Ellen Pompeo News: interviews: online articles

Actress Ellen Pompeo is applauded for her award in achievement in entertainment at a National Italian American Foundation gala dinner in Washington October 13, 2007

Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo is a big hit here and abroad, but what she and her fiancé adore most about their travels to Italy is the food.

"I go several times a year. Christopher [Ivery], my fiancé, has family there and we go spend time with them whenever we get a chance," she tells PEOPLE, adding they're planning another visit "very soon."

So what's her favorite thing about Italy? "The food. I love the area of Bologna for food. I think it's really special," she said.

Her top-rated ABC series Grey's Anatomy is also a big hit and Italian fans are taken aback when they see Pompeo in real life.

"They're quite surprised to see me there," Pompeo, who turns 38 next month, said at the National Italian American Foundation's 32nd Annual Gala in Washington, D.C. "They just can't believe I'm in Italy. It's sort of out of context for them. They say 'Meredith! Meredith! It's you, Meredith! Oh my God, could it be Meredith?' "

Less surprising is that she's no slouch when it comes to cooking Italian. Her fiancé loves her Bolognese sauce, she says of the dish that pays tribute to her favorite region.

Pompeo doesn't seem to be in a rush to get married despite having been engaged nearly a year. She still hasn't started on the plans, but has thought about the kind of wedding she wants – "a quiet, simple, private one."

Other honorees at Saturday's NIAF gala, where Pompeo received group's Special Award in Entertainment, were director Martin Scorsese, actress Connie Stevens, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Rudy Giuliani, and AARP chief William Novelli.
People

That Everett homegal and “Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo told CN8’s Sara Edwards that she thinks it’s inevitable her alter ego, Meredith Grey, will get married to Dr. McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) on the show. “They just can’t keep us apart,” she said when Edwards caught up with her over the weekend in Washington, D.C., where the actress received the National Italian American Foundation’s Special Achievement Award in Entertainment. The proud Italian also gets put to the test when she reveals she grew up watching Edwards on“Evening Magazine.” Tune in to “Backstage” tonight at 8 p.m. on CN8 for the full interview and coverage of the NIAF Gala.
BostonHerald

"I don't know that Meredith Grey is capable of fun," Pompeo says with a giggle that turns into a slow groan. "All of our scenes are the same — we're either breaking up or having sex."

Pompeo herself, however, is clearly capable of having a good time. She returned home on Emmy night after midnight, puzzled by the number of children at the post-ceremony parties who approached her for photos and autographs. She obliged. "They're kids — you can't say no."

And she has big dreams: homes in several places, including the East Coast, Europe and Los Angeles, where she realizes all the work is.

"The great thing about when the show ends is that I'll have more freedom to travel," she says.

Her show connections already opened up some overseas opportunities. Over the summer, Pompeo and her fiancé, Christopher Ivery, visited Dempsey and wife Jill in London while he was shooting a film in Scotland.

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Ellen Pompeo Not Rushing into Marriage

Her former Grey’s Anatomy co-star Kate Walsh just tied the knot after a whirlwind six-month romance, but Ellen Pompeo is certainly in no rush to do so with her fiancé, music producer Christopher Ivery. “I want it to happen organically," she tells OK! at the L.A. Confidential party celebrating her cover. "I don't need a piece of paper to declare my love. We declare it every day.”

Ellen and Chris have been dating since 2003 and got engaged on her 37th birthday on Nov. 10 last year.

As she slowly prepares for a new beginning in her personal life, the star’s professional life has already turned over a new leaf. Production has started on the fourth season of the Emmy-nominated drama with a few less faces – Kate and Isaiah Washington have left to star on new shows, Private Practice and Bionic Woman, respectively. And you can bet Ellen will be watching them.

"I'm excited for them. They're beginning new things."

Source: OK

Ellen Pompeo: Grey's Anatomy Set 'Feels Nice'

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 12, 2007 07:00 PM EDT
By Scott Huver

After a turbulent year behind the scenes, Ellen Pompeo now gives the mood on the set of Grey's Anatomy a clean bill of health – though things have changed with the departure of cast members Kate Walsh and Isaiah Washington.

"It does feel different," Pompeo told PEOPLE at L.A. Confidential magazine's annual Emmy party, celebrating her cover shoot. "I love change. I think when one door opens or closes, another one opens. The seasons change and everything changes and I think change is good."

"It's good to turn over the dirt," she continued of the show's fourth season. "It feels nice and there's new beginnings for everybody and it feels great."
Walsh now has her own spin-off, Private Practice, and Washington will appear on the new show Bionic Woman after his firing from Grey's in the controversy over his use of a homophobic slur.

"They're missed, of course," says Pompeo. "But I'm also very happy and very hopeful for their new beginnings. You know, they're both taking on whole new chapters in their careers, which I think is really exciting for them. So, to sort of think about how it affects us is rather selfish. We just have to hope that their new endeavors are as successful, and I just wish them the best."

Pompeo was joined at the L.A. Confidential party by her finacé, music executive Chris Ivery. The actress said she and Ivery aren't in the midst of any wedding plans, and don't expect to have a traditional ceremony.

"To me a wedding is a piece of paper," she said. "I don't think it's going to change how we feel about each other. Every day is like a wedding when I wake up with him. We just have something so special. I don't need a big dress or four hundred people there to declare my love. I think we declare it every day to each other. So that's just our way. Different for different people."

Source: People

ELLEN ANSWERS

Tell us about the state of Meredith's love-life in Series Two. Does she ever get herself sorted?
It hasn't been sorted out yet and I'm about to start filming Series Three in four weeks and it's still pretty messy. I don't know what will happen so, I'm afraid, I can't be of much help to you. In Season Two it gets worse so I guess it needs to get worse before it can get better.

You've starred alongside Patrick Dempsey, Jake Gyllenhaal, Leonardo di Caprio, Vince Vaughan and Ben Affleck. Not a bad selection of hot men! Who's the sexiest and why?
Yeah, I'm pretty lucky. And I have him too (indicating her rather yummy boyfriend in the next room)! That's such a difficult question as they all have great qualities. (She's - perhaps predictably - diplomatic and dodges choosing a favourite from the list.) What's really attractive about Patrick - and I know women don't want to hear this - is that he's the most fantastic husband and the most fantastic father. To hear him on the phone to his wife, or hear how devoted and how in love he is with his children really, really makes your heart sing.

That's a teeny bit sickening but, still, a good answer! Tell us a secret about each of your male co-stars.
Well, Justin has five children and has been married for ten years. People don't expect that because he looks so very much the young bachelor. They're all gorgeous , as you'd imagine.
T.R. Knight's hair is bright blue right now. He dyed it as soon as filming Series Two finished, probably as some release from playing conventional George.
Patrick is fanatical about racing cars.

To the point of being a bore?
No, it's actually fascinating to watch someone so enthusiastic. He absolutely dies to race cars and the show doesn't like it one bit! They put a limit on how many races he can do which drives him crazy. It really upsets him! This wild streak balances out the clean-living homebody I was telling you about

What's in your handbag?
(She pulls out a gorgeous Alexander McQueen black and gold pouch and starts furrowing around in it.) Hmm. There's a pen, passport, money, lip balm, some Jing Jang cream - now this was given to me by Patrick's wife who has a fantastic cosmetics company called Delux Beauty. This cream can be used absolutely anywhere: eyes, lips, cracked heels. It's great for travel. Some hair bands and, finally, the name of a restaurant I'll visit in San Remo (the next stop on the press junket).

Source: Livingtv

All Access

The stars of "Grey's Anatomy" comment on whether or not they will be returning for the next season of the show.

In recent weeks, T.R. Knight made headlines after saying he had not received a letter confirming he was back on the show, but Ellen Pompeo, who plays “Grey’s” title character Meredith, said such letters aren’t standard.

“I don’t know what all this talk is about – a letter? I’ve never had a letter,” she said. “In the beginning you have to sign [one] of course, but not sort of year-to-year. No one’s told me if I haven’t [been invited back].”

