Who is Perry Cox in Scrubs?

Show

Scrubs

Played by

John C. McGinley

First episode

“My First Day”Season 1, Episode 1, aired October 2, 2001

Role

Main cast

Network

NBC

Occupation

Attending physician, later chief of medicine

Show run

2001 to 2010Moved to ABC for its last two seasons.

Also known as

Dr. Cox, Percival Ulysses Cox

Dr. Perry Cox is the best doctor at Sacred Heart and the first to tell you so, a cynical attending physician who greets nearly everyone with a long, cutting rant. John C. McGinley plays him as a man whose cruelty hides a fierce devotion to his patients.

On Scrubs, Perry Cox's story runs through J.D. (Protege), Bob Kelso (Nemesis), Carla Espinosa (Friend), Christopher Turk (Rival), and Elliot Reid (Resident).

Who is Perry Cox?

Perry Cox is an attending physician at Sacred Heart Hospital when J.D. arrives as an intern. J.D. instantly decides Cox is his mentor, and Cox wants nothing to do with that. He calls J.D. "Newbie" and a string of girls' names, berates the residents, and saves much of his venom for the chief of medicine, Bob Kelso.

His personal life centers on Jordan Sullivan, his equally acerbic ex-wife, with whom he has a "married but not married" relationship and two children, Jack and Jennifer Dylan. He drinks plenty of scotch, plays basketball in the hospital parking lot, and nurses a running grudge against Hugh Jackman.

Personality and comedy

Cox's rants are one of the show's signatures. McGinley often received them the night before or the morning of filming, and he delivers them at full speed. Cox claims his cruelty prepares young doctors for the brutality of hospital life, and every so often he admits, grudgingly, that they have made him proud.

Underneath, he cares more about his patients than almost anyone at Sacred Heart, which keeps him at war with Kelso's focus on the bottom line. When it counts, he defends his people; he once punches Kelso in front of the staff for tearing into Elliot.

Key storylines

In season three, Jordan's brother Ben, Cox's best friend, visits for Jack's first birthday, and his sudden death in "My Screw Up" devastates Cox. In season five, three of his patients die after receiving organs from a donor who turns out to have had rabies, and he blames himself and sinks into a dark stretch before J.D. helps pull him back.

When Kelso retires in season seven, Cox fills in as chief of medicine, helps push out Kelso's replacement, Dr. Taylor Maddox, and takes the job for real in season eight. In "My Finale," he finally says out loud what he really thinks of J.D., never noticing that J.D. is standing right behind him.

Later years and legacy

McGinley stayed a regular for season nine, when Cox teaches at Winston University, and returned in a recurring role for ABC's 2026 revival, in which Cox hands the chief of medicine job to J.D.

Cox's habit of touching his nose is McGinley's nod to Robert Redford in The Sting. Creator Bill Lawrence has said Cox always knows who is standing behind him without turning around, which is exactly why the moment in "My Finale" lands so well.

Perry Cox: frequently asked questions

All Scrubs charactersEssential Scrubs episodesScrubs triviaMore 2000s sitcom characters

All sitcom characters A to Z