New Amsterdam Had a Real Pharmacist Among Its Cast (And She's Still Working)
New Amsterdam is a medical drama TV series, based on the book by Eric Manheimer, which is centered on Dr. Max Goodwin's attempts to reform and rejuvenate one of the oldest public hospitals in US after decades of neglect, and to provide exceptional care to patients.
But did you know that one of the actors playing in it is actually a medical professional in real life?
We're talking about Teresa Patel, who plays Paramedic Harvell in New Amsterdam. She also appeared as a minor character in One Life to Live before that.
However, she also has a whole different job – she's a pharmacist, specializing in rare, neurological conditions.
Curiously, while some other shows, like Chicago Med ( see) use real-life professionals playing supporting roles in them as consultants, to ensure authenticity of things which happen within the show, this does not appear to be the case for New Amsterdam.
As Teresa Patel admitted, her personal metical experience had no impact on her role, beyond making a few things easier to understand:
"It didn't affect me booking the role, but it definitely impacted how I play the character. When I first saw the script, it was just a bunch of medical jargon, and I'm like, 'Okay, I definitely know what I'm talking about!'"
Then again, while Chicago Med and the whole Chicago franchise is widely considered to be one of the most realistic TV shows on air, New Amsterdam does not get any special praise in this area.
In any case, Teresa does not feel like quitting her pharmacy job to devote herself to acting.
"I don't feel," she explained, "that in life, you're destined to do just one thing. You can tap into your potential in different areas."
Maybe if her acting career has been more successful, it could have been a different matter, but for now the pharmacy is actually her primary source of income, while acting is closer a hobby – not to say that getting into acting was easy for Teresa!
But she does not regret the inevitable difficulties of pursuing two careers at once:
"My life grew. I got to meet new people on both sides: I made some of my closest friends in acting class, and I met some amazing people at work, who then challenged me in other ways."