Ellen Pompeo, James Pickens (AKA Grey’s Chief,) and I had a little shmoozefest at the 6th Annual Butterfly Ball. We touched on clothes, vacations, engagements… you name it!

What are your summer plans with your fiancé?
EP: We’re traveling. Far. We’re going to London. And Paris, and Japan. Well, London and Japan are work, and Paris is fun for us.
(read more)

What’s the dynamic on the set like with so many of the women engaged? Do you guys have bridal magazines everywhere.
EP: You know. I don’t know. No. They might look at bridal books but I haven’t. I’m not gonna have a big wedding. It’s not even gonna be necessarily a big event or anything like that. Very private. Just something between Chris and I. We want to have one thing for ourselves. You know. We want to have fun. We have a goal of trying to keep our marriage a secret for 24 hours. We’re gonna try to keep that. That’s our goal.

Who makes your dress?
EP: It’s Lanvin.

Where’d you get it, and what made you choose it?
EP: At Maxfields in LA… Because my YSL dresses from New York didn’t arrive in time, so I had to run out two hours ago and find something.

Who makes those shoes?
EP: Lanvin.

What are your beauty secrets?
EP: Water and sleep. And to be happy.

How do you feel about the future cast of Grey’s being up in the air?
EP: Oh, I think it’s hysterical. I think it’s very effective. They want everybody to ask questions and wonder. And they’re trying to stir up the press by doing it. And everybody falls head first into it. I guess they’re geniuses. You know, it’s working brilliantly because all of you are falling for it. They love all of you not knowing and wondering.

(James Pickens approaches and says hello to Ellen Pompeo.)

EP: Last summer we had a big vacation all of us.

JP: Yeah, we were in Europe.

EP: We went to Europe.

JP: That’s right. That’s right.

EP: We’re not gonna do that this year. Once was enough. (Laughing.)

JP: it was really great. It was beautiful. The cities were fabulous. That’s one of the kind of things you’ll never do it that way again. It was all dispersed and five star.

EP It was nice to all go together too. It was a fun experience.

JP: It was like being on a family vacation without being in the station wagon.

Who all went?
EP: James and I; our spouses; Kate Walsh; Chandra Wilson and her children; T.R. Knight; Justin and Keisha and his children. We had like eight kids.

JP: Yeah we had a lot of kids. Which made it really fun. We got to watch them experience it and that was what was really fun.

How do you feel about Kate Walsh’s sudden engagement?
EP: Very excited.

JP: Very happy for her.

What’s he like?
EP: I don’t know. I’ve only met him once very briefly. I’m sure he’s great.

JP: Yeah. I haven’t met him. But he better treat her right.

Or what?
JP: You don’t want to know. (Laughing.)

Source: Glamscene

Ellen Pompeo Dishes on Her Wedding Plans
MONDAY JUNE 04, 2007 07:30 AM EDT

Ellen Pompeo's upcoming wedding won't be a lavish production – but her co-stars might need to make some travel plans if they want to attend, she says.

(read more)

"There will be no 'big' anything," the Grey's Anatomy star, 37, told PEOPLE Saturday at the Chrysalis Butterfly Ball, a benefit for the homeless in Brentwood, Calif. "It's going to be very small."

Beyond that, she and record producer Chris Ivery, who got engaged in November, are keeping mum on the details, but Pompeo hinted that the ceremony won't take place in Los Angeles: "We were thinking about going away and getting married."

The actress was reunited Saturday night with some of her co-stars for the first time since production on Grey's wrapped several weeks ago. Also at the gala, hosted by Eric "Dr. McSteamy" Dane's wife Rebecca Gayheart: Patrick Dempsey, Kate Walsh, T.R. Knight, Justin Chambers, Sara Ramirez and James Pickens, Jr.

Pompeo said that when Ivery proposed on her 37th birthday, she was only slightly caught off guard. "Chris and I have been together for four and a half years, so I was completely surprised, but not that surprised. We've been together a while."

Ivery – like her, a Boston-area native – has changed her life because "I just have somebody to share everything with," she said, "all of these moments. The bad ones and the good ones. We have a very strong bond, and we just understand each other. He's just a real companion."

She added that she knew Ivery was "the one" early on: "I guess you fall in love and you think he's the guy right away. Right when you fall in love, you think he's the guy. You don't sort of fall into a relationship thinking it's only going to be temporary."

The couple met in a Los Angeles grocery store in 2003 and began dating about six months later after "one night she just looked different to me," Ivery, 38, told PEOPLE late last year. They quickly discovered that they had grown up about 10 miles away from each other in Massachusetts and that Ivery had met Pompeo's father there.

"We have a lot in common," Pompeo said Saturday. "We're from the same hometown, almost.

"Love is in the air for the cast of “Grey’s Anatomy!"

Ellen Pompeo and fiancé Chris Ivery are revealing they won’t be hitting the local beaches this summer – their vacation plans are a little more global! The adorable couple will head to Europe and Japan this summer. But the twosome are still keeping mum on when exactly they’ll get married.

“We’re not telling you,” said Ellen!

Added Chris, “We’re trying to work it out.”

Even a little prodding from McDreamy Patrick Dempsey can’t get them to unseal their lips.

“They’ll probably elope and nobody will know about it,” Patrick revealed.

The only thing Ellen has revealed about the wedding is that it will be far from extravagant.

“There will be no ‘big’ anything,” she told us, adding that the ceremony won’t take place in L.A.

Source: Extra, People

'Grey's Anatomy' stars gather for homeless charity
By William Keck, USA TODAY

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — The dreamy, steamy docs of Grey's Anatomy, on hiatus for the summer, reunited Saturday night at a private mansion for charity. After a season with as much drama off screen as on, there was much to discuss.

"This is the first we're all seeing each other again," said Justin Chambers (Alex), who came with wife Keisha.

Excited to see co-star T.R. Knight (George), Ellen Pompeo (Meredith) embraced him and asked, "What happened to your blue hair?"

(read more)

"It was red," corrected Knight, who recently dyed his hair.

"He's so fun, such a crazy personality," said Pompeo, escorted by fiancé Christopher Ivery.

With Pompeo, Katherine Heigl (Izzie) and now Kate Walsh (Addison) all engaged, might they have a triple ceremony?

"No!" said Pompeo. "There will not be a Big Three anything. My wedding will be very small."

On screen, Dempsey and Pompeo are also hoping for harmony for their on-again, off-again characters.

"I would love for Derek and Meredith to have a healthy relationship," said Dempsey. "It got a little too depressing last year, and I think the writers need to lighten up and get back to the first season. That's what people want to see, and we really need to listen to the fans."

Pompeo agreed, noting, "My boyfriend and I are very happy and we still manage to be dramatic every day. There's never a shortage of things to talk about. I don't think you need sadness to have drama."

Source: USA Today

The doctor is in
February 18, 2007 12:15am

Will Grey's Anatomy's beautiful intern return to McDreamy or opt to stay with McVet? Ellen Pompeo knows the answer, but she's not telling LAWRIE MASTERSON

WHEN you’re Ellen Pompeo and Grey’s Anatomy is as popular as it is, drama can follow you around even when you’re buying groceries.

Pompeo, who plays Seattle Grace Hospital surgical intern Meredith Grey, was in a Los Angeles supermarket recently when a young acting hopeful – and there are a few of them around the town! – approached her and announced she had been doing a scene from Grey’s Anatomy as part of a drama class.

The problem was, it occurred to Pompeo, the scene hadn’t even screened in the US at the time.

“What was happening was that actors who came in to audition (for guest roles) were taking the scripts and selling them,” Pompeo says, her tone indicating mild disbelief.

“Now they don’t get a real script. They get a fake script when they audition. The really big things in each episode are kept secret.”

Which explains the reticence of Pompeo and other Grey’s Anatomy stars to give much away about future storylines, especially with the creator of the award-winning series, the formidable Shonda Rhimes, looking over their shoulders.

