Sarah White Drew (born October 1, 1980) is an American actress, director and producer. She is known for playing Hannah Rogers in The WB family drama series Everwood (2004–2006) and Dr. April Kepner in the ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy (2009–2018).
Drew was born and raised in Stony Brook, New York, where she attended The Stony Brook School. Her mother, Dr. Jeannie Drew, is now teaching biology at an independent private school for girls in Manhattan. Her father, Rev. Charles Drew, is the senior pastor at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in New York City. Her brother, Allen Drew, is a pastor at Mt. Airy Community Church in Philadelphia and director of an a cappella group at Germantown Friends School. She received a bachelor's degree in drama from the University of Virginia in 2002.She began acting in school plays, community theater with Take One Theatre Arts, and summer stock. Sarah is also cousins with actor Ben McKenzie who starred in The O.C. and currently stars in Gotham.
In 1997, while still in high school, Drew voiced Stacy Rowe on the animated series Daria. She also voiced that character in the Daria television films Is It Fall Yet? and Is It College Yet?. In 2001, she made her professional stage debut as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. She made her Broadway debut in 2003 in Vincent in Brixton, which later took her to London's West End. She made the move to television with a guest role in the series Wonderfalls, and was in the film Radio. She appeared as Katie Burrell, the daughter of a Japanese relocation camp sergeant, in the 2007 film American Pastime.
From 2004 to 2006, Drew starred as Hannah Rogers in The WB drama series Everwood. She later guest-starred on Cold Case, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Medium, Castle, Glee, Privileged, Supernatural, and Private Practice. She starred in the Hallmark Hall of Fame film Front of the Class (2008), and from 2008 to 2009, she had a recurring role as Kitty Romano in the AMC drama series Mad Men. In 2014, she starred in the film Moms' Night Out.
In 2009, Drew was cast as Dr. April Kepner in the medical drama series Grey's Anatomy. Drew was cast in late September and first appeared in the sixth season episode “Invasion" as one of the residents from Mercy West Hospital after its merger with Seattle Grace. Drew was brought aboard Grey's Anatomy after former collaborations with the Series' producer and creator Shonda Rhimes; she was featured as a guest in two episodes of Private Practice in 2008 and was a main cast member in Rhimes' 2009 television pilot Inside the Box, which ABC passed on.In 2010, she was promoted to a series regular for the seventh season.
In March 2018, it was announced that Drew, along with Jessica Capshaw, would be exiting the series. Showrunner Krista Vernoff stated that the decision was purely creative, not budgetary.
Shortly following the announcement of her Grey's Anatomy exit, Drew was cast as Detective Cagney in CBS's Cagney & Lacey reboot pilot. On May 11, 2018, CBS passed on the pilot.
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