36 Facts About Ellen Pompeo

Ellen Pompeo is best known for her role on Grey's Anatomy as the titular Dr Meredith Grey.

Ellen Pompeo's accolades include a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination.

Ellen Pompeo made her feature film debut in 1999 with the romantic comedy Coming Soon, and went on to play minor roles in films like In the Weeds and Mambo Cafe but found little initial success.

Ellen Pompeo was then cast in ABC's popular medical drama Grey's Anatomy, and gained worldwide recognition for her portrayal of the title character Dr Meredith Grey.

Ellen Pompeo was the highest-ranked actress from a drama series on the list.

Ellen Pompeo has been married to music producer Chris Ivery since 2007; they have three children.

Ellen Pompeo was born in Everett, Massachusetts, on November 10,1969.

Ellen Pompeo's father was born in Gesualdo, Italy, and was of Italian, English, and Irish descent; and her mother of Irish ancestry.

Ellen Pompeo's mother died of an accidental painkiller overdose when she was four.

Ellen Pompeo's father remarried soon after; he died on September 1,2012.

Ellen Pompeo was nicknamed "the pencil", and "stracciatella".

Ellen Pompeo worked as a bartender in Miami when she started dating her then boyfriend.

Ellen Pompeo made her feature film debut in Coming Soon, playing a small part.

Ellen Pompeo participated in the movie Mambo Cafe with Thalia.

In 2002, Ellen Pompeo was selected by director Brad Silberling for a lead role in his film Moonlight Mile, playing Jake Gyllenhaal's character's sympathetic love interest.

Also in 2002, Ellen Pompeo appeared in the biographical crime drama film Catch Me If You Can; and in 2003, she appeared in Old School as Luke Wilson's love interest.

Ellen Pompeo portrayed Jim Carrey's ex-girlfriend, Naomi, in the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Ellen Pompeo played the role of Karen Page in the 2003 film Daredevil, and the following year, she starred in Art Heist.

Ellen Pompeo landed her first major role in 2005 on the ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy, created by Shonda Rhimes.

Ellen Pompeo has played the title character and series' protagonist, Meredith Grey, a surgical intern at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital since the show's pilot episode.

Ellen Pompeo signed a new contract for Grey's Anatomy in 2011 that increased her salary to US$200,000 per episode; she was named the eighth highest-paid TV actress in 2012, earning $9 million.

Ellen Pompeo's performance has garnered her five People's Choice Award nominations, with three wins.

Ellen Pompeo has been nominated for several other awards for her performances in the show.

Ellen Pompeo was among the Grey's Anatomy cast members awarded the award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 13th Screen Actors Guild Awards, and received nominations in the same category in 2006 and 2008.

In 2007, Ellen Pompeo was honored by the National Italian American Foundation for her achievement in entertainment at a black-tie gala in Washington, DC In the same year, show-business awards reporter Tom O'Neil commented that Ellen Pompeo was overdue for an Emmy Award nomination for her role in Grey's Anatomy.

The view was echoed by later critics, including Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times who suggested that Ellen Pompeo, "who has worked very hard and against all narrative odds to make Meredith Grey an interesting character at last" should have received a nomination at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards.

On October 27,2011, Deadline Hollywood reported that Ellen Pompeo had launched her own production company called Calamity Jane which sold its first project to ABC, an untitled show about female agents on the Secretary of State's security detail.

Ellen Pompeo is involved with a Spanish thriller Motivos Personales with the London-based company, New Media Vision.

Ellen Pompeo appeared in the music video for Taylor Swift's 2015 single "Bad Blood", and two years later, she voiced a stuffed animal cat in Doc McStuffins.

Ellen Pompeo received a sum of $575,000 per episode under her new contract and was promoted to the rank of producer for the series, which was estimated to earn her a separate $6 million to $7 million annually.

Ellen Pompeo was listed as co-producer for the Grey's Anatomy spinoff titled Station 19 and received office space for Calamity Jane at Walt Disney Studios.

Ellen Pompeo wrote a piece on the issue of the gender pay gap and her new contract with ABC, which was featured as the cover story for the January 2018 issue of The Hollywood Reporter.

Ellen Pompeo was only scheduled to appear in eight episodes this season.

Ellen Pompeo will remain an executive producer on the show and continue her signature voiceovers for the show.

Ellen Pompeo met Chris Ivery in a Los Angeles grocery store in 2003.

Ellen Pompeo heavily criticized media reports suggesting that she suffered from an eating disorder, calling the media irresponsible for promoting such rumors.