And so Pompeo is being cagey about which way the beautiful Dr. Grey might turn at the start of season three, faced as she is with a romantic choice between Grace’s neurosurgeon Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) and the handsome veterinarian Dr. Finn “McVet” Dandridge (Chris O’Donnell), who she has been dating.

The smart money is on McDreamy, who she enjoyed a steamy reunion with in the final episode of season two, catapulting the Snow Patrol song Chasing Cars to global chart domination.

“I have to say I was really anxious about starting the third season because you just want to know what’s going to happen,” 37-year-old Pompeo says.

“I don’t usually ask because I like the element of surprise, but even I wanted to know.

“I was pretty curious about my character and I had a sense of the relationship she would pick, but they leave it so sort of open, you know?

“There’s always something tricky coming.

“I know Shonda and I’m not going to fall for it.

“Just when you think you know what’s going to happen she does something that’s kind of unexpected.”

Grey’s Anatomy, which made its debut as a mid-season replacement in the US in 2005, is just about the hottest thing on TV at the moment, being named Best Dramas Series as January’s Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Producers Guild Awards.

Pompeo, whose promising movie career had seen her star opposite Jake Gyllenhaal (Moonlight Mile), Leonardo DiCaprio (Catch Me If You Can) and Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell (Old School) in quick succession, says she approached the pilot of Grey’s Anatomy as “just one job”.

“It’s a risk, like anything,” she says. “You don’t know where it will go and so few pilots get off the ground. I just thought, ‘If nothing else it’s one fun job’ and just tried to appreciate what I had right there.

“Who knew it would turn into this?”

The secret, she believes, is the on-screen chemistry between the cast, the recent antics of Isaiah Washington (Dr. Preston Burke) notwithstanding.

“All these actors are so interesting to watch and compelling,” Pompeo says. “And clearly the writing is fantastic.

“There are a lot of elements that make the show successful but I think if you put this writing with different actors you wouldn’t get the same result.”

Unlike her Dr. Grey, Pompeo does not have to spend her time away from work obsessing over her problems with men. She has been in a relationship with music producer – and fiancé - Chris Ivery for the past four years.

“We have a great relationship and I focus on that,” she says. “I focus on, ‘Am I being a good girlfriend?’”

She mentions the book When Bad Things Happen to Good People, written by a rabbi named Harold Kushner.

“It’s a fantastic book about how to be okay with making all this money and getting all this attention and the way to deal with it is to know what really matters in life.

“What matters to me is my work and the people in my life and that I’m a good person to them and a good friend to my friends.

“So I’m not one of those girls who is out in the nightclubs and falling all over the ground in mini-skirts. I’m not soaking up the fame, trying to get photographed.

“I go home every night.”

Source: www.news.com.au

Ellen's secret wedding plans
By Darren Devlyn

February 14, 2007 10:21am
IT becomes apparent Ellen Pompeo, who plays angst-ridden intern Meredith Grey on hit medical drama Grey's Anatomy, is struggling to recover from the previous day's shooting schedule. It's hard to know where she finds time to plan her nuptials.

She and Patrick Dempsey (her on-screen forbidden squeeze Dr McDreamy), were on set until after midnight working on brain surgery scenes.

It can be draining, Pompeo says with a yawn, wading through scripts on a drama that specialises in fracturing, suturing, then fracturing the romantic lives of its key characters.

Some see it as soapy, but Pompeo puts heart and soul into her performance on what has been a runaway success in the US and here. Seven has such faith in it that it will run against Nine's CSI on Sunday nights - after taking on and knocking over that never-before-beaten show in the US this year.

The program keeps to a hectic work schedule.

"Well, the good thing about the show, I will say, is that we're supposed to look, and be, tired because we're interns," Pompeo says with a smile. "Sometimes I look in the mirror and think, 'Oh, God'. Your eyes are the first things that go when you're that tired. So, as a girl, I feel a little like I maybe don't look so great all the time."

Australian fans will be eager to see how Pompeo's character negotiates the tortured relationship she has with Dempsey's character Dr Derek Shepherd.

"I think, emotionally, Meredith has quite a way to go, which is very true to a lot of these (real-life) medical students who spend so much of their lives in school," Pompeo says.

"The focus is so much on the academic. The emotional part (of their lives) is sort of secondary to the books. So Meredith has some catching up to do with emotional intelligence.

As a character for me to play, it's very flawed and interesting. I think if Meredith were super smart and on top of everything, it might be kind of one note and boring.

"So all these disappointments and the sadness and anger keep me engaged emotionally and intellectually as an actor."

So committed is Pompeo to Grey's that, unlike many drama series actors in Hollywood, she has no burning desire to make movies.

She has a pile of film scripts on her kitchen bench, but has rejected them in the interests of her TV role.

"We don't have a lot of downtime. And when we do have downtime, we either have to sleep or do things like go to the grocery store, feed my dogs, stuff like that. I don't have a lot of hanging-around time," Pompeo says.

"The two previous hiatus (production breaks) I couldn't even think, I was so exhausted. And I thought it was just crazy talk to think of working during my break. The break is only eight weeks.

"And my fear is that even if I feel like I have the energy, I don't want to come back to Grey's and be tired.

"I don't think it's fair to my cast members or fair to the show. I don't feel like I need to do a movie to prove that I can do a movie."

Being part of a hit show has meant extra media attention on her relationship with music producer fiance Chris Ivery. But Pompeo says she won't let interest in their wedding plans upset her.

"It's not a pain. You know, so what? Ooh, my big, rich, famous problems," she adds in mock disdain.

"I have to get married in secret. Ooh, poor me! You know, I'll get through it. It will be fine."

In fact, Pompeo wants it known she is eternally grateful for what Grey's has done for her.

"It (success) makes me feel great," she explains. "Sure, I get a little thrill out of it.

I'm going to enjoy my life. I only get one chance at this, and it won't last forever.

"Any minute there will be another show, and good for them. They'll get to have their day in the sun."

Source: www.news.com.au

Skinny state of affairs
By Darren Devlyn

March 12, 2007 11:00pm
RAKING over details of Ellen Pompeo's private life looms as a less than enviable task.

When she arrives for this interview during a break from filming medical drama Grey's Anatomy, Pompeo has the demeanour of someone who'd rather be in a dentist's chair than subjecting herself to questions about life in front of and away from the camera.

It becomes apparent Pompeo, who plays angst-ridden intern and Dr McDreamy's (Patrick Dempsey) forbidden squeeze, Meredith Grey, is struggling to recover from the previous day's shooting schedule.

She and Dempsey were on set until after midnight.

It can also be draining, Pompeo says with a yawn, wading through scripts on a drama that specialises in fracturing, mending, then fracturing again the romantic lives of its key characters. "The good thing about the show, I will say, is that we're supposed to look and be tired because we're playing interns," Pompeo says, revealing a tension-breaking smile.

"Sometimes I look in the mirror and think, 'Oh, God'. Your eyes are the first things that go when you're that tired. So, as a girl, I feel a little like I maybe don't look so great all the time."

It seems Pompeo, like so many of her Hollywood contemporaries, is deeply concerned about body image.

She recoils in her chair, momentarily clenching her teeth, when quizzed about claims she has an eating disorder.

She is aware that, among celebrities in Los Angeles, a competition seems to have developed between women who just don't desire to be thin, but want to look like they belong on a greyhound track.

It's been billed as a race for the Incredible Shrinking Woman title and it's been suggested Pompeo is coming a close tie with Victoria Beckham, Nicole Richie and Calista Flockhart.

"You know, I think this is a very sensitive topic," Pompeo says. "I've been accused of having an eating disorder and the reason it's dangerous is because, obviously, I don't have an eating disorder.

"The thing is, if you can recall a picture of someone four years ago and they were 50 pounds heavier or 40 pounds heavier, I get it.

"In my first movie, my second movie, my third movie, you'll never see me any bigger than I am now. I look the same all the time. But the reason why it upsets me is because there are girls who do have eating disorders and attention must be called to it. But the problem is when people don't and they're accused of it.

"You know, I get fan mail from 13- to 14-year-old girls, and if they look up to me and think I'm not being healthy, that worries me.

