"Nobody certainly knew who I was" - Jeffrey Dean Morgan on having his career 'launched' in his 40s

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who is widely known for playing the character of Negan in AMC's highly-rated and immensely popular post-apocalyptic horror series, The Walking Dead, in an exclusive interview with People, opened up about his "life-changing" role as Denny Duquette on ABC's classic medical drama series Grey's Anatomy. The 59-year-old Jeffrey Dean Morgan, before he became famous as the leather jacket-wearing, bad-mouthed villain in TWD, cemented his position as an actor with the role of Denny Duquette.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who first appeared in Lisa Hunt's 1991 thriller drama film, Uncaged, during his interview with People, claimed that Grey's Anatomy was the show that built his acting career. Morgan said:

"That show honestly gave me a career. I was doing that, Weeds and Supernatural simultaneously… I've auditioned zero times since playing Denny Duquette."

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who has been married to One Tree Hill star Hilarie Burton since October 2019, starred as Denny in the second and third installments of Grey's Anatomy. According to the Rampage actor, he believes that it was his performance in ABC's medical drama series that helped him launch his acting career during his 40s. The TWD star said:

"I'd been kicking around Hollywood for a long time, but nobody certainly knew who I was. My whole career launched out of that character."

He went ahead and said:

"P.S. I Love You I got because of that show (Grey's Anatomy)."

Morgan, then jokingly added:

"[Director] Zack Snyder told me that he cast me in Watchmen because he saw me as Denny. How you watch Denny and go, ‘Well, that's the nihilistic comedian right there,’ is beyond me."

Jeffrey Dean Morgan becomes the host of a new reality TV show

After playing a variety of characters in multiple movies and TV series across several genres, the Watchmen actor, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, interestingly became the host of a brand-new reality show called Destination X. The NBC reality show premiered on May 27, 2025. Morgan, regarding the new reality show, said:

"I'm still not actually completely sure how the hell this happened. I am not like a typical host. I'm not Ryan Seacrest — who I love, and I think he's excellent at his job — but that's not me. I'm a bit on the crass side and I've got a very sarcastic sense of humor, and I didn't picture it."

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Jeffrey further added:

"It was my wife (Hilarie Burtun Morgan) who said, ‘You know what?’ She came from this world. She came from the world of hosting. She said — in a very nice way, but much more diplomatic than I'm going to make it seem now — ‘You're not getting any younger. You've got this thing about you that it would be fun for you to be able to share that with the world, and you may have an opportunity to do that [by] hosting a show like this.’"

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