Jeffrey Dean Morgan says THIS role 'gave me a career'

Jeffrey Dean Morgan recently got candid about how many times he auditioned since he portrayed Denny Duquette on Grey's Anatomy.

For the unversed, the 59-year-old American actor first came into the spotlight when he played the role of a heart transplant patient on Grey’s Anatomy season 1 and 2, 19 years ago.

He asked Dr. Izzie Stevens, played by Katherine Heigl, to marry him while he was on his deathbed.

While having a conversation with PEOPLE magazine, Morgan, who is known for playing Negan in the American post-apocalyptic horror drama television series The Walking Dead, revealed that that role [Negan] might not have happened without his "life-changing" role on Grey’s Anatomy.

Articulating his thoughts, he said, “That show honestly gave me a career. I was doing that, Weeds and Supernatural simultaneously… I've auditioned zero times since playing Denny Duquette.”

The Rampage star went on to admit that playing Danny helped start his career in his 40s after many years of small parts and TV shows that did not last.

"I'd been kicking around Hollywood for a long time, but nobody certainly knew who I was. My whole career launched out of that character,” Morgan quipped.

"P.S. I Love You I got because of that show," he added, referring to his starring role in the 2007 rom-com in which he appeared alongside Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank.

“[Director] Zack Snyder told me that he cast me in Watchmen because he saw me as Denny. How you watch Denny and go, ‘Well, that's the nihilistic comedian right there,’ is beyond me,” Morgan said of his character, The Comedian, in the 2009 superhero-based film Watchmen.