Eric Dane Receives Praise for Portraying ALS Patient on ‘Brilliant Minds’

Eric Dane is receiving high praise for portraying a firefighter battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — several months he was diagnosed with the disease.

In the latest episode of Brilliant Minds, the 53-year-old plays Matthew, a firefighter and 9/11 hero who is struggling to tell his wife — played by Mädchen Amick — and daughter that he’s been diagnosed with ALS, a neurodegenerative disease which the actor was also diagnosed with in real life. 

During one “emotional” scene in the episode, Dane’s character, Matthew, records a message about his evolving thoughts on asking for help, which prompted the cast and crew to rise to their feet.

“I have never seen this happen in my entire career, but he essentially got a 10-minute standing ovation after shooting that scene,” Brilliant Minds creator Michael Grassi told USA Today. “Because it was so beautiful and so honest and so real.”

“While his character’s finding bravery, there’s a lot of bravery in Eric to tell the story as well. To come out and share this part of yourself is vulnerable but also really important, and I think raises awareness and shows people that they’re not alone,” he added.

His costar Amick also shared how “proud” she was on Instagram to have starred alongside Dane in the episode and helped to bring awareness to the neurodegenerative disease, which affects nerve cells controlling certain muscles and currently has no cure, per Mayo Clinic.

“Hard to find the words to explain how proud I am to have been a part of Eric Dane’s journey through bravely raising awareness for #ALS 🥰 Thank you for this beautiful gift @realericdane,” she wrote alongside a snap of her and Dane from the episode. 

“Please watch this incredibly special #BrilliantMinds episode tonight on @nbc …and then rewatch over and over on @peacock 💚,” she added alongside the hashtag, “mentalhealth matters.”

Grassi told Deadline that the whole collaboration came about after Dane’s team reached out in September about the actor possibly being a part of the show. He said the idea of the Grey’s Anatomy star’s storyline came from “this very simple idea of what is it like for a family to navigate a difficult diagnosis,” as Grassi was also dealing with something similar at the time.

“There’s no rule book. There’s no guide. There’s no right way. There’s no wrong way, and it’s really hard,” Grassi told Deadline. “So we just wanted to show, especially for our Thanksgiving episode, what is it like for a family to have to work through this together?”

Grassi noted that they were also “excited to explore the idea” of how a person adapts to the things that life throws at them, and how especially for those diagnosed with ALS, “the adaptation never stops.”

“I think something like ALS, once you adapt, something changes again, and you’re adapting again and then adapting again and adapting again. That is not easy by any means, because you’re always doing something new. So those are all things that we talked about early on that we were interested in exploring in this episode,” said Grassi.

The A big key to the process was working with Dane to make sure that they told an “honest story.”

“… We wanted to meet him and his story in terms of where he [was] that day…when you’re dealing with a progressive illness, sometimes stuff changes every day. So we just really wanted to be open and collaborative and keep the conversation going every day,” Grassi recalled of working with the actor on set.

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“The best part of the process, was working with Eric and making sure that he felt great, and we felt great. He was just so generous on set, and it was a really good time getting to work with him,” he added.

The role, which was shot in October, is significant for the Euphoria star, as it is his part since revealing his ALS diagnosis with PEOPLE in April. His role in Countdown was filmed before his diagnosis. 

He said in a statement at the time that he felt “fortunate…to continue working” and asked for “privacy” for himself and his family. He shares daughters Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13, with Rebecca Gayheart.

Since then, he has partnered with support organization I AM ALS and their ongoing Push for Progress campaign, which aims to raise $1 billion for research over the next three years. As part of his partnership, he traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak with Rep. Frank Pallone about the disease.

“I have two daughters at home. I want to see them, you know, graduate college, and get married and maybe have grandkids. You know, I want to be there for all that. So I’m going to fight to the last breath on this one,” Dane said at the event.