Categories: Movies

Neil Flynn: the Janitor from Scrubs

If you heard the name Neil Flynn you might not know who I am talking about but if I said that guy from Scrubs that plays the Janitor, then you would know who I am talking about. Well Neil Flynn is that guy that plays the janitor in Scrubs. There are probably a lot of things you don’t know about the Janitor and I was even surprised to find out about one of my favorite characters on the show.

Neil Flynn was born in Waukegan, IL and was the third child of six, growing up in the Southside of Chicago Neil acted in some plays in high school but acting never really went past that. That was until he was about to graduate from Bradley University, that he thought that acting might be something he would want to do as a career and earn a living doing it. Flynn returned to Chicago and joined two local theater groups, the Steppenwolf and Goodman theaters. He worked with some notable actors while doing his time at the theaters, he worked with Aidan Quinn (in “Hamlet”) and Brian Dennehy (in “Galileo” at the Goodman), among others.

Flynn also joined and became a regular at Chicago’s ImprovOlympic, which is well known for performing and teaching long-form improvisational theater, and after this went on to become a member of the Second City Comedy Troupe in Chicago. Second City is well known as a feeder for the show Saturday Night Live and many comedy legends have worked there. All of this improv has probably helped his performance on the show Scrubs, many of the cast have stated that many of Flynn’s lines are not read from a script but improvised.

Flynn has also made many appearances in feature films, including “Magnolia”, “Home Alone 3,” “The Fugitive,” “Chain Reaction,” “Rookie of the Year,” “Baby’s Day Out” and “Major League.” Flynn has also guest-stared on such series as “C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation,” “Boston Public,” “NYPD Blue,” “Arli$$,” “The Drew Carey Show,” “That ’70s Show,” “Seinfeld,” “Ellen,” “Family Law” and “Smallville.

Flynn had originally auditioned for the role of Dr. Cox on the show Scrubs, the part ended up going to John McGinely. Bill Lawrence (the creator of Scrubs) was so impressed with Flynn he asked him if he would be interested in the part of the mysterious janitor that tormented the young doctor J.D. (Zach Braff). Flynn agreed to what was supposed to be a one-time gag in the shows pilot episode. Lawrence said after seeing Flynn and watching how everyone responded to this guy, they knew they had to keep him around.

Since then Flynn has been a part of every episode of Scrubs except one (My Lucky Day). The Janitor is my favorite character on the show and I think that Neil Flynn does a remarkable job, especially if it is true that most of his lines are improvised. Kind of shocking to see that he has done far more work then just his role on Scrubs, he was even the Dad in Mean Girl’s, I had to watch it again just to see for sure. With all of these credits to his name and now his hit role on Scrubs I hope he gets more roles in television and film. He is an extraordinary actor.