10 Noteworthy nurses from film and television
Medical fiction has long captured the attention of the viewing public. Literal life and death—what could be more dramatic than that? Yet, every nurse watching their image played out on the big and little screens has groaned at the stereotypical inaccuracies portrayed there. (Maybe more annoying—the powers that be ignoring the fact that there’s more than enough drama to go around between nurses without having doctors always step in!)
Cliches aside, there are a select few fictional nurses that have breathed life into the nursing profession in all the right ways. Today we’re presenting them, in all their theatrical glory, as we count down the 10 most iconic nurses in film and television.
Reel life nurses
10. Juliette Binoche as Hana in The English Patient
Pulling in a whopping nine Academy awards in the mid-90s, The English Patient was one of the most highly acclaimed films of that era and tells the tale of a compassionate nurse called Hana caring for a burned soldier in WWII. While the budding romance between the two ultimately became the major focal point, Hana’s care for her mystery patient touched the hearts of all who watched her.
9. Ben Stiller as Greg Focker—Meet the Parents
Although many of the gendered stereotypes of male nurses are perpetuated through the writing in Meet the Parents, it’s still nice to see a male nurse portrayed in a leading role (and defended so humorously at that)!
8. Gemma Jones as Madame Pomfrey—Harry Potter
School nurses are sometimes overlooked, but Madame Pomfrey certainly brings an element of snark in her care of her young patients that is just so delightful. One of the greatest aspects of nursing that she highlights is a nurse’s ability to “make it work.” As such, she could handle anything and everything that (quite literally) came flying her way.
7. Jeffrey Wright as Belize in Angels in America
A Pulitzer-prize winning play that became a critically acclaimed miniseries on HBO, Angels in America tells the story of the spreading AIDS epidemic in NYC. Wright plays an ex-drag queen who also happens one heck of an AIDS nurse warrior. He cares for his terminally ill patients with the utmost dignity, respect, and compassion and could teach today’s nurses a thing or two about culturally competent care.
6. Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched—One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Perhaps the most easily recognizable name on the list, at almost 50 years since her silver screen debut, ’Nurse Ratched’ is now an everyday moniker understood by anyone working in healthcare. While playing a nursing villain doesn’t necessarily reflect the nursing ideal, Nurse Ratched is such an iconic part of both film and nursing history, she had to make the list.
Made for TV
5. Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton in Nurse Jackie
Nurse Jackie is perhaps the realest of all the nurses portrayed on the small screen. She is at times lauded and loathed by her audience; the choices she makes in the depths of her addiction are hard to watch, but only because they hit so close to home. Addiction and drug diversion is one of nursing’s dirty little secrets—it was refreshing to see it portrayed at all all, let alone in such a multifaceted way. Above all, Nurse Jackie stands out as a fierce patient advocate, and the viewer always holds out hope that she’ll apply her care to herself.
4. Milo Ventimiglia as Peter Petrelli in Heroes
A nurse whose singular superpower is being an empath feels so on trend right now. A seasoned nurse might caution such a person against working as a hospice nurse, thereby taking on the emotional weight from patients and families both, but then again—you can’t keep a hero from his destiny, can you?
3. Rashida Jones as Ann Perkins in Parks and Rec
You know a real nurse as one who can’t quite shake their nurse-y ways, and Ann Perkins perfectly demonstrates this. In their reunion special, Ann reveals that she—like many nurses IRL—came out of retirement to care for COVID-19 patients! Dawww.
2. Judy Reyes as Carla Espinosa in Scrubs
Taking her rightful place beside Turk and JD, nurse Carla was most typically the voice of reason (and the BS-balancer) to their delusional antics. Using her assertive, dry, (and heavily exasperated) wit, she accurately portrayed the “keeping it real” side of nursing that so many nurses identified with!
1. Maura Tierney as Abby Lockhart in ER
ER gave us so many great nursing characters to choose from, but as for the Carol Hathaway and Sam Taggart-types, well, we’ve seen them before. Abby made our list because she wrestled with her own dramas, advocated for her patients, all while accomplishing something many nurses today can relate to—furthering her education. Now, becoming a doctor is certainly not the endgame goal for most nurses; but nurses today can easily relate to becoming frustrated with the limitations of bedside care. Abby realized, as many of us do, that effecting real change in health systems more readily comes from a higher position of authority, and then she went for it! And we rooted for her—for us—every minute.