Ellen Pompeo (born November 10, 1969) is a Golden Globe-nominated and Screen Actors Guild award-winning American actress, known for playing the title role of Meredith Grey on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy.

Early life

Pompeo was born in Everett, Massachusetts, the daughter of Joseph, a salesman, and Kathleen Pompeo. Pompeo is of Irish and Italian descent and was raised Catholic. Her grandfather was born in Gesualdo, a village in Province of Avellino, Italy.Fact: date=December 2007 Her mother passed away when she was four years old and her father remarried soon after her mother's death. She was nicknamed the pencil and Stracciatella (which translated from Italian to "little rags" or "strings") for her thin frame.

For more than two years, she served cocktails in Miami where she met then-boyfriend, fashion photographer Andrew Rosenthal. In 1996, she was bartending at the SoHo Bar & Grill in New York City's Upper West Side when an agent approached her to appear in commercials. Subsequently, she appeared in commercials for Citibank and L'Oreal. She began her career with minor roles on television shows like Strangers with Candy and Law & Order and a handful of films.

Career

Determined to succeed in acting, Pompeo moved to Los Angeles in 2001. A turning point came when she was selected by director Brad Silberling in 2002 for a role in his film Moonlight Mile playing Jake Gyllenhaal's sympathetic love interest. She also appeared in the film Daredevil playing Matt Murdock's (Ben Affleck) secretary Karen Page, but most of her scenes were deleted from the theatrical version of the film. In 2002 and 2003, Pompeo appeared in Catch Me If You Can and Old School. Television guest roles include two episodes of Law & Order and an episode of Friends. She portrayed Jim Carrey's ex-girlfriend, Naomi, in the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Although her scenes were cut from the film, she felt grateful that director Michel Gondry chose her to appear in his film.

Pompeo landed her first major role in the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy, as the title character, Meredith Grey, a surgical intern at a prestigious hospital. The show became the highest-rated on network TV in its fifth season. In 2007, Pompeo was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series. That year, she also signed a new contract for Grey's Anatomy that increased her salary to $200,000 per episode. She is contracted with the show for seven seasons.

On October 13, 2007, Pompeo was honored by the National Italian American Foundation for her achievement in entertainment at a black-tie gala in Washington, D.C.