Before she was an actress, Minka Kelly was an operating room scrub nurse. I had no idea! When she broke out with Friday Night Lights, I unfairly assumed that acting was her first career. Minka wrote about her former career in her memoir a few years ago, but it’s just really making headlines now, thanks to a recent interview with Jimmy Kimmel (more on that later). A scrub nurse is in charge of keeping an OR sterile, monitoring a patient’s vital signs, and assisting the surgeon. It’s a pretty important job that’s not for the squeamish.
Minka is currently co-starring with Josh Duhamel on Netflix’s new modern western series, Ransom Canyon. It’s based on a book series by author Jodi Thomas. She’s done a lot of press for it over the past few weeks, and on Tuesday, she popped up on Today with Jenna & Friends (which is the same ep that Ben Affleck was on). At one point, guest co-host Andy Cohen asked Minka if there was any truth behind her previous public statements about thinking that Hollywood was “over” her. She responded that whenever she isn’t working, she always thinks that her “Lights, Camera, Action Era” is over and it’s time to go back to being a scrub nurse.
Minka Kelly is open to putting her scrubs back on if needed.
On the Tuesday, April 22, episode of Today with Jenna & Friends, the 44-year-old actress revealed to Jenna Hager Bush and guest co-host Andy Cohen that she sporadically thinks about returning to her “backup” career as an operating room scrub nurse.
“Is it true that you thought Hollywood was over you?” Cohen, 56, asked the Friday Night Lights alum.
Kelly confessed that she’s “thought that many times,” telling Cohen, who was surprised by her admission, “Of course! I’ve thought that [after] every job that finishes.”
“And then if any amount of time passes, you’re like, ‘Okay, this is it. I had a good run. And that’s okay, everything’s okay. I have my backup. I can be a scrub tech again.’ ”
She confirmed for Bush Hager, 43, that she “seriously” thinks about going back to the job “all the time.”
While Cohen and Bush Hager were both shocked, Kelly explained that “it’s a thing that gives [her] a bit of confidence.”
“You know this isn’t the whole world,” she said as she gestured to the promotional image of her new show, Ransom Canyon, seemingly referring to the entertainment industry. “So the rejection that you get being an actor is sort of balanced out for me and you can go, ‘But I’m good at this. I know I’m good at this.’ ”
“I loved it so much,” she noted. “It’s really good to feel like you’re good at something.”
That is really cool! There’s some debate online as to whether Minka was a licensed scrub nurse or a scrub technician. I searched around to get clarification, which is when I found last week’s Kimmel interview. In it, she mentions that she was “a scrub nurse, a scrub technician” and talks about going to school for it so she’d have a career to fall back on in case acting didn’t work out. She also mentions all of the different types of surgeries she’d worked on, which was “everything but open heart [surgery].” She gushed about how much she loved doing it and only stopped after landing FNL. I had no idea! It is definitely a great backup career. The story must be catching on, because Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos asked Minka about it while she was on their show as well. I bet her old coworkers, who she used to run lines with, are watching these interviews and cheering so hard.
Photos credit: Anna Kooris/Netflix, Roger Wong/INSTARimages, PGP/Backgrid
I’m confused myself because she said she was both in Kimmel and they are NOT the same.
That being said, both are important jobs and it’s a great skill to have on your resume. I hope she keeps up on her training, certifications, and CEs whether as a nurse or a tech!
She didn’t go to a university for a four-year degree, which is what she would need to be an RN. It’s pretty clear she means “scrub tech,” which usually means a trade school or two year degree.
Yeah, I was thinking she has her ADN rather than her BSN.
Where I’m from we can refer to LPNs and VPNs as nurses. As they should be, they are absolutely vital to healthcare and they make my job a lot easier!
ADS is the educational degree but you take the same NCLEX and have the same license as if you were a 4 year RN.
RN to bachelors is a much easier and less expensive track and many places will reimburse for the classes.
OR tech is nothing to look down on, it is a tough and meticulous job and usually an RN is present to help the tech.
The RN frequently assists the tech during a procedure. This helps keep the process as sterile and streamlined as possible and to help ensure all items are accounted for so nothing is left in the patient…
…AND because RN’s are being tasked with tracking items to add to the patient’s bill. Surprise, I am speaking for the USA.
You can be an RN with an associates, just limited in what areas you go into, though most prefer BSN now. LPN is the one that is mainly certificate track, and that’s limited to low risk/long term care type settings. The way most smart nurses do it is pay for the ADN out of pocket, get into the entry level med surg units, and then do BSN track with employer pay-in they can then move into ICU/advanced care without taking out tons of school loans.
Either way, she was smart to have a back up skill she could build on.
I am listening to the audiobook of her memoir – her resilience is astounding. I know there will be a lot of comments about whether she was a nurse or technician. Her biggest accomplishment is being alive and a productive member of society after the childhood and adolescence she had.
If she had said scrub technician, I don’t think people would have understood what she did. She/her editor probably used scrub nurse for simplicity, no biggie – outside the industry.
I was thinking the same thing. Some licensed professionals are techs (like rad techs or surgical techs) and they will attach the word nurse to their name so that patients can differentiate between them & the doctors. We have to make sure nobody ever gets the impression that we’re doctors; that’s a big no no!
It was her use of the word “scrub” that I was more confused by. We don’t use that descriptor where I’m from. Sometimes the titles or names of licenses differ from state to state or health systems.
She took a one year course on being a “surgical assistant” . Wikipedia
I mean, that is a legitimate program at community colleges & vo-techs. Nothing to frown at.
That course & job is often a stepping stone for many nurses or other medical professionals.