November 10, 1969

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Born on November 10, 1969 in Everett Massachusetts, Ellen Pompeo lost her mother when she was a four year-old girl living in the Upper West Side of New York. Before she achieved success as an actress, Pompeo worked as !$#!#tail waitress in Miami, where she chanced upon fashion photographer, Andrew Rosenthal. After some time, she and Rosenthal went back to New York, where she found work as a SoHo Bar & Grill bartender. While working at the said establishment, Pompeo was offered several roles in television commercials, including ones that featured products from Citibank and L'Oreal.

In the hopes of getting better acting jobs, Pompeo relocated to Los Angeles in 2001. A year later, she got her first screen appearance in Brad Silberling's Moonlight Mile. This became an opportunity for her to work alongside Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon. Her performance was sensational as she received great reviews. She also got to work with Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrel in the hilarious film, Old School, and opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can. Before she landed the role of Meredith Grey in the television series, Grey's Anatomy, she was given guest roles on hit shows such as Law & Order and Friends .

In an interview with TV Guide, Pompeo said that she identifies with her character, Meredith Grey, in terms of not being overly serious about academics and finishing things in her own pace and time. She also feels proud of being able to convincingly portray a character who is extremely book smart, when in real life, Pompeo does not care much for classroom reading material.

Pompeo's work on Grey's Anatomy not only prompted the network to raise her salary to $200,000 per episode, but also earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Television Drama Series in 2007. In the same year, Pompeo got to share a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast in a TV Series-Drama with her Grey's Anatomy castmates.

In November of 2007, Pompeo got married to record producer Chris Ivery and took residence in Los Angeles.

Everett, Massachusetts

Ellen K. Pompeo

Female

Spouse: Chris Ivery (9 November 2007 - present)

Is a native of Boston.

Had another scene in Daredevil (2003) as Matt Murdock's (Ben Affleck) secretary Karen Page, but it was deleted from the theatrical version of the film.

Before "Grey's Anatomy" (2005), she auditioned for a television pilot called "Secret Service". That show was not picked up by any television network.

She is the youngest of 6 - she has 5 siblings who are all at least 8 years older than her. One of them is Maureen Pompeo.

Suffers from asthma.

Her mother died when she was only 4 years old. Her father is Joseph Pompeo, a salesman.

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations.

2007: Satellite Award
Best Actress in a Series, Drama
for: "Grey's Anatomy"

2007: Screen Actors Guild Awards
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
for: "Grey's Anatomy" (2005)
Shared with: Justin Chambers, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Katherine Heigl, T.R. Knight, Sandra Oh, James Pickens Jr., Sara Ramirez, Kate Walsh, Isaiah Washington, Chandra Wilson

2005- : Grey's Anatomy - Dr. Meredith Grey
2004: Art Heist - Sandra Walker
2003: Undermind - Flynn
2003: Old School - Nicole
2003: Daredevil - Karen Page
2002: Catch Me If You Can - Marci
2002: Moonlight Mile - Bertie Knox

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5' 7" (1.70 m)

"It was the best thing that happened to me all week - to say the very least...I was so flattered. I thanked him and told him how much I hoped we would have a chance to work together one day." - talking about when she was complimented by actor Jake Gyllenhaal shortly after arriving in Hollywood. Just three weeks later, she was working with him on Moonlight Mile (2002)!!

On her character Meredith Grey - 'She's smart enough to make her way through medical school but she can't figure out that she can't sleep with strangers all the time.'