“Scrubs” creator told Donald Faison he 'totally blew' his audition: 'He's the best at keeping it real'
“Scrubs” creator told Donald Faison he 'totally blew' his audition: 'He's the best at keeping it real'
Wesley StenzelWed, March 4, 2026 at 1:59 AM UTC
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Donald Faison on 'Scrubs'Credit: Mitch Haddad/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via GettyKey points -
Donald Faison said that he was sure he "got the part" when he auditioned for Scrubs in front of network representatives.
However, series creator Bill Lawrence told him that he "totally blew that audition."
Lawrence encouraged Faison to audition again with a different style: "Make it more real."
Donald Faison's Scrubs audition didn't live up to its potential — so the show's creator, Bill Lawrence, asked him to do it again.
The Clueless actor remembered trying out to play Turk on the medical sitcom at a town hall event on Tuesday for SiriusXM’s Faction Talk alongside his costar Zach Braff and Lawrence.
"He's the best at keeping it real when he doesn't like something," Faison said of Lawrence. "I auditioned three times, and every audition Bill's laughing his ass off. He's the champion in the room for you, right?"
The actor said that after impressing Lawrence in his initial auditions, he felt good about his performance in front of network representatives. "I go in and I deliver my stuff and Bill's still laughing, and I'm like, 'Yes!'" he remembered. "I walk out into the waiting room. I'm sitting down with the rest of the people auditioning for Turk. Bill comes in and says, 'Donald, I need to talk to you.' The rest of the people auditioning for Turk go, 'F---.' And I'm like, 'Yep. Got the part.'"
Faison was incredibly confident when Lawrence asked to speak with him. "I walk out and I'm all excited and I'm ready for Bill to be like, 'You got it!'" he recalled.
But Lawrence only offered constructive criticism. "He goes, 'You totally blew that audition,'" Faison said. "And I'm like, 'What?' And he goes, 'Yeah, you blew the audition.'"
Lawrence said that he might have used coarser language than Faison suggested. "I may have actually said, 'You s--- the bed,'" the Ted Lasso creator added.
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Faison said that Lawrence advised him to redo his audition in a different style. "He goes, 'I need you to go back in there and do what you did in the other auditions,'" he said. "And in my mind, I'm like, 'I don't know what I did in the other auditions.' And he said to me, 'Just bring it down. Relax. Let's make it more real and go ahead.' And I went in and I f---ing got the part."
Bill Lawrence and Donald Faison in New York City on March 3, 2026Credit: Noam Galai/Getty
The Exes star said that he deeply appreciates Lawrence's frankness in retrospect. "Now, if he hadn't said to me, 'You blew that audition,' I'd be probably doing something else right now that's not in this industry, because this changed my life completely," he said. "I've never had the opportunity to thank you for being as real as possible with me in a moment where I really needed somebody to have my back."
Lawrence said he was acting in the best interest of the show. "I was being selfish, 'cause you're so good. I wanted you to get that part," he responded. "If you didn't go back in, you weren't gonna get that part. And it was your part. You should have, man. So look, I love you, but I wasn't doing you any favors, man. You're so talented."
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Scrubs stars Braff and Faison as best friends who work as doctors at the fictional Sacred Heart Hospital. The series recently returned for its first new season in 16 years after ending in 2010. The show airs new episodes weekly on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
The full Scrubs town hall conversation will air on SiriusXM's Faction Talk on Thursday at 10 a.m. Watch the clip of Faison and Lawrence's conversation above.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
