13 Surprising Connections Between the Cast of 13 Reasons Why

By Maggie Panos
Netflix
Netflix

The cast of 13 Reasons Why may be young, but their résumés are long. While a few stars (like Katherine Langford) are just getting into the business, many of the members of the ensemble cast have been in Hollywood for years, and they've even starred in projects together before! I started digging into their past roles, and found 13 — that wasn't planned, I swear — interesting connections. Note: I'm not including the fact that they've almost all been on some iteration of Law & Order, because you could throw a pebble out the window and hit someone who's been on Law & Order.

ABC
  1. Grey's Anatomy: Kate Walsh, Dylan Minnette, Mark Pellegrino, Wilson Cruz, and Ajiona Alexus were all on Grey's Anatomy. Walsh was a recurring character, while the others turned up as guest stars. Minnette memorably played a boy with no ears.
  2. Private Practice: Walsh's character, Dr. Addison Montgomery, got her own spinoff. In the fourth episode of the very first season, "In Which Addison Has a Very Casual Get Together," Miles Heizer appears as Michael.
  3. The Lauren Graham Connection: Speaking of Heizer, both he and Keiko Agena have starred on shows with Lauren Graham. He played her son on Parenthood, and Agena memorably played Lane on Gilmore Girls.
Fox
  1. Empire: Derek Luke had a sexy arc on the first season of Empire as Cookie's love interest, Malcolm Deveaux. Two seasons later, Ajiona Alexus popped up as the teenage version of Loretha, aka Cookie!
  2. Major Crimes: Though they don't appear in the same episode, both Dylan Minnette and Ross Butler have shown up on the TNT drama Major Crimes. (Minnette in 2012 and Butler in 2013.)
The CW
  1. iZombie: Justin Prentice played Brody Johnson (a much less despicable character than Bryce) on the CW series. Steven Weber, who appears as Principal Bolan in 13 Reasons Why, also had a recurring role on iZombie as Vaughn Du Clark. Both actors were also in Reba McEntire comedy Malibu Country!
  2. Chasing Life: Weber starred in Freeform's two-season series as Dr. George Carver, while Ross Butler and Timothy Granaderos both had smaller parts.
Everett Collection
  1. Spotlight: Tom McCarthy, who produced 13 Reasons Why (in addition to directing two episodes), directed Brian d'Arcy James (aka Hannah's dad) in the 2015 Oscar winner Spotlight.
  2. Scandal: Dylan Minnette played Fitz and Mellie's ill-fated son, Jerry Grant Jr., in seasons three and four of the ABC show. Diehard fans may remember Keiko Agena as Britta in the 2012 episode "Happy Birthday, Mr. President."
Everett Collection
  1. My So-Called Life: The Netflix series has a number of connections to My So-Called Life, including actors Wilson Cruz and Robert Gant. Cruz played Rickie Vasquez in the '90s staple, then lawyer Dennis Vasquez in 13 Reasons Why. Gant is one of the actors in The Guide to Better Loving video that Angela watches, and he appears in the Netflix series as one of Courtney's dads.
  2. Teen Wolf: You may remember Alisha Boe as Gwen, but do you recall Ross Butler as Nathan? Henry Zaga, who appears in 13 Reasons Why as Brad, also starred in nine episodes as Josh Diaz.
Showtime
  1. The Kerris Dorsey Connection: Alisha Boe had great guest arc as bad-girl Janet on Ray Donovan . . . which stars Kerris Dorsey . . . who is in a real-life relationship with Dylan Minnette! Dorsey and Minnette starred in 2014's family film Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day together.
  2. Parenthood: Finally, Boe also appeared in a 2014 episode of Parenthood, the show that Miles Heizer starred on for six years. She doesn't interact with him in her scene, but she does talk to his onscreen cousin Max.