Ellen Pompeo has singlehandedly managed to etch her place in infamy as an icon of television entertainment. For nearly 400 episodes over the course of 15 years on the air, Pompeo's presence as Dr. Meredith Grey helped make Grey's Anatomy into a beloved, must watch series viewed by millions across the globe and won several awards in the process. This is all thanks in large part to Pompeo being consistently entertaining and delivering strong performances every single week.
It's hard to imagine Grey's Anatomy succeeding without Pompeo as its star and shockingly enough, Pompeo almost never joined the cast. Pompeo had a very interesting path to the show and acting altogether that if one or two situations did not play out as perfectly as they did, Pompeo may have never even so much as showed up on to a production set, yet alone started acting to begin with. Let's take a look at what her life before the show looked like.
13 A Star Is Born
On a November 10th day in 1969, a cold day in Massachussetts, city of Everett, Ellen Pompeo was born. Coming from an English, Irish, and Italian background, Pompeo was born into a multicultural family eldered by parents Kathleen and Joseph Pompeo. It is also worth mentioning that the Pompeo family were raised as Catholics.
12 Her Upbringing/Family Life
Beyond being an English speaking, Irish and Italian blooded family with a Catholic background, Ellen Pompeo also grew up with a bevy of siblings. Her five siblings is comprised of three sisters (named Maureen, Kathleen, and Suzanne) and two brothers (named Joey and Dean). They were all raised in the suburbs of Boston in an Italian community.
11 Early Tragedy
Tragedy never comes along as something that is easy to manage for anyone of any age, but it becomes especially difficult to deal with at a young age. Pompeo dealt with such tragedy at the age of four years old when her mother died from a painkiller overdose. When speaking on the matter to Allure (h/t Wattpad), she said, "I think having my mother die at such a very young age – when she was 33 – I appreciate life so much."
10 Bartender Career
Fast forward to several years later where as an adult living in Florida with her boyfriend at the time, she had a very different career from that of a Hollywood actor. In fact, it was less of a career and more of a basic job where she simply sought out to make ends meat. She was a bartender working at the local SoHo Bar and Grill.
9 The Day She Became An Actor
Ellen Pompeo had quite the unconventional entry into the acting world. And it all started because of that afformentioned barmaid job at SoHo Bar and Grill. She ended up relocating from Miami to New York to work at that SoHo location in the area, where she ended up being discovered by a casting director.
8 The L'Oreal Campaign
While the casting director did not approach Pompeo with any titillating movie or television show offers, the casting director did convince Pompeo to do a few commercial gigs promoting the brands Citibank and, most notably and seen above, L'Oreal. This was Pompeo's first taste of the acting bug and she hooked from there.
7 TV And Movie Acting Debuts
After the commercials hit television, Ellen Pompeo started receiving more and more acting opportunities and she was interested in accepting as many as possible. Between 1999 and 2000, she took up several small acting parts. Her official acting debut came in the short film Do You Have the Time as an extra. What followed were small parts in shows like Law and Order and Strangers with Candy.
6 First Hollywood Movie
Ellen Pompeo's first big break came when she grabbed herself a legit supporting role in the movie Moonlight Mile, a Hollywood production directed by Brad Silberling - the same mind that directed classics like Casper and A Series of Unfortunate Events - where she worked alongside Tinseltown juggernauts Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, and Jake Gyllenhaal.
5 Working With Spielberg
A year later after earning critical acclaim and mainstream attention from working in Moonlight Mile, Ellen Pompeo had another small role, but this one came in an even bigger Hollywood production. This time, she was able to work with Oscar winners Steven Spielberg and Leonardo DiCaprio for Catch Me If You Can as a stewardess, which certainly helped open doors for her.
4 Big Roles, But Deleted Scenes
The big opportunities kept on coming from there as she picked up the roles of Karen Page in Daredevil and playing Jim Carrey's past girlfriend in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Unfortunately, Pompeo was not able to capitalize on newfound attention in these big films, as her scenes in both scenes were cut from each film entirely. How unlucky.
3 Small Supporting Roles, Big Films
While her stints in Daredevil and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind were practically scrubbed from cinematic history entirely, the early 2000's were still kind to Ellen Pompeo's blossoming movie career. Most notably, she was able to take up a supporting role as Luke Wilson's love interest in box office comedy Old School.
2 Big Break Postponed Because Of Cancellation
In 2005, Grey's Anatomy was close to being brought to her doorstep, but first, she auditioned for another ABC show called Secret Service. Never heard of it? Well, that's because Secret Service's pilot episode ultimately wound up not getting picked up by any network. What's so interesting about this is that when she got the Grey's Anatomy offer, she originally wanted to turn it down in favor of Secret Service, had the latter got picked up.
"I really wanted to do that and the studio really wanted me to do Grey’s [Anatomy] instead," Pompeo explained. "I wanted to do the Secret Service pilot that didn’t go, of course; me and my brilliant choices. I read Grey’s [Anatomy] and I went and met Shonda [Rhimes] and I decided to come on and do this. It was just an invitation and I happily accepted."
1 Landing Grey's Anatomy Role
Thankfully, Secret Service was destined to fail, and because she accepted the leading role of Shonda Rhimes' ABC show, Grey's Anatomy was destined for success. Since 2005, Pompeo has starred in 363 episodes and counting on the show. In addition, Pompeo's acting efforts received recognition in the form of a Golden Globe nod and several People's Choice Award nominations, with two wins.
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