Noah Wyle

ER debuted in September 1994 and within weeks was the second most-watched show on television, behind only Seinfeld. Wyle played Dr. John Carter, the nervous med student who served as the audience's entry point across 15 seasons. The Washington Post praised his 'achingly ingenuous performance.' He stayed longer than any other major cast member, appearing in 254 episodes and collecting five consecutive Emmy nominations. The show made his career. Leaving it in 2005 was the harder decision.

Two decades after leaving ER, The Pitt on HBO Max gave him something the medical drama genre hadn't offered in years: a role worth the wait. The show premiered in January 2025 and took five Emmy Awards, Wyle among the winners. This time he's also executive producer and director, not just the lead actor. Season 2 was ordered before the first season finished airing. The critical conversation treats him less like a comeback story and more like a long-delayed correction.

He played Steve Jobs in Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999), long before that biopic territory became crowded. He treated The Librarians on TNT as a creative training ground, writing two episodes and directing five. In 2012, he got himself arrested on Capitol Hill while protesting Medicaid cuts alongside disability advocates, spending about 12 hours in holding cells. He called the experience 'slightly surreal.' The activism and the hospital dramas have never been as separate in his life as they look from the outside.