`Anatomy' star finally shines

DAVID HILTBRAND
Knight Ridder

Ellen Pompeo, the star of "Grey's Anatomy," has a rich grounding in showbiz. As a girl, she saw hundreds of Broadway shows.

Well, at least their second halves. "My uncle Jimmy would shove me into the theater at intermission" while mingling with the crowd of ticket holders who had gone out to the sidewalk after the first act, she says.

"I was mortified, but he would say, `You're 7. No one will care.' "

Perhaps it's fitting that this second-act stowaway would eventually break out in a midseason hit -- prime time's most successful replacement drama in 12 years.

"Grey's Anatomy," which took "Boston Legal's" place on ABC's Sunday slate in March, has reached the top 10 in ratings.

Of course, the ladies of Wisteria Lane are a sweet act to follow. "It's part of the halo effect of `Desperate Housewives,' " says Brad Adgate, director of research for Horizon Media in New York.

But the audience for "Grey's Anatomy" grew every week during its first month on the air. And as we all know, you can drag TV viewers to water, but you can't make them come back for a second drink. "GA" is drawing an average of 17.8 million viewers, 5.3 million more than "Boston Legal" attracted at 10 p.m. with the same lead-in.

"Grey's Anatomy," which follows the first-year surgical interns at Seattle Grace Hospital, throws several things at the operating-room wall, beginning with Pompeo's voiceover as Dr. Meredith Grey.

There's a mixture of sober drama with outrageous humor.

"In a few short weeks, we've seen bizarre twists, unbridled lust, gross incompetence, animal-house partying ..." notes Jim Farrelly, director of film studies at the University of Dayton, in an e-mail.

And let's not overlook the obvious -- young, attractive people.

The main characters, played by Pompeo, "Sideways' " Sandra Oh, "Roswell's" Katherine Heigl, Patrick Dempsey and T.R. Knight, are often acting less like surgeons and more like coeds on spring break in Cancun.

Growing up the youngest of six in Everett, Mass., just outside Boston, Pompeo spent as much time as possible with her uncle and aunt in New York. She moved to the city as soon as she finished high school and was tending bar when a casting agent asked if she was an actress. She lied and said yes.

Quitting the bar, Pompeo began working in TV ads.

Eventually she landed a role in "Moonlight Mile" (2002) with Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon.

She followed that the same year with a part in Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can," as Leonardo DiCaprio's lover.

"I had to have a simulated sex scene my first day," Pompeo says. "I can't say it was difficult, but it was a little awkward -- sex with Leo on my first day."

After playing Luke Wilson's girlfriend in "Old School," she took supporting roles in "Daredevil" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Both performances ended up on the editing-room floor.

Pompeo, 30, didn't work for nearly a year before auditioning for the lead in an ABC pilot, "Secret Service." "It was more of a Jodie Foster-type role. The network felt I wasn't right and I agreed. I'm pretty tiny and not that athletic.

"They said, `This isn't you, but we want you to do something here.' I thought, `Yeah, yeah, great.' Two days later they sent the script (for `Grey's Anatomy') ... and said, `The part is yours if you want it.' "

The pilot was shot in March 2004, and during the next year, the cast continued to shoot episodes, 12 more in all, without getting a confirmed air date.

Finally, they were handed the cushy post-"Housewives" spot. "We thought, `They may have tortured us for months, but they made up for it with that time slot.' "

Source: Charlotte Observer