"I don't want a little 13-year-old to think that I'm starving myself to look this way. If I'm her idol and she thinks I'm anorexic, then my goodness, you know, we have just affected a young little mind.

"I know the truth, and that's OK. I have a blessed life and I'll get over it. But I don't want girls to do that because they think I'm doing that. That's really disturbing and for that reason I have made an extended effort to go to the gym. I mean, I eat as much as I can possibly eat, but I've gone to the gym and tried to build up my muscles for those girls who might look up to me."

Pompeo is concerned she's coming across as moaning about the so-called pressures of stardom.

She will not pretend she enjoys some aspects of her life-in-a-fishbowl existence, but is adamant she'll be eternally grateful for what Grey's Anatomy has done for her.

"I'm going to enjoy my life. I only get one chance at this, and it won't last for ever," she says. "Any minute there will be another show, and good for them. They'll get to have their day in the sun."

So committed is Pompeo to Grey's that she has no burning desire to make movies. A pile of film scripts is in her kitchen, but she has rejected them in the interests of her TV role.

"We don't have a lot of downtime," she says of the TV show commitments. "The two previous hiatuses I couldn't even think, I was so exhausted. And I thought it was just crazy to think of working during my break.

"The break is only eight weeks. And my fear is that even if I feel like I have the energy, I don't want to come back to Grey's and be tired. I don't think it's fair to my cast members or fair to the show," she says of her downtime.

Channel 7 made the daring step of scheduling Grey's Anatomy in the Sunday, 8.30pm timeslot, so viewers would be forced to make the unenviable choice between Grey's and Channel 9's top-rating CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Pompeo hopes fans will be eager to see how Meredith Grey negotiates the tortured relationship she has with Dr Derek Shepherd. "I think, emotionally, Meredith has quite a way to go, which is very true to a lot of these medical students who spend so much of their lives in school," Pompeo says.

"The focus is so much on the academic. The emotional part is sort of secondary to the books."
Source: w ww.news.com.au

Contender Q & A
Ellen's anatomy
With a hit TV show, Golden Globe nod and wedding on the horizon, Ellen Pompeo counts the "mcblessings."
By Susan King
December 27, 2006

The gamine Ellen Pompeo, 37, received her first Golden Globe nomination earlier this month for best actress in a drama series for ABC's red-hot medical drama, "Grey's Anatomy."

The actress is completing opposite Kyra Sedgwick for "The Closer," Edie Falco for "The Sopranos," Patricia Arquette for "Medium" and Evangeline Lilly for "Lost" for the award that will be handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. on Jan. 15 during a three-hour telecast on NBC.

And on a personal front, Pompeo became engaged to her boyfriend, music producer Christopher Ivery, on her 37th birthday on Nov. 10. The couple hasn't set a wedding date.

Pompeo plays surgical intern Meredith Grey in "Grey's Anatomy" at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital in Seattle. She also provides the narration that bookends each episode.

Besides dealing with the trials and tribulations and extensive workload of being an intern, Meredith is having a hot and heavy affair with the hunky and newly single neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) - a.k.a. McDreamy.

She is also coping with her mother (Kate Burton), a once brilliant surgeon at the hospital, now institutionalized with Alzheimer's.

Pompeo was working as a bartender in New York in 1996 when an agent approached her about doing commercials. After working in commercials, TV series and in small films, the actress came out to L.A. in 2001 and landed a co-starring role in the 2002 drama, "Moonlight Mile." Pompeo also appeared in such films as "Old School" and "Catch Me If you Can."

Q: This is a big year for you. You get engaged on your birthday and then you receive the Golden Globe nomination the following month.

Ellen Pompeo: Yes, I have a few things to be happy about!

Q: Speaking of the Globes, have you started working on an acceptance speech?
Ellen Pompeo: No way! You know, I don't have a chance. Edie Falco and Kyra Sedgwick [are nominated]. Come on!

Q: But you have done good work this year.

Ellen Pompeo: Thank you, but they have done good work their entire lives! I mean I watch 'The Sopranos' and my boyfriend gets so mad at me because after every episode -- if Edie is heavy in it -- I always say I am so depressed. And he says why and I say because it's knowing you will never be that good. It's just depressing. And he'll throw a pillow at me. So I think I am just very, very happy to be the company of those women. Miracles do happen, but not very often. So I think Edie or Kyra deserve it before I do.

Q: Are you surprised that the series attracts such a diverse age group of fans?

Ellen Pompeo: I think that is the most pleasantly surprising thing about the show. It's surprising that the show is so popular, but I am just so happy that people are finding solace in the show.

Mothers are telling me it is something they can do with their teenage daughters because they are having a hard time getting through to them. This is something they can do together because the teenagers love the show and the mothers love the show. The fact that the show is a vehicle that is bringing people together is the most important thing to come out of this.

I feel hopefully we breakdown all sorts of stereotypes -- racial and medical. I love the fact that also -- not to digress -- that we do have so many elderly storylines in the show. I feel like a lot of shows are into what's young and hip and cool. The fact that we have 14-year-old patients in the hospital and 90-year-old patients in the hospital -- we represent all people.

Q: Meredith must be a dream to play because she has so much going on in her life.

Ellen Pompeo: I knew when I read the pilot I saw those three elements: Here is a first year intern who has a sick mother, who is going to have this romantic relationship with this guy. The three elements were present in the pilot and definitely I felt this was more complex than any film role I had been offered.

Q: Were you surprised about the headlines the series made over the October on-set argument between regulars Isaiah Washington and Dempsey when Washington used a homophobic slur about one of the show's stars? (T.K. Knight, who plays George, came out of the closet soon after the fight).

Ellen Pompeo: I wasn't surprised by it. I knew immediately when that happened, I said 'Oh, oh. They don't know how big this will be.' I knew because I already had my little experiences with the press coming after me and from me doing absolutely nothing. There were rumors I was anorexic and a diva. The fact that none of this was instigated and they made such a big deal about it. I wasn't in the room when the fight happened. I was in the next room and heard the fight and I thought this is going to be huge.

Q: Washington has publicly apologized, so have things calmed down on the set?

Ellen Pompeo: They have completely. There are so many people in our show. We are really, really lucky. I am surprised more hasn't happened. If it wasn't such a great group of people we could have a lot more chaos. Listen, we spend 17 hours a day together. We are pretty blessed.

Source: LATimes

Ellen Pompeo and Grey Anatomy cast interview

In top form

So strong is Grey’s Anatomy’s status as the most-watched show in the United States that not even the recent much-publicised row between its two leading actors could jeopardise its position. GORDON KHO meets the cast and examines the reasons why the medical soap is fit to be No.1.

JUST like her coffee-drinking character Dr Meredith Grey, Ellen Pompeo walked into the set of Grey’s Anatomy with a venti-sized Starbucks coffee. But Pompeo was not in the usual blue scrubs. Instead, she was all glammed up on the morning of this interview.

Pompeo wore her hair in loose romantic curls and her face was immaculately made up. She looked chic in an oversized black knitted sweater, black skinny jeans and a pair of leopard print flats which looked like something from Gwen Stefani’s LAMB line. But it was not, she told this writer. “It’s Tory Burch, actually. I love LAMB, though. It’s unique. But it is hard to find her stuff here in LA as she doesn’t have a stand-alone boutique.”

Pompeo loves fashion, which is a good thing especially now, she’d tell you. People – journalists, fans, even critics – are watching her closely.

“You do feel the pressure, like, oh my goodness what am I going to wear. If I wear this, there’s going to be stuff reported,” Pompeo, whose favourite labels include Alexander McQueen, says.

On Dec 14, Grey’s Anatomy, into its third season in America, earned four nominations in the next Golden Globe Awards. They are best drama, best actor in a drama series (Patrick Dempsey), best actress in a drama series (Ellen Pompeo), and best supporting actress in a drama series (Katherine Heigl). The awards will be presented in Beverly Hills, California, on Jan 15. Earlier this year, one of the stars, Sandra Oh, won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress.

