Are Sarah Drew And Jesse Williams From Grey's Anatomy Friends In Real Life?

For actors who are paired up for a stretch of time on a TV series, good on-screen chemistry can be deceiving. After all, they are performers, and what fans see in their living rooms doesn't always reflect the actors' real-life relationship. For the people portraying a fictional romantic couple, they may want to tear each other's eyes out the moment the director yells "cut," or that same familiar spark continues on well after the filming wraps. Fans of "Grey's Anatomy" will be happy to know that it's the latter when it comes to the on-screen pair, Sarah Drew and Jesse Williams. 

Just like how the duo's scripted close relationship was enjoyable enough for fans to create a character-combined nickname, their real-life bond appears to be as special. In fact, these talented costars do not hold back when it comes to gushing over each other's talents and friendship. This all started around the time viewers first got introduced to Williams' Dr. Jackson Avery and Drew's Dr. April Kepner when they joined the show in Season 6. By Season 7, their friendship developed into romance, and in no time, fans coined "Japril," the melding of their character's names, which almost always implies viewer popularity. 

The on-screen chemistry kept the characters around as regulars for seven more seasons before they were essentially written off the show. While Dr. Avery's departure was a plotline true to his character's journey, Drew's Dr. Kepner's exit was a creative decision. However, Drew told ET Online that their friendship remained intact, which developed while being on-screen partners. "Doing the kind of work what we had to do as acting partners bonds people," she explained. And it seems like that bond may never be broken.

Both Sarah Drew and Jesse Williams have made it clear that the on-screen work they did together has helped carry a solid friendship past their time on "Grey's Anatomy," and still holds strong today. This is apparent in the way the actors have openly commended each other's post-"Grey's" work. Williams told Insider how proud he was of Drew's recent screenwriting accomplishment. "We had a lot of things fall apart. So to watch her have an idea and to get yes, after yes, after yes, and have to do it herself, it was just a real happy ending," he said, referring to Drew's very first professional writing credit, penning the Lifetime movie "Reindeer Games Homecoming." On the flip side, Drew has also not been shy about expressing her admiration toward her former medical partner.

One of the entertainment worlds that Williams decided to tap into after his stint as Dr. Avery was to perform on a Broadway stage. Drew took to Instagram back in May 2022 to express how proud she was of her friend's Broadway debut in the show, "Take Me Out." "Got to see this guy shine in his Tony-nominated Broadway debut last night on my way home from Canada! What a show! What a performance," she wrote in her post! 

No one yet knows whether or not we will ever see Williams and Avery paired up again, despite the ongoing rumors of a possible "Japril" spinoff. But it seems like even if their professional worlds don't end up aligning again, the bond that they developed together on "Grey's Anatomy" will continue to live on.