Katherine Heigl as Isobel "Izzie" Stevens
Dr. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens is an intern in Seattle Grace Hospital. As a former model, she exerts extra effort to prove her worth in this type of industry. Sometimes, patients refuse her to be their doctor upon recognizing her face. Nevertheless, Izzie is a hard worker who consistently makes her patients comfortable.
Izzie is not the least bit ashamed about being a former lingerie model, because the job helped her to pay for medical school, a fact that she was quick to point out to her fellow intern, Dr. Alex Karev, when he plastered pictures of her all over the hospital. Nevertheless, her warm and compassionate nature led her to befriend Alex, to the surprise of others. Their friendship gradually developed into something more romantic, but when he cheated on her with nurse Olivia, Izzie and Alex’s relationship soured. When Izzie found out that her good friends, Dr. Meredith Grey and Dr. George O’Malley, were assisting Alex with his studies, she immediately felt betrayed and confronted Meredith and George. Still, her compassionate side took over and soon, even she was lending a hand to Alex.
Being quite emotionally-driven, Izzie found it easy to become involved with heart patient Denny Duquette. Denny’s wit and sense of humor eventually won Izzie’s affection, to the chagrin of Alex, who was sexually involved with Izzie at the time. When Alex tried to interfere, Izzie realized she could do so much better and swiftly ended their affair. From there, she began to spend more and more time with Denny, and later on, happily accepted his marriage proposal. Her love for Denny pushed her to resort to unethical measures when his condition worsened, but in the end, she and the others could not do anything to save Denny’s life.
Although Izzie is good friends with her fellow interns, she has formed a special bond with Dr. George O’Malley. Initially, their relationship was purely on the level of friendship. When Meredith and George’s ill-fated one-night-stand drove George to move out of their house, Izzie became greatly upset with Meredith. When George got involved with orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Callie Torres, Izzie immediately became protective of George, and frequently conflicted with Callie. As time went by, Izzie and George’s connection intensified, which caused them to sleep with each other, even though George was already married to Callie.
(Photo courtesy of ABC)