Meeting the cast in this make-believe hospital, you won’t think these are actors from a No.1 show. Down-to-earth and on time (interview time was 9am and Dempsey drove himself to the studio in his convertible sports car instead of town cars that usually pick actors up for work), the cast members were all humble despite their success.

The recently engaged Pompeo couldn’t agree more. “I’m going to enjoy my life. I only get one chance at this, and it won’t last forever, which is precisely why you have to enjoy it now.”

“If I elicit some sort of reaction or feeling from people that are watching her, whether it’s like or dislike, I’m still effecting people and, you know, that’s the challenge as an actor – to evoke some sort of emotion in people.” –Love or hate Meredith Grey, Ellen Pompeo doesn’t mind either way. (l)

To read the full article, click this

Source: Star-ecentral

Grey's ladies
By Donna Freydkin and William Keck, USA TODAY

Seattle Grace Hospital may be loaded with medicine's most mesmerizing males, but it's the female doctors who make Grey's Anatomy a McDreamy attraction for viewers.

Of the average 20 million who tuned in each Sunday last season, two out of three were women, even though overall TV viewership is more evenly split. That distaff devotion has helped make Grey's, which moves to a new night tonight for its season premiere (ABC, 9 ET/PT), television's No. 3 scripted series overall, and No. 2 (behind Desperate Housewives) among women 18-49.

For actress Ellen Pompeo, there's certainly no gray area when it comes to understanding why female viewers check in for their weekly dose of these multiethnic, complex femmes.

"Most of the time on television, we're used to seeing women being bimbos or tramps — anything but flawed but also smart and professional," says Pompeo, 36, who portrays the often-whiny yetprodigiously talented (and bed-hopping) Meredith. "In the past, you'd have to go to cable to see a character so raw."

By all accounts, this diverse cast has bonded off-screen as well. Walsh says she's closest to Heigl and in fact had drinks with her and co-star T.R. Knight (George) the night before this interview. "It's safe to say that we totally love each other," Walsh says, laughing.

"It's a very fun atmosphere on set," echoes Pompeo. "It would be too difficult if we didn't have fun with the hours we have to put in."

For one episode, real-life knitters Wilson and Heigl taught Pompeo how to handle needles and yarn. Walsh and Heigl live near each other and often meet for drinks and prior to awards shows get gussied up together in one of their homes.

"There's an unbelievable amount of support and encouragement among these women," says Heigl. "We're very much there for each other in a way I haven't experienced outside of my very, very close friends that I've had since childhood. And I've had past working relationships with women that haven't been that supportive ... that have been more competitive."

Heigl recalls receiving a phone call at home from Pompeo after last season's finale showed the emotional scene in which Izzie broke down and climbed into bed with her beloved, dead patient, Denny.

"Ellen was so incredibly supportive and complimentary," Heigl says. "That meant so much to me because I'm so critical of myself and value her opinion. It made me want to cry."

Still, the actors have separate lives off-screen. "We don't have (much) time to hang out," admits Pompeo. "We spend all day together, and it's not like we're going to run home and hang out together, too. We all have things to do ... boyfriends, dogs to take care of."

Pompeo lives with longtime boyfriend Chris Ivery and their two poodles. Walsh is single. Heigl became engaged in June to musician Josh Kelley. Ramirez says she has a beau. Oh split from her Sideways director, Alexander Payne, after a brief marriage. And though Wilson declines to discuss the nature of her relationship with the father of her three children, daughters Serena, 13, and Joy, 8, and son, Michael, 10 months, keep her quite busy.
Viewers feel so passionately about all these hookups, breakups and entanglements that some have even accosted Walsh in public to offer insight and encouragement.

"I was doing this event in Chicago, and this woman who'd had a few drinks came up to me, grabbed my arm like she knew me and said, 'You need to let McDreamy go! Let it go. It's done,' " recalls Walsh.

Not even Pompeo knows how the triangle will play out. "I don't know that I end up with anybody," she says. But Pompeo would be just fine continuing without a clear resolution, allowing Meredith to play the field, as many a man would do. Sex and the City aside, it's something rarely seen on television.

"It's what a lot of women do, anyway," Pompeo says. "But guys get a pat on the back, and women get a reputation."

Heigl believes female viewers are responding to such sexual liberation. "We've all been in those circumstances where there's been a double standard, where a man can act any way he wants, but if a woman behaves in a similar way, she's labeled something," Heigl says. "I think a lot of women appreciated that Meredith stands up for all women in a way."

Heigl says she still hears from female fans "how much they loved Meredith's speech to Derek that 'you don't get to call me a whore!' "

Heigl pauses.

"Was it 'whore' or 'slut'? I can't remember. But anyway, people loved it."
(Read more)

Source: USA Today

Doctors play up
Helen Barlow

July 25, 2006

FOR the army of fans glued to their television screens for their weekly dose of Grey's Anatomy, the question begs: will Dr McDreamy and the series' ever-gloomy namesake, intern Meredith Grey, ever get back together?

Ellen Pompeo, who plays Meredith in what is essentially a high-grade romantic drama set in a hospital, maintains she is the last to know.

"Even if I did know I couldn't tell you," she says.

Given that the third season began shooting this month, Pompeo is well ahead of audiences, who are eager to see more sparks fly between the brooding pair who are clearly miserable as they are so in love and, of course, meant to be together. Yet one has the feeling – as with Jack and Kate on Lost – that this might not happen for some time. This only makes us relish those stolen moments, those sidewards glances and their collaborations over ailing bodies, even more. The chemistry is palpable, and that was always the idea, says Pompeo, who was the first to be cast in the series, co-starring Patrick Dempsey as Dr Derek Shepherd.

"I auditioned with many male actors and Patrick was the one with whom I had the most chemistry," Pompeo says in her characteristically staccato yet measured tone.

"He was my first choice but the network had the ultimate decision. I'm very lucky to have him as my co-star as we get on well. He makes it very easy."

Before the series, Dempsey, 40, had acted extensively, first appearing in movies and more recently in recurring roles on The Practice, Will & Grace and Once and Again. Pompeo, surprisingly young-looking at 36, was little-known, even though she had appeared in high-profile movies. She co-starred with Jake Gyllenhaal in Moonlight Mile, was drowned out by the raucousness of Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell in Old School and went unnoticed in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can.

Perhaps her tiny frame and faltering way of talking hinted at too much fragility for the big screen, yet one has the impression that she will head back there sometime soon. (Dempsey, who shot a Disney movie, Enchanted, recently, already has.) For one thing, Pompeo makes it clear that television series are gruelling.

"Making films is very luxurious," she says. "You work at a very nice pace for a few months, and then either take a rest or go on to the next film. On a television show you work 10 months straight, six days a week, with two breaks as well as Christmas.

"But actors have to take the good parts where we can get them. Very often women in films are just the girlfriends and they don't have much involvement in the story. Grey's Anatomy represented a chance for me to play a part where I knew I would always have something to do, some opinions to put forth, something to say. The most humbling thing about the whole experience is how well received it has been around the world. I could never have imagined."

Nevertheless, the resulting fame does not sit so comfortably with the Boston native, who mostly stays away from the spotlight and is quick to dispel some of the things written about her. Her nickname, for example, is not The Pencil. "A man I knew when I was a cocktail waitress used to call me that and he went and put it on the internet. When I was 17 I was very thin and I still am," she says.

One thing's for sure though – medicine is not her thing.

"I started acting when I was 24, which is quite late. I travelled around Europe, I was living in Miami Beach, and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to be an actor but I knew it would be difficult. I thought if I travelled around enough that I would find something more practical and easier to achieve, but nothing came to me. I was bartending and an agent approached me, so clearly this is what I'm meant to do," she says.

The youngest of six children, Pompeo's mother died when she was four. One of the things that helped her cope was going to the theatre. "I had an aunt and uncle who lived in New York City. I'd stay with them on the weekends and in the summer when I was growing up and they'd take me to all sorts of theatre – The King and I, Cats," she says.

