What to know
- Sandra Oh says her Grey’s Anatomy character, Cristina Yang, inspired a woman to leave her fiancé and pursue a career in law.
- The woman told Oh that watching Cristina prioritize her career helped her realize she wanted to do the same.
- Oh played Cristina for 10 seasons, earning five Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe for the role.
An Ontario-born actress is sharing how her Grey’s Anatomy character inspired a real woman to leave her fiancé and pursue a career as a lawyer.
Canadian actress Sandra Oh became a household name through her role as Dr. Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy, joining the ABC medical drama when it premiered in 2005. As one of the show’s original cast members, Oh played the charismatic, fiercely ambitious and often uncompromising surgeon for 10 seasons, departing from the series in 2014.
Cristina quickly became one of the series’ most beloved characters, particularly through her close friendship with Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo). The two characters are responsible for the popularized concept of being someone’s “person.”
In a recent episode of Dinner’s On Me, hosted by Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Oh discussed her career, theatre work in London, and Grey’s Anatomy, including how her character on the show changed the course of one fan’s life.
“She came up to me, and she goes, ‘I have to tell you something,’ And it’s always that I have to tell you something,” Oh says in the clip.
The woman told her that 10 years prior, she had been engaged to a man who did not want her to work. But while watching Grey’s Anatomy, she was inspired to leave by a scene Cristina had with former lover Preston Burke.
“Burke comes back and actually offers her this incredible opportunity in Switzerland… which Cristina then takes,” Oh explained.
“She’s saying how much this episode, and I think the character, affected her, and she goes, ‘I left him. I became a lawyer,’ and I was just like, ‘Good for you. Whatever was going on in your life, it was not enough. And that guy who was saying that you are not going to be who you’re going to be and fulfill your destiny and go become a lawyer, leave that,’.”
Sandra Oh as Cristina Yang: An award-winning performance
Oh’s performance earned her five Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe win in 2006. Her departure from Grey’s Anatomy was a major moment for the series. After years of playing Cristina, the actor announced in 2013 that she was ready to let the character go, saying she felt she had given the role everything she could. Cristina ultimately left Seattle at the end of Season 10, accepting Burke’s offer to run the Klausman Institute for Medical Research in Zurich.
Her final episode ended with an emotional goodbye to Meredith, including the pair’s famous tradition of “dancing it out,” giving Cristina a send-off that reflected both her career ambitions and the enduring friendship at the centre of her story.
More than a decade after her exit, Cristina Yang remains one of Grey’s Anatomy’s most iconic characters, and Oh’s connection to the show continues to generate fan excitement. In 2021, Oh said she had moved on from the series and did not plan to return, despite continued questions about a cameo.
More recently, however, Grey’s Anatomy fans have been speculating about a possible Cristina return after the show’s official social media accounts posted a tribute to the character ahead of Season 23.
There is no confirmation that Oh is returning, but the reaction underscores just how lasting her impact on the series has been. Season 23 of Grey’s Anatomy premieres Thursday, October 15, 2026, at 10 p.m. EDT on ABC.
