Carla Espinosa
Nurse Carla Espinosa is a fictional character in the American sitcom Scrubs, portrayed by Judy Reyes.
Profile
Carla is a nurse from the Dominican Republic who works at Sacred Heart Hospital, in which the main action of the show takes place.
She grew up in Chicago. It is revealed in Season 5 that she is 36, which suggests that she was born in 1969 or 1970.
Carla started dating Christopher Turk in the show's pilot episode, and married him at the end of Season 3. She speaks Spanish. Despite Elliot's best efforts, Carla didn't feel particularly close to her at first, although they have since become good friends. Conversely, she and J.D. (whom she refers to affectionately as "Bambi") have a fairly close friendship. She is protective of J.D. and stands up for him when chief physician Dr. Cox shouts at him for no reason.
She is somewhat of a "know-it-all," and gives unwanted advice to all of her friends. She calls bossing people around "her crack" in the 5th season. Despite her personal foibles, no one dares makes fun of her; when anyone does, she humiliates them in front of the entire hospital.
Throughout the fifth season, she and Turk tried to conceive a baby. Initially, they were unsuccessful, but finally got pregnant toward the end of the season. She eventually gave birth to a baby girl.
She has a sister who is a model.
Her mother is buried on jewish cemetery (Episode: My Boss's Free Haircut.
Relationships with other characters
J.D.
She claims that of all the interns she has worked with, J.D. is the only one whose approval she actually cared about, to the extent that she feigned an interest in black-and-white photography so he would think she was more intelligent.
While Carla sometimes complains that Turk and J.D. are a better couple than she and Turk, there has been no real rivalry between Carla and J.D. for Turk's attention, and both seek to encourage Turk to do the right thing as a husband and friend, respectively. Furthermore, it seems that at times J.D. is a closer friend to Carla than Turk, as he happily engages in girl-type gossip with her. During an episode Turk asked J.D. to help him and Carla out. Her and J.D. ended up getting drunk and kissed each other.
Turk
Carla married Turk in the season finale of season 3. They had dated for almost the entire run of the show, and constantly prove to have a sound relationship. From the start of season 5 Carla and Turk had attempted to get pregnant. Carla finally became pregnant in episode 5.16, "My Bright Idea".
Carla was initially hesitant to accept Turk's proposal in Season 2. Also, earlier, when Carla found out that Turk had been hiding his knowledge of chief attending physician Dr. Cox's crush on her from her, Turk was relegated to J.D.'s room ("My Overkill").
For a brief period in the series, Carla and Turk underwent a separation, after Carla discovered that Turk was still talking to his ex-girlfriend without telling her he was married. She moved in with Elliot for a while. Following some couples' therapy and some frank discussions with Turk and J.D., however, the couple reunited and immediately began trying to conceive. She gave birth to her baby girl, Isabella Turk, through a Caesarian section.
See also: (see Turk and Carla).
Elliot
At the beginning of season one, Elliot and Carla clashed. Elliot maintained a 'holier-than-thou' attitude towards Carla. The characters gradually became best friends, however, after friendly overtures from both sides. Series creator Bill Lawrence has said on DVD commentaries that this mirrored Reyes' and Sarah Chalke's real-life relationship.
Although Elliot was not on the list of invited guests to Turk and Carla's wedding, she subsequently is revealed to be a bridesmaid. Later on, Carla implies that she feels closer to Elliot than she does to her own sisters.
Dr. Cox
Dr. Cox has always had a soft spot for Carla, as she is not afraid to stand up to him. In one episode, it is noted that they even went out on a date early in Carla's career at the hospital (presumably either before Dr. Cox and his ex-wife Jordan became involved, or more likely, after their divorce). When Carla confessed how fearful she was of being a parent after watching after his son, Cox happily tells Carla that he knows she'll be a terrific mother.
The Janitor
Carla is assumed to be the only person that the Janitor fears. The Janitor has put down almost every other person in the hospital - including his own boss, Bob Kelso. Carla has repeatedly stood up for other members of the hospital in front of The Janitor, which is the reason why he fears her.