"I thought it was really fantastic, the music and the lights, and the more I watched the more interested I became. I'd like to work in the theatre and if the offer were interesting I'd consider it."

For now Pompeo is happy working with a stethoscope around her neck on Grey's Anatomy. "You know, I don't think much about the future. I'll take tomorrow when it comes."

However, she hardly has the time to contemplate as she has the busiest workload of all the cast. Her voiceover is the heart of the series.

"When I'm not filming a scene I go and do the voiceover. I fit it in whenever I can – an hour here and an hour there – even at lunchtime. Yes, usually I'm chewing a sandwich all the way through it," she says.

Life, she says, is basically always about work, even in the northern summer season break when she hits the publicity trail. "This is my vacation right now. I don't get much rest but that's OK. At least I get to see the world," she says.

"I have a steady boyfriend and he travels with me. You know, travelling is our favourite thing to do, so this is very much like a vacation."

Grey's Anatomy, Seven, Mondays 9.30pm

Source: The Courier-Mail

Reporters invited to the Grey´s Anatomy set: interviews

Will Meredith and Dr. McDreamy become a couple?
"I don't know. You'll have to asked Shonda," said waifish series star Ellen Pompeo, who added that she really isn't interested in having the season's story arc laid out for her.

I like to stay really present and focus on what's in front of me. I have so much work to do so I can't think about future episodes because I have focus on the one I'm working on. If there is anything major, Shonda will tell me."
Patrick Dempsey didn't cough up any storyline secrets while chatting in the doctors changing room. But Dr. McDreamy did, at least, offer a plot prognosis that he would be happy with.

"Oh, I have no idea who he is going to pick, but I think he'll probably end up with Meredith," he said. "Or maybe he should have someone completely new, add a third one."

Whatever the outcome, Dempsey hopes it will happen soon.
"I think we have to make a decision and move forward and I think that's what they are going to do. But we really don't get a lot of say," said Dempsey.

"I think he should move on and explore what they do now, as oppose to following her around and looking at her longingly and saying, 'What are you doing.' I think it castrates him too much and I think he needs to get his masculinity back."
Dempsey, who describes the show as a "soap opera," did caution that the series has to mindful of not going too far.

"People like the fantasy and the storylines but, hopefully, they don't take it too far out that's too absurd."

Dempsey isn't the only one who has an opinion on how things should play out. Pompeo -- who has been in Europe recently promoting the series -- said the public isn't afraid to weigh in on the Meredith/McDreamy issue.

"All the girls have their favourite guys, that's mainly what it is," she said, adding that the numbers are split between McDreamy and veterinarian Finn (Chris O'Donnell).
The Province

Other cast members wandering through the set and taking time to talk to us included Patrick Dempsey, Sandra Oh, Ellen Pompeo, Justin Chambers, Katherine Heigl, T.R. Knight and James Pickens, Jr.

My favorite conversation was between Oh and Pompeo, and began when a reporter asked about a rumor she’d heard that Isaiah Washington was leaving the show (don’t pass out, fans, no one uncovered any truth to the rumor).

Oh shrieked and turned to the nearby Pompeo to ask if she’d heard this rumor. Pompeo hadn’t but she gamely teased her co-star, whose character is of course dating Washington’s character.

“What’s Cristina Yang going to do?” she playfully asked. “Meredith could give her a few pointers on how to move on. We’ll have to go to a bar, have a drink, and I’ll tell you the inappropriate things to do when drunk!”

Ellen Pompeo was asked the hardest thing about playing a doctor. “Surgery scenes can be kinda gross,” she allowed. “It smells. They use animal parts [to depict human organs].”
MSNBC

Meanwhile, Dr. McDreamy, aka Patrick Dempsey, says his struggle this season is to make sure Dr. Shepherd isn’t “castrated” by the two women in his life — his wife Addison and Meredith. Fans want him to choose Meredith, played by Ellen Pompeo, but Dempsey says he doesn’t know whose bed he’ll wind up in.

By the way, reed-like Pompeo isn’t fazed by getting to have hot sex in the operating room with the doc that fans swoon over.

“Patrick is like my brother,” she said. “It’s really no big deal.”
Austin360

Waif-like Ellen Pompeo (Meredith) led a group of reporters through the O.R., pointing out the icky fake cadaver on the operating table. She talked about a recent trip to Italy to promote the show, which is taking off in Europe. Pompeo described the reception the cast got there as "rock-star amazing. We were really overwhelmed."Asked about a rumour that Isiah Washington (Preston Burke) was leaving the show, Pompeo wailed, "Noooo!" and consulted girlfriend-like with Ottawa-raised actress Sandra Oh (Christine Yang), who was off in her own press scrum a few feet to the left.
"I have no idea," said Oh, whose character is romantically linked to Washington's.
"I'll have to give you a few pointers about how to move on," kidded Pompeo.

This must be the party line. Ellen Pompeo, the nominal female lead as Meredith Grey, chimed in, "To put us against a great show like CSI must mean we're just as grea
With future plot lines off the table, the interview degenerated into exchanges such as this:
Critic: "Have you done anything special since the show became a hit?"
Pompeo: "I bought a house."
Critic: "Why?"
Pompeo: "Because I need a place to live."
Another perk of success for Pompeo was a four-week trip to Europe this summer on the company dime to promote the series. While in Monaco, she got to meet Prince Albert. What was he like?
"He was charming, as princes are supposed to be."
(You couldn't make this stuff up.).

2006-07-12 11:40:30
by Oscar Hayes

Meet Meredith Grey. She's a woman trying to lead a real life while doing a job that makes having a real life impossible. Meredith is a first-year surgical intern at Seattle Grace Hospital, the toughest surgical residency program west of Harvard. She and fellow first-year interns Cristina Yang, Izzie Stevens, George O'Malley and Alex Karev were students yesterday; today they're doctors and, in a world where on the job training can be a matter of life and death, they're all juggling the ups and downs of their own personal lives.

This time last year your show wasn't even on the air when we came in here to talk to you. And you've both been on the cover of magazines since then. How does that feel?
ELLEN POMPEO: I'm kind of upset that he's much better looking than I am.
JUSTIN CHAMBERS: Yeah, right.
ELLEN POMPEO: But, you know. And this one. Look at her.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Oh, yeah, I'm hot right now.
ELLEN POMPEO: We're happy. We're having agreat time, you know. We're very, very blessed. And I think we all appreciate, you know, how -- how successful the show has been. And I think recently we've seen so many shows debut and get pulled off the air so quickly. It -- unfortunately at the expense of those people we truly appreciate how -- how much success we've had, because it is lightening in a bottle and it doesn't happen. It's very rare. They pull shows off the air after two episodes if they don't do huge numbers. So we're really lucky and I think we all know that.

Patrick was talking about the relationship issue and how he didn't even know his character was married until he read it in the script. Is that when you found out too? And how has that impacted your character in the show.
ELLEN POMPEO: Well, it's great because had you known then it wouldn't be -- I wouldn't probably be able to play it as well. You know, me being as surprised, you know, finding out at the last minute helped bring the element of surprise to the performance. So I like not knowing because you don't know what's going to happen in real life, so I don't really want to know too far in advance.
KATHERINE HEIGL: I want to know. I alwayswant to know.

So what do you think of their relationship right now? I mean, where -- as it's airing in America there -- you know, they've had that moment where she's crying in the closet and you think they're going to kiss but he goes home to his wife. I mean, what do you think about this whole push, pull.
ELLEN POMPEO: I think that they'll keep it going as long as they can. You know, I think to --to -- to bring us back together is sort of then what do they do. So I think -- I'm not a writer, but I think maybe the goal is to keep us apart -- this far apart for as long as they possibly can.

