veronica were around and conducted much of their relationship in secret. That was enough to make Hannah smell a rat regarding Logan's treatment of her. It turned out that her father, Dr. Thomas Griffith (Rick Peters), was being manipulated into testifying against Logan during a murder trial, to the benefit of his drug dealers, the Fitzpatrick crime family. They promise to keep dealing Thomas cocaine in exchange for damning testimony against Logan, and it turns out Logan got closer to Hannah to try to figure out her dad's motivation for giving testimony against him. Though Hannah feels betrayed by Logan's manipulation, he insists he's genuinely fallen for her, and they end up in a compromising position in her room. Caught in the near-act by Dr. Griffith, the girl's disapproving father places Hannah in a Vermont-area boarding school, and fans of the show never see her again.

After Schram's "Mars" stint, the actress picked up a bunch of guest starring roles in a wide variety of acclaimed drama series, including "Boston Legal," "Ghost Whisperer," "House," "Without a Trace," and "CSI: Miami." She portrayed a younger version of Allison DuBois (Patricia Arquette), a medium and police profiler, in two episodes of the NBC series "Medium."

Schram next popped up in NBC's dramedy "Life," where she appeared as Rachel Seybolt for seven episodes. She was Sayre Hanadarko, wayward niece of the equally wayward Grace Hanadarko (Holly Hunter), in TNT's "Saving Grace." She also showed up on Starz's adaption of "Crash" three times in 2007 as Kim. 

Science fiction fans might remember her as the faithful Christine Kendal, wife of Sam Kendal (Scott Speedman), in the short-lived ABC series "Last Resort." Focusing on a group of Navy SEALs stationed on a submarine who end up marooned on an island after their captain (Andre Braugher) refuses to launch a nuclear missile after receiving an order to do so, the series lasted only 13 episodes before being canceled.

She then popped up for four episodes on AMC's "Mad Men" as Bonnie Whiteside, the iron-hand-in-a-velvet glove girlfriend of Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) during four episodes of the show's 7th season. Though Pete and Bonnie ended up breaking up fairly quickly, Schram stood out as the strong-willed Bonnie. "Bonnie is very much a woman who's making her own way. She's a salesperson, basically a man's mind in a woman's body, playing up all she has," Schram told Esquire Magazine in 2014 about playing the role. "They both want to be sharks in the world that they're in."

Jessy Schram's next big part was on TNT's series "Falling Skies," which lasted for five seasons on the cable network. Schram was a regular on the show for its first three seasons as Karen Nadler, who ended up teaming up with the Espheni, a race of aliens which had decimated Earth's population and weapons capabilities and seeks to eliminate the threat of them entirely. Karen is captured by the Espheni during the first season and is outfitted with an alien spine that leaves her under the Overlord's control. Though she's gifted with brand-new powers, Karen is no longer herself, and her relationship with Hal Mason (Drew Roy) proves to be short-lived as she evolves away from being a straight-arrow scout for the 2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment to a human conduit for the Overlords.

She spends much of Season 2 manipulating her former friends to her own benefit and the benefit of the Epheni. After opposing the Regiment for the entirety of Season 3 and acting as the show's main antagonist, Karen is shot to death by Maggie (Sarah Carter) in front of a horrified Hal to protect the rest of the team.

Schram's next part was a role fit for royalty; she showed up on ABC's "Once Upon a Time" as Ashley Boyd, aka Cinderella. She was on and off the series from Season 1 on, and also appeared in the program's spinoff, "Once Upon a Time In Wonderland."

As with every other character in the "Once Upon a Time" universe, Ashley had no idea she was Cinderella before the first curse descended over the land of Storybrooke. Ashley believes she is a teen mother who agreed to put her child up for adoption after a ruptured relationship with Sean Herman/Prince Thomas (Tim Phillipps). Eventually giving birth to a healthy girl named Alexandra, Ashley finds herself having to deal with renegotiating her bargain with Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) to give him the child and mend her relationship with Sean. Once the curse lifts and everyone's pasts become clear to them, Ashley and Sean resume their marriage and open a daycare center and produce a CD of herself singing lullabies. Ashley later mends fences with her sister, Clorinda (Mekenna Melvin), and welcomes her into her family after the third curse descends.

"I gathered all the different portrayals and threw them to the side. Cinderella is kind and gentle but no pushover. I wanted to try and take her background and nature and react to the script in a way a person in her situation would," Schram told Once Upon a Fandom in 2012 about taking on the iconic role.

Before taking on her aforementioned slate of TV movies, "Chicago Med," and a few remaining "Once Upon a Time" appearances, Schram was Nance O'Keefe in four episodes of Lifetime's "The Lizzy Borden Chronicles." She then became a notable regular on one more series; ABC's nighttime soap opera "Nashville." The actress portrayed Cash Gray during Season 4 of the program and appeared in 11 episodes of the show.

Cash was a songwriter who struck up a friendship with budding songwriter Maddie Conrad (Lennon Stella), the daughter of stars Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton) and Deacon Claybourne (Charles Esten). Cash was a second-generation songstress like Maddie, the daughter of Frankie Gray (Mark Collie), and she sees enough talent in Maddie to want to perform her songs professionally. But Rayna and Deacon disapprove and try to keep them apart. Maddie eventually runs away to Cash's house, and the twosome travel to New York, where Cash records Maddie's song. But it doesn't end well for the friends, who end up connecting with an abusive producer. Maddie goes home with Rayna and Deacon, and she and Cash cease to be friends after this incident.

After playing princesses, country queens, cheerleaders, and soldiers, the actress appears to be on "Chicago Med" to stay, and fans of the show wouldn't want it any other way.