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After winning big with the success of “ER,” Noah Wyle admitted he burned through nearly everything he earned on the hit show before hitting reset on his career.
Wyle rose to fame playing Dr. John Carter in “ER” alongside George Clooney. He held the role for over a decade and earned multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Nearly 20 years later, Wyle admitted he was struggling with his finances before landing the lead role on HBO’s “The Pitt.”
“Well, not to make it a sob story, but everything I pretty much had made and earned on ‘ER,’ I spent,” he told GQ. “I’d taken it down to the studs a couple years ago, to the point where I was doing work for the money, for the experience and for the need to work.”
“But I was looking at the rest of my career [thinking], ‘Let’s shrink this footprint down and turn it into something that’s sustainable and manageable,'” Wyle added.
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Noah Wyle as Dr. John Carter in “ER.” (Chris Haston/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
Wyle found himself in a funk after the COVID-19 pandemic hit and forced him to pause his career for the first time in years. During the global health crisis, Wyle said he began to hear from health care workers who were looking for TV representation similar to “ER.”
Wyle told The New York Times he was “profoundly depressed” as he dealt with the Hollywood strikes in 2023.
Warner Bros. announced a deal to stream “The Pitt” in 2024, years after Wyle joined forces with “ER” creators R. Scott Gemmill and John Wells to create something new. At first, the trio wanted to reboot “ER,” with the spotlight on what Dr. John Carter was doing in the 2020s, but negotiations with Warner Bros. fell apart.
Noah Wyle revealed he blew through his “ER” payday before resurrecting his career with “The Pitt.” (VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
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“I just wanted to put this spotlight back on these first responders. I wanted to put the attention back on this community that needed it,” Wyle told Vulture. “And Wells goes, ‘We could still do that.’”
“The Pitt,” which is similar to the storyline of “ER,” is set in Pittsburgh and focuses on medical accuracy and modern-day health issues, rarely following the characters into their personal lives.
Anthony Edwards as Dr. Mark Greene, George Clooney as Dr. Doug Ross, Sherry Stringfield as Dr. Susan Lewis, Noah Wyle as Dr. John Carter and Eriq La Salle as Dr. Peter Benton in “ER.” (NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images)
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Noah Wyle plays Dr. Robinavitch in “The Pitt.” He won a Golden Globe for the role in 2026. (Gilbert Flores/2026GG/Penske Media via Getty Images)
While Wyle’s run on “ER” defined his career, the long hours and commitment meant passing on high-profile films like “Saving Private Ryan” and “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
“I had a really great first act in my career, and got associated with a show that ran for a really long time,” Wyle told Vulture. “I stayed with it. What came after that came after that.”
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