She's going through quite a lot as well with her mother -- isn't she? -- in that there's lots of complicated issues being thrown in ... so sort of quite distant relationship between them. The mother is almost sort of pushing your character away. I mean, what's that like to play? Is it -- you know, quite sort of interesting in terms of, you know, just kind of doing that whole very complicated mother and daughter thing.
ELLEN POMPEO: You know, Kate Burton is so fantastic.
She plays my mother. She's the daughter of Richard Burton actually. So she is really the real thing. I mean, she is a theater actress from New York City. And she's just so engaging and so fantastic that she draws me right in. You know, it's really, really easy to play those complex scenes with her. And it's quite interesting for me because my mother died when I was four. So I don't -- I never had a relationship with my mother. So it's all a very interesting take on it. Not at all what I would have imagined. You know, you don't imagine -- I could never imagine having a difficult relationship with my mother because, you know, that wouldn't be idealistic enough, you know. So I love it. I think it's a great sort of -- it would be boring any other way, you know, to just have a normal -- you know, conflict is interesting.

Did it bring up any emotions in you, then, having not had a mother for so -- you know, most of your life to be doing that sort of scenes? I mean, did it kind of, you know -- is it quite emotionally hard for that reason.
ELLEN POMPEO: Not -- it's just -- it just makes you think a lot, you know. And I think it just brings an element of thought to the performance that may not ordinarily be there. You know, I can think a lot more about the -- the complexity of the scenes that -- you know, those scenes I don't just sort of maybe breeze through like I would in a relationship scene with Derek. You know, he and I are just sort of blah, blah, blah, yup, love you too. Bye. You know, we don't have to think about it too much 'cause it's like second nature. Where my scenes with Kate Burton I really sort of think about the complexities of a mother/daughter relationship and it's a more interesting storyline for me. More thought-provoking.

How different are you from her.
KATHERINE HEIGL: I'm not as -- I don't think I'm as tolerant as she is.
ELLEN POMPEO: I think the great thing about Izzie's char -- about Izzie is that she's compassionate, which you don't see in a lot of doctors. I think in real life we all wish more doctors were compassionate. And I think that's a really likeable quality and I think Kate does a great job of that kind of -- bringing that to life.

A hospital can be a horrible place for a woman. In Brazil it's very hard for a woman to be like a surgeon.
ELLEN POMPEO: Oh, is it.

And how it's here -- how do you see this and how do you play it in the show? How do you put it in your characters? Because it's very hard to be awoman in a place that men are always in command.
ELLEN POMPEO: Do you want to answer that.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Yeah, I don't know. I haven't been in very many hospitals. I know that I've never met a female surgeon. I know that I've only ever met male surgeons.
ELLEN POMPEO: Yeah, nor have I. You know, I guess, you know -- yeah, I don't know about the hospital thing, but I think, you know, in life, you know, women we have to work maybe a little harder to prove ourselves. And if we -- you know, I guess you could sort of -- there's a parallel in Hollywood, you know. If -- if I were to do something -- if you and I were to do the same thing, you know, yell at someone or -- you know, you'd be a strong businessman and I'd be a bitch.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Right.
ELLEN POMPEO: You know. That's still in the United States with Oprah and, you know, with Martha Stewart and all the wonderful examples that we have of leaders, there's still very much a double standard.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Yeah.
ELLEN POMPEO: You know -- I don't know. I mean, in the United States we embrace men I think before we would embrace a woman. Or embrace a man for his mindor his power.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Yeah.
ELLEN POMPEO: And a woman you just embrace for her -- whether she's pretty or not and whether she's in -- you know, Martha Stewart must be a bitch and she has to go jail for what she did, but the guys who were involved in Enron...
KATHERINE HEIGL: Yeah.
ELLEN POMPEO: ...didn't suffer any consequences. So I think that it's just everywhere. There's still some sexism, unfortunately. And that's okay.
KATHERINE HEIGL: We will rise again.

Do you think you guys all have what it would take to be doctors.
ELLEN POMPEO: No.
KATHERINE HEIGL: No.
ELLEN POMPEO: No way.

How do you think the fact that women in TV are doing much better than, you know, movies now.
ELLEN POMPEO: Oh, I didn't know that. Are we?

Yeah.
KATHERINE HEIGL: What do you mean.
This year is considered a bad year for women in movies.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Why.

I don't know. Because...
JUSTIN CHAMBERS: The gay cowboys.

The gay ... it's almosthard to find like five nominees for...
ELLEN POMPEO: Yes. Well, I know that I don't see any scripts that I like. Yeah. That I know. And that's part of the reason why I took this show. Was because I was tired of playing, you know, the girlfriend parts.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Right.
ELLEN POMPEO: I was really kind of fortunate and worked with some great people, but really small roles, you know. And the one big role that I did I was just the chick, you know. So it's like you can either do really, really tiny interesting roles or you can be the lead but you're not going to have much to do.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Right.
ELLEN POMPEO: So that's what was attractive about this show for me.

(You have) five children in the States. What made you go for that?
JUSTIN CHAMBERS: What made me go five kids? I don't know. I was a little young and just sort of went with it.
ELLEN POMPEO: His wife is gorgeous.
JUSTIN CHAMBERS: My wife is gorgeous.

When you're in a show like this and you have the chances to be many years on and the same time to do other work in the side, how much are you willing to be in this show as an actor.
ELLEN POMPEO: I'm sorry. I don't understand.

How many years would be willing to be in the show.
ELLEN POMPEO: Oh, well, contractually we're obligated to 6 years. Before you -- before you even start filming the show they make you sign a contract. So it's pretty difficult to get out, especially when it's a success like it is. They're much less willing to -- you know, it's a money-generating vehicle so, you know, we -- we can't go anywhere.
KATHERINE HEIGL: We'll be here for a while.
JUSTIN CHAMBERS: There's no other TV we'd want to do.
ELLEN POMPEO: No.
JUSTIN CHAMBERS: And then I have two small projects I did over the last 3 years that will probably never see the light of day that were really good. You know, good cast, interesting roles. So to work on something that so many people see -- the writing is good. A lot better than a lot of scripts, you know, wereas. Why would we want -- you know, we want to ride this as long as people watch it and, you know -- I'd sort of like -- you know, through this job not be at the mercy of films and just sort -- or any work. Just kind of like -- not the end the road, but like this is sort of a good setup for us all to have freedom after the show's success.

To read the full interview, click this

Source: Femalefirst.co.uk

Anatomy of success
3rd July 2006, 18:09 WST

Walking on to the set of Grey’s Anatomy it’s easy to mistake the actors for the doctors they play. With just a few hours sleep since their last 16-hour day, star Ellen Pompeo and her fellow cast members look every bit as tired as surgeons coming off an all-night shift.

Clutching cups of coffee and queuing for a pastry, they share a joke, hold each other up as the last traces of sleep disappear and admit that, as with doctors, what makes the long hours bearable is the fact that they’re all in it together.

“There’s a solidarity because everybody is exhausted,” Pompeo said.

“To make an hour-long drama is such a tremendous amount of work we’re lucky we do get along so well and that the show is successful . . . it sort of makes all the exhaustion worthwhile.”

One of the biggest hits of last year, Grey’s Anatomy has almost singlehandedly revived the hospital drama genre with its mix of real gore, romance and occasional comedy around the central theme of a woman trying to cope with a situation she’s not quite sure she can handle.

It’s a theme, Pompeo said, that drew her to the series despite never having been a fan of medical programs.

“I’ve never even watched a single episode of ER,” she said, “but there are a lot of parallels in my life to this show.
“When I did the pilot I had no idea what I was doing, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, so with every scene I’d hope I was doing the right thing.
“And I guess that sort of translates into what you see as Meredith (Grey, her character) hoping she is doing the right thing.”

Hard work and self-doubt aside, there are advantages to being the star of your own drama.

Pompeo smiles as she tells how she got to choose the handsome Patrick Dempsey to play her on-again, offagain, love interest, Derek Shepherd.

“I tested with a lot of guys and I said, ‘I want it to be him’,” she says, “and luckily the network felt the same way.

“I had the best chemistry with him and I don’t know how you define that, he just sort of stood out . . . and he had great hair!”

Then there’s the rest of the cast, who Pompeo jokes with almost constantly.

