Sandra Oh recalls ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ having a ‘dedicated Sandra whisperer’ to deal with her script demands

Sandra Oh learned many lessons during her time playing Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy, and one of the most important was how to live with discomfort.

While speaking to Dartmouth College’s graduating class of 2025 on Sunday, the Canadian-born actress urged graduates to find inner strength and kindness while overcoming challenges in their lives.

“Nothing has taught me more than being with discomfort,” Oh said during her commencement speech, while receiving an honorary doctorate of the arts. “It can be our greatest learning opportunity, and it is also inevitable. So if you can train yourself not to turn away but to learn how to be with your discomfort and trust that it might be telling you something you don’t yet know, it can help you develop an inner strength that will enable you to face the challenges life presents you without losing your values or your sense of self along the way.”

The Emmy-winning performer, who was recommended to give the speech by Darthmouth alum and Grey’s mastermind Shonda Rhimes, said that while “the great privilege” of playing Cristina for 10 seasons on ABC’s medical drama brought her “financial stability, fame, and privilege,” it was also “one of the most challenging decades of my life.”

“I learned profound lessons during this time because so much of it was so uncomfortable,” Oh continued. “When I started Grey‘s, I was in my early 30s, so I had an idea of who I was and what the work entailed, but I had no idea what was coming. I demanded a lot from myself and from the writers. If something bothered me in a script, I would fight for what I believed what was right for the character of Cristina because I felt responsible for her. And while this contributed to the creation of a memorable character, my desire to make the dialogue fit and my belief that I knew what was best for the character also caused grief for the writers and for me.”

Oh told graduates that the Shondaland production had a “dedicated Sandra whisperer on staff” who was tasked with coming to the Grey‘s set to “deal with me.”

“That doesn’t happen anymore. I am my own whisperer,” Oh declared. “One time… the writers and I were at an impasse about something in this script, and I had to have a call with the big boss. And Shonda, I’ll never forget, she said to me, ‘Sandra, we have been here before. You got to trust me. Something will come through if you just say the damn words.’ … It has stayed with me. I heard her.”

Concluding her speech, Oh channeled her iconic character and proved she still knows the value of “dancing it out.”

“When the world gets hard, or when it’s good — especially when it’s good, like today — by yourself, with people you love, with strangers, always take the time to dance it out!” Oh proclaimed. The attendees then rose to their feet to dance in celebration as David Guetta’s “Titanium” played. 

Oh’s Cristina Yang rode into the Grey’s Anatomy pilot on her motorcycle and stuck around for a decade before leaving Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith (and the show) with a reminder that she was the sun in 2014.

“I took it very, very seriously,” Oh told Entertainment Weekly in March for our Shondaland anniversary celebration. “I knew in my gut that I had done as much as I could. I really, really felt I did my job. I also was very, very cognizant that not many actors get to do this: create a full character and really live through their life, and then actually make the choice to come to a close.”

Looking back at her final seasons on the show, Oh said she was grateful her early decision “creatively gave the writers a runway, so they could plan” Cristina’s final act.

“And I think that they planned it beautifully,” she said. “It also gave me time to move the audience with me to say goodbye to this character and wish her well. And I think that — at least I hope — myself and the writers, we did that.”

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Since the season 10 finale, the Grey’s team has kept Cristina a part of the show’s world — albeit only via text messages and other written correspondence. Since her final episode, Oh has been vehement in her stance of not playing Cristina again. But now…

“For the longest time, it has always been a hard no. And it’s just… I don’t know. I just don’t know,” Oh told EW, searching for the right words. “When you finish something, it’s a deep process… I just cannot tell you… I can’t stress to you enough how consciously I tried to fully process leaving. I don’t feel the need to revisit, but I also profoundly understand the audience’s love for this character, because I’ve seen it for the past 10 years. That’s the part that makes me just go, hmmm.”