She was initially portrayed by Merrin Dungey in the backdoor pilot Grey's Anatomy episode, "The Other Side of This Life", but was replaced by Audra McDonald prior to the show's first season.
She is the best friend of central character Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) and was married to the practice's internist Sam (Taye Diggs), with whom she has a daughter, Maya.
Naomi is a founding partner of the Oceanside Wellness Center in Los Angeles, California, where she works as a fertility specialist, board-certified in reproductive endocrinology, obstetrics, and gynecology.
Naomi also starts a flirtation with genetic specialist Gabriel Fife (Michael Patrick Thornton), who was recently hired at Oceanside Wellness Center.
She decides to merge Oceanside Wellness Group and Pacific Wellcare Center and begins traveling as part of her work with the William White Foundation.
During a heated argument with Sam, Addison, and Fife, Naomi states that the practice is not the same as when she started it and that she doesn't want to stay a part of it anymore, shocking them.
"[2] Naomi was played by Merrin Dungey in the backdoor pilot episode "The Other Side of This Life", but was replaced by Audra McDonald prior to the show's first season.
[4] Discussing the first episode of the show following the pilot, Variety's Cynthia Littleton observed: "I can definitely see why creator/exec producer Shonda Rhimes made the call to recast Audra McDonald in the key role of Naomi Bennett".
[5] Fellow Variety critic Brian Lowry was more negative in his consideration of the episode, noting that Naomi and Sam's "'No, you left me first' interaction already feels tedious.
"[6] Jon Caramanica of the Los Angeles Times has criticized McDonald's performance as Naomi in the show's first season, writing that: "she was rigorously firm, almost dispassionate.
As people bed-hopped and were emotionally flimsy around her, she remained stern at the center [...] McDonald is a strong, vivid actress, but such gravity felt at odds with the breezy tone of Private Practice.
"[7] Caramancia opined that "the tougher Naomi became, the lighter Addison had to be to keep the show's balance", and that as a result the series "regularly felt unmoored and became something of a critical punching bag".
[...] And later in the episode, when she thinks things are falling back into place, her soft, knowing, warm smile is one of the show's greatest victories, even though it comes just before everything goes wrong once again.