“I don’t like her,” Pompeo says, joking and pointing to co-star Katherine Heigl with a smile.

“And he is OK, like on Tuesday through Thursday,” she says of Justin Chambers (Alex Karev), before admitting that without the close cast the shooting schedule would be unbearable.

“I think for the most part we are all very lucky we really get along because it is a lot like on the show. I mean, we are together all the time.”

Heigl is quick to agree, adding that it helps to be around friends when you’re dealing with the very lifelike products of the special effects department.

As Grey’s beautiful intern Isobel “Izzie” Stevens, she plays a former model out to prove she’s more than just a pretty face. That means her character is usually written into every messy, bloody operation there is. And yes, she says, it’s very bloody indeed.

“Once I had to lift a cow’s heart out on to a scale and it was supposed to be an engorged human heart, so it was really big,” Heigl said.

“The artery was trailing down, slapping my arm, and I’m thinking, ‘Hold it together, hold it together’ until they called ‘cut’. It was so gross.”

Scott Ellis, SUN HERALD

Source: The West Australian

Like a surgeon, touched by fame for the very first time

By Suzanne C. Ryan, Globe Staff | May 7, 2006

It's been an amazing 14 months for Ellen Pompeo, the lead actress in ''Grey's Anatomy." She has a fan website now, ellenpompeo.net, as well as her own page on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. And in a clear sign of cultural significance, she's been ''punk'd" on MTV. We caught up with the Everett native -- who 11 years ago was tending bar in New York -- to talk about the whirlwind.

Q: How has your life changed since ''Grey's Anatomy" premiered?

(read more)

A: I bought a house in Los Angeles, which is magnificent. It's an old Mediterranean house that needs to be restored. That's been the biggest splurge. I still have the same car, the same clothes. I work a lot more now. Six days a week, 15 hours a day. The schedule is absolutely grueling. I'm a lot more tired.

Q: Are you recognized a lot on the street now?

A: I get recognized quite a bit. But it's all uptown problems. People just want to say hi. One thing I don't like is people wanting to take my picture with their camera phones. It's always after I've just worked 16 hours and I look like death warmed over.

Q: You landed the role of Meredith Grey after auditioning for another ABC pilot?

A: I auditioned for a role where I was the head of the Secret Service. The character had to contend with men who were jealous of her. . . . The studio didn't go for it. But ABC said if you like, you can do this.

Q: Were you involved in the theater while a student at Everett High School?

A: Not at all. I was really self-conscious about telling people about my interest. The reactions I got were less than favorable. ''You want to be a movie star? Right. Why don't you go get a job at [Boston] Edison and call it a day?" Acting is not something that's nurtured in Everett. I couldn't wait to turn 18 and leave.

Q: How does working on the show compare to acting in a film like ''Catch Me If You Can"?

A: I've never been employed as an actor for 10 months straight. When you work in film, you go film to film to film, and then you have a couple of months off. I've had to learn to adjust to this medium. It's very difficult to play the same character for a long time. How many times can I be upset with Derek [Patrick Dempsey's character]? . . . It's harder to find inspiration and make it real for me. But I choose to look at it like an acting exercise. If I can do this, I can do anything.

Q: Does that mean you prefer film over TV?

A: Acting is acting. It's really about the individual role. . . . Quite frankly, the film roles that really take my breath away aren't pouring in. There are very few good films made in Hollywood. So I love the TV show because I get to act every day and I'm financially secure so I don't have to do bad movies anymore.

Q: Do you think your character is maturing?

A: Not at all. I think she keeps making ridiculous mistakes. I guess this is sort of the dichotomy between high book intelligence and low emotional intelligence. She has this surgery thing down pat. But why would she sleep with George [another hospital intern]? I guess a lot of women sleep with guys they should never have slept with. It's a little hard for me to relate to that. I have never slept with a guy who was like my brother.

Q: Is her crush on Derek unrealistic too? He's a married man.

A: That isn't so hard of a stretch. He is so cute. I can see how any young intern would be totally infatuated with a doctor like that. With regard to her not getting over him, it's hard when a relationship doesn't end mutually. There's always one who hangs on way too long.

Q: What can we expect from Meredith in the third season?

A: I'm really curious, but I don't ask a lot. They won't tell me, number one. But I also don't really want to know. I'll think about it too much and that will work against me. I'd rather take it as it comes and react to it spontaneously.

Source: globe

Source: Grey Anatomy Net

Screen Actors Guild Award Nominations
By Scott Huver, Hollywood.com Staff

Three things became apparent at the nominations announcement for the 12th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards: Brokeback Mountain was the film to beat with four nominations; Felicity Huffman led all the thespians with three nominations for her work on both her series Desperate Housewives and her film Transamerica and Grey's Anatomy's Ellen Pompeo needs to work on her poker face.

Pompeo looked as smartly chic in a chocolate Yves St. Laurent dress and spotted Alexander McQueen scarf as anyone could be expected to at 6 a.m., when she joined Benjamin Bratt on stage at West Hollywood’s Pacific Design Center to unveil the nominations. And while she and Bratt bypassed tepid awards show banter and got right down to business with the announcements, on three occasions the Grey’s Anatomy actress’ professional demeanor would dissolve in favor of a big, bright, twinkly-eyed grin. Each time, the reason why was revealed five seconds later: she’d spotted a Grey’s Anatomy nomination--one each for her co-stars Patrick Dempsey and Sandra Oh, as well as an ensemble nod for the entire cast--on the teleprompter.

“I’m very excited to go to work and give them all the good news, if they haven’t heard it already,” Pompeo told Hollywood.com after the nominations, expecting a little something extra waiting on the set for the cast. “Recently we’ve been celebrating with cake and champagne, so I’m sure we’ll follow suit for this, also.” She was especially excited about Dempsey ’s nom for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series: “His story is so amazing and he’s taken in everything with so much grace. I’m thrilled for him and I’m so happy to work with him every day.”

If Pompeo felt any disappointment about not getting her own individual nomination, it didn’t show. “It’s not disappointing because we are an ensemble cast, and we got recognized as a group,” she said. “That’s what’s important--that we got acknowledged at all. And there’s plenty of time for personal awards and stuff like that. I’m just happy to be a working actor.”

The actress did indulge in a little mock-professional jealousy at her Sunday night network mate Huffman’s big morning as a triple-nominee: “She’s okay,” Pompeo sniffed. “No--of course, she’s fantastic. I mean, come on! And I really have to applaud her tremendously, because the hour-long drama is so tough. Well, I guess that’s considered a comedy. But still, it’s such a rigorous schedule, and so for her to take her break and take on a role of this magnitude is just a tremendous effort on her part. And who else could really pull it off? So it’s great to see her get recognized.”

Source: Hollywood

Plenty of 'Allure' at this Hollywood event

By William Keck, USA TODAY

WEST HOLLYWOOD — For Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, Ryan Seacrest and Jessica Biel, an invitation to hobnob at a chichi dinner party with some of Hollywood's other hottest stars was too alluring to turn down. They were among the guests who turned out for Allure magazine's annual Hollywood soiree at Dominick's restaurant Wednesday night.

Over a patio dinner of filet mignon and Alaskan halibut, Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo chatted up big-screen Dukes of Hazzard producer Billy Gerber, who broke news that he'll next be giving the movie-makeover treatment to the 1970's TV hit The Jeffersons. Gerber says he is envisioning Martin Lawrence and Queen Latifah in the roles of George and Weezy, though no offers have yet been made.

Pompeo mentioned having just read Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink, about trusting our instincts, and chatted about how things seem to be interconnected. For instance, when she first met her boyfriend of two years, music producer Christopher Ivery, at a grocery store, she was more focused on food than romance. But two days later, they met again, started dating, and discovered they grew up in Boston 10 miles from each other — and Ivery knew Pompeo's father.

And, the Hollywood home she and Ivery rent is just 10 doors down from her Anatomy TV love, Patrick Dempsey. Ivery and Dempsey race scooters together down their street. Said Pompeo, "It's a very small world."

Source: USA Today

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