Carla Espinosa

Carla Espinosa
Portrayed by	Judy Reyes
Born	November 5, 1971
Occupation	Full-time mother Former nurse
Relationship	Married to Christopher Turk
Family	Espinosa family
Children	Isabella Turk Second Daughter
Appearances
First Appearance	"My First Day"
Last Appearance	"My Finale"

“Listen, I run back and forth for 18 hours a day between patients who might die and patients who will die, and if I find time to write an order for bedpans, I write it fast. So you will forgive me if I don't feel like being judged by some guy in his thirties who still wears shorts to work!”— Carla  ("My Dirty Secret")

Carla Espinosa, RN is a full-time mother of Isabella Turk and her other unnamed daughter, and was the Head Nurse at Sacred Heart Hospital's Intensive Care Unit before giving birth to her second child. She worked as a nurse for eight years before meeting her eventual husband, Chris Turk, best friend Elliot Reid and good friend J.D.. She has a longer history with her colleague Dr. Cox, and was usually on the end of budget cuts from Dr. Kelso. She is also one of the very few people The Janitor fears.

Around the hospital, Carla was one of the rare straight-shooters, but she had her flaws, especially when it came to her marriage, pregnancies, and motherhood. She likes to have her opinion be heard and hates being wrong.

Carla is portrayed by Judy Reyes. Carla appeared in 165 of Scrubs' first 168 episodes of the first eight seasons, where she was a main character. She was first seen in "My First Day" and was last seen in "My Finale".

About

Carla doing what she does best: telling people what to do. ("My Dirty Secret")

Carla was a dedicated and hard working nurse and now is a full-time mother. Sometimes she would have to put up with lazy nurses or inexperienced interns, but rather than bragging about how she really ran the hospital, Carla is humble. If Carla has something on her mind she will speak it, and will make it as sassy as possible, going as far as giving advice where it is inappropriate. She is strong-willed, but also has a soft side. She married surgeon Chris Turk in her 11th year in medicine, just 3 years after she met him. They are happily married and have at least two daughters; Isabella, the oldest, who was born in 2006 ("My Best Friend's Baby's Baby and My Baby's Baby") and a second daughter who was born in 2009. ("My Absence")

Although she and Turk are married, she doesn't share his last name with him because she wants to preserve her cultural heritage. Although Carla was born in the U.S., her mother was born in the Dominican Republic. Carla speaks fluent Spanish. Carla has a younger brother, Marco, who hates Turk because Turk confused him as a valet at Marco and Carla's mother's funeral. Carla also has two sisters, Maria and Gabriella, the latter of whom accidentally had her eyebrow completely waxed off by Elliot on the day of Carla and Turk's wedding. ("My Best Friend's Wedding")

Relationships

Carla and Turk's wedding day. ("My Best Friend's Wedding")

Turk

Carla and Christopher Turk are happily married and have two daughters. They met on Turk's first day at Sacred Heart, and after she played hard to get to see if his intentions went past just sex, they became a couple. ("My First Day") As they continued to date, they had their rough patches, but nothing brought them apart. Although she delayed answering Turk's proposal, the two married at the end of Turk's third year at Sacred Heart. ("My Best Friend's Wedding") Soon after, Carla moved into the apartment and the pair asked J.D. to leave. They hit a snag in their relationship, but soon overcame it. The two enjoy frequent sex, which has since resulted in two children, Isabella, ("My Best Friend's Baby's Baby and My Baby's Baby") and another daughter. Turk learned to speak Spanish for Carla, an ability he abused before revealing it to her. ("My Bad Too")

Elliot

Elliot and Carla

Elliot Reid is Carla's grounded voice and best friend. Because Elliot can get crazy and neurotic at times, Carla often has to bring her back to Earth. Carla is a mentor for Elliot. She is a great source of advice if Elliot has a problem with a relationship or moral dilemma. The two didn't get along when Elliot first arrived at Sacred Heart, but the more they got to know each other, the more they became friends. Carla often stands up for Elliot when she puts her foot in her mouth. Elliot often defers to Carla when she needs to be tough, often saying that Carla has "other side of the tracks" experience.

J.D.

