The Pitt is adding a recognizable face to the rotation of fictional doctors.
Variety reported on Thursday that Geoffrey Owens, who played Elvin on The Cosby Show, will join the hit HBO show to play Dr. Clay Barrett, seven years after the actor was “job shamed” when photos of him working at a New Jersey Trader Joe’s went viral.
Season 2 of The Pitt will also add star Noah Wyle’s former ER co-star, Mary McCormack, as a neurosurgeon and his real-life wife, Sara Wyle, as an ER patient, according to the site.
Owens reacted to the viral photos in an interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts in 2018. “I was really devastated,” Owens told the host. “I kind of feel like that character in that Woody Allen movie who wakes up one morning, and he’s a celebrity all of a sudden, who has no idea where it came from. It came out of nowhere,” he added.
Owens’ initial reaction softened when he realized that, beneath the mean jokes online, there were many messages of support.
“I really want to thank everybody out there—family friends, Hollywood community, and the general public—for the incredible support, for the amazing support and positivity they have shown for me. It’s really astounding. It’s quite encouraging,” he said at the time.
As Owens’ interview was airing, writer-producer Tyler Perry tweeted, “#GeoffreyOwens I’m about to start shooting OWN’s number one drama next week! Come join us!!! I have so much respect for people who hustle between gigs. The measure of a true artist.” Weeks later, Perry hired Owens for a 10-episode role on the OWN drama, The Haves and the Have Nots.
The actor booked intermittent work over the next few years, with roles on Power, Power Book II: Ghost, Blue Bloods, and NCIS, before landing a small role on The Pitt this year.
In 2024, he shared on The Big Tigger Morning Show that his acting work was still hard to make a living from. “Right now, as we speak, I still struggle to make a living,” he said at the time. “I struggle every day to make my ends meet. And people can’t get their heads around that because they see me in movies. All the TV shows I’ve done and all that stuff.
“People have the impression that, ‘Well, you’re making a lot of money. What’s the problem? Why would you have financial troubles?’ They don’t understand the specifics of how my industry works,” he explained.
Owens also shared he was no longer filling the gaps with Trader Joe’s. “I quit Trader Joe’s, actually, before the news hit. It was strange because someone had been in the store taking pictures,” he explained. “And I was like, well, now that this is breaking, I’m not going to feel comfortable working in this store, wondering who’s around with a camera. It’s gonna be just too weird. I’m a very private person.”
Owens’ first episode on The Pitt will air on Apr. 2.
