Grey’s Anatomy is getting its first gay male surgeon

Alex Landi who plays Dr. Nico Kim on Grey's Anatomy.

Medical drama series Grey’s Anatomy has cast actor Alex Landi as its first gay male surgeon.

Landi will play Dr Nico Kim, a new recurring character in the show.

The New York-born actor confirmed his new part in Grey’s Anatomy on Instagram, posting a screenshot of an article by TVLine, which broke the story. No further plot details for Landi’s part have been revealed.

Landi, who is half Italian and half Korean, has previously played roles in TV series Bull and Childlike. He is also set to star in 2018 film Broken Land. 

The cast and crew of Grey’s Anatomy in Hollywood, California, in November 2017.(VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images)

Landi added the caption: “Very grateful. Thank you to everyone who has made this possible. Watch me take on the role of Dr. Nico Kim for the season 15 premiere on Sept 27th 8pm on ABC.”

The fifteenth season of Grey’s Anatomy is set to start on September 27

The drama has had a number of LGBT+ characters over the years, including bisexual Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) and lesbian Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw).

A transgender storyline was introduced during season 14 of the show, with trans actor Candis Cayne playing a patient who comes to Grey Sloan for a vaginoplasty.

The show’s writers were inspired by the story of Hayley Anthony, a trans woman who helped a doctor to create a revolutionary new procedure for vaginoplasty surgeries.

In May, a teenager in New Mexico used a Grey’s Anatomy timestamp to come out in her high school yearbook.



Jessica Capshaw at a gala in Culver City, California, in November 2017. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Baby2Baby)

And, last year, Capshaw opened up about how playing the part of Arizona Robbins had positively impacted her own life.

“I never would have imagined that I would be able to play a character that would feel like it does so much good,” she told Yahoo Style.

Capshaw said that she hoped her on-screen presence helped “people who feel like the character resonates with them and it makes their day a little easier to see themselves represented.”