Jeanie Boulet

Jeanie Boulet
Gloria Reuben as Jeanie Boulet
First appearance	January 19, 1995 (1x14, "Long Day's Journey")
Last appearance	January 3, 2008 (14x11 "Status Quo")
Portrayed by	Gloria Reuben
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Physician assistant (1995-1999) Head of HIV Clinics and Counselor (Present)
Spouse(s)	Al Boulet (ex-husband, deceased) Reggie Moore (separated)
Children	Carlos Moore (adopted)

Jeanie Boulet is a fictional character from the television series ER. She was portrayed by Gloria Reuben as a recurring character midway in the first season, then as a regular from season 2 onwards. Reuben left the series in the 6th season, but in 2008 (season 14) she reprised the role for one episode.

Jeanie is HIV-positive. Along with General Hospital's Robin Scorpio, she is one of the only regular characters in American television history to contract HIV without eventually being killed off by the writers.

Introduced in season 1, episode 14 "Long Day's Journey", Jeanie Boulet was initially a recurring character involved in the story arc of the regular character Dr Peter Benton (played by Eriq La Salle). During the first season, Jeanie's storyline centred on her adulterous affair with Benton, which developed after he employed her to care for his senile mother — Jeanie was unhappy in marriage to a philandering husband named Al (played by Wolfgang Bodison and Michael Beach). Benton was depicted as a talented, "self-assured" but "brooding", defensive and serious doctor. Contrastingly, Jeanie was portrayed as emotional, caring and sensitive. Reuben has described Jeanie as "strong-willed, sharp and intelligent, but, [she] has a dry sense of humor. She knows exactly what she's doing professionally, but she has a nurturing side, too." The personality differences between the characters lead to several clashes on-screen initially, as both have different ideas about what's best for Benton's ailing and progressively senile mother. In episode 20 "Full Moon, Saturday Night", Jeanie orders for Benton's mother to be held in restraints to prevent injury; Furious, Benton removes the restraints, leading her to fall from her bed. Benton and Jeanie grow closer as he subsequently accepts her guidance on how to care for his mother.

In his book, Bedside Manners: George Clooney and ER, author Sam Keenleyside comments on the scenes, saying that the storyline was poignant, but that "it gets lost in all the machinations of the rest of the show." The beginning of a blossoming romance saw a change in Benton's disposition over the following episodes, Keenleyside notes that he "seems to be thawing [...] It's well-worth asking what's brought all this on, and the answer seems to be — if his dinner with Jeanie is any indication — that he's a young doctor in love. Whether he continues his nice-guy routine while he plays second fiddle to Jeanie's husband remains to be seen, but giving Benton a love-interest, no matter how ill-fated, will offer his character some much needed life outside the hospital." As the first season drew to a close in episode 25 "Everything Old is New Again", Benton is shown to be keen for their relationship to progress, asking Jeanie to leave her husband; by contrast Jeanie is reticent and pulls away, leaving the future of their relationship unclear. According to Keenleyside, this was a deliberate "loose thread [...] left dangling to pull [viewers] back on to [their] sofas next season." He predicts, "expect to see them together next September; that way the writers can gloss over all the messy in-between stuff and get right to the romance for the new season."