J.D. and Carla during his first year. ("My Nickname")

Carla and J.D. used to be mutual friends, but their friendship has gotten closer over time. When J.D. first came to Sacred Heart, he was treated nicely by Carla, unlike by many other people. ("My First Day"). At some point during his first year, his experience and knowledge grew so much that he surpassed Carla professionally, and it was only upon admitting it he realized that he wouldn't have gotten to where he was without her ("My Nickname"). Because Carla is often with Turk, J.D. got to know Carla quite well and has even been on several double dates with her. At one point in their friendship, Carla and J.D. accidentally drunkenly kissed, but they talked it over and decided it was a mistake, and they don't think about it anymore. ("My Lips Are Sealed") The two get along famously, trusting each other personally and professionally, and they often go out as friends together and obviously get along well ("My Moment of Un-Truth") ("My Nickname"). However, because of J.D. and Turk's closeness and odd relationship somewhat akin to a gay couple, she often has nightmares that Turk will "leave her for J.D." When J.D. decided to leave Sacred Heart to move closer to his son Sammy, Carla says that she's going to miss him. ("My Finale")

Dr. Cox

Carla and Dr. Cox are professional friends, but there used to be more. Before Turk came to Sacred Heart, Dr. Cox and Carla dated. Although he fell for her, she didn't feel the same way and ended the relationship. When Turk came, Dr. Cox still liked her, but promised to not do anything on purpose to ruin what Turk and Carla had ("My Drug Buddy"). Though she's subordinate to Dr. Cox, she is in fact the only one at Sacred Heart staff whose opinion he respects and who he treats like an equal. Despite often caustic dialogue, they are close friends, and he is Carla's closest confidant on the show.

Dr. Kelso

Carla often acts on the behalf of the entire nursing staff and stands up to Dr. Bob Kelso. When Bob makes cutbacks, she lets him know how the changes are affecting the hospital and nursing staff. He knows she does her job well, but will always let her know if she makes a mistake. They don't necessarily hate each other like other people hate Dr. Kelso, but they share a mutual disdain.

Carla and Kelso have a mutual respect for one another and often help one another when necessary - Kelso gave Carla advice about how to handle Turk's mole and convinced her to take the fertility test she was trying to avoid having out of fear. Carla has helped Kelso out on a number of occasions in return.

Personality Profile

Likes

• Being everyone's "den mother"
• Giving people advice
• Double dates/dinners
• Her job
• Pizza Rolls
• Pointing out people's faults
• Video games

Dislikes

• Being referred to as "just a nurse'
• Having someone else pointing out her faults
• Her sausage fingers ("My Own Personal Hell")
• Isabella Turk being called "Blaxican"
• People confusing her nationality
• Rowdy/Steven
• Turk not remembering her middle name

Nicknames

• Carla From The Block
• Carla Juanita Espinosa (Turk)
• The Closer (Turk)  ("My Cuz")
• Doll-face (Ted)
• Lioness (Elliot)  ("My Saving Grace")
• Mother Hen (Katie)  ("My Saving Grace")
• Mrs. Busy-Body-Smarty-Pants (J.D.)  ("My Dirty Secret")
• Mrs. Turkleton (Dr. Kelso)
  • Nurse Turkleton
  • Ex-Nurse Turkleton
• My Puerto Rican princess (Turk) (Note: Carla is actually Dominican)
• Nurse Fajita (Aaron Simon)  ("My Tuscaloosa Heart")
• Nurse Snickers (Dr. Kelso)  ("My Screw Up")
• Pickle (J.D.)
• Scary Nurse-Wife (Janitor)  ("His Story III")
• Tubs
• Nurse Twitchy

Trivia

• Carla is the godmother of Perry Cox and Jordan Sullivan's daughter, Jennifer Dylan Cox.
• In the song "For the Last Time, I'm Dominican" from My Musical, Carla asked Turk several personal questions, the answers to which Turk didn't know. She was in medicine for 8 years before Turk came to Sacred Heart, and in their wedding episode a Beatles cover band was supposed to play, but then Ted came in and still they sang "Eight Days a Week." The answer to her other two questions are "Illinois" and "Dominican."
• Carla's middle name is not Juanita.
• Carla has nicknamed her vagina "Miss Priscilla" after her high school art teacher. ("My Best Friend's Baby's Baby and My Baby's Baby")
• Carla's cup size is C, according to J.D. who uses her bras for water balloon catapulting. ("My Roommates")
• Carla occasionally comes over to Dr. Kelso's house to give instructions to his pool boy, who understands English, but Dr. Kelso can't talk to him without laughing because he is missing his 2 front teeth.
• Carla is left handed. ("My Journey")
• Carla's belly-button is pierced.
• Sometimes her last name is written "Espinoza", especially on her name badge. It's unclear how her last name is really written.
• Carla used to smoke, but she quit with the help of hypnosis. ("My Day at the Races")
• Carla is a Democrat, but finds Rudy Giuliani sexy. ("My Way Home")

Images

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