Ellen Pompeo has singlehandedly managed to etch her place in infamy as an icon of television leisure. For just about four hundred episodes over the process 15 years at the air, Pompeo's presence as Dr. Meredith Grey helped make Grey's Anatomy into a beloved, will have to watch series seen through hundreds of thousands around the globe and gained a number of awards in the process. This is all thank you in large part to Pompeo being consistently entertaining and turning in sturdy performances each and every unmarried week.

It's laborious to consider Grey's Anatomy succeeding without Pompeo as its celebrity and shockingly sufficient, Pompeo virtually never joined the cast. Pompeo had a very fascinating path to the show and appearing altogether that if one or two scenarios didn't play out as completely as they did, Pompeo will have by no means even so much as showed up directly to a manufacturing set, but on my own started performing initially. Let's check out what her life before the show looked like.

13 A Star Is Born

On a November tenth day in 1969, a chilly day in Massachussetts, town of Everett, Ellen Pompeo was born. Coming from an English, Irish, and Italian background, Pompeo was born into a multicultural family eldered by oldsters Kathleen and Joseph Pompeo. It could also be worth bringing up that the Pompeo circle of relatives have been raised as Catholics.

Related: Here's What Ellen Pompeo And The Women Of Grey's Anatomy Said About The Show

12 Her Upbringing/Family Life

Beyond being an English speaking, Irish and Italian blooded circle of relatives with a Catholic background, Ellen Pompeo additionally grew up with a bevy of siblings. Her 5 siblings is made out 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 by no means comes along as one thing that is easy to manage for anyone of any age, but it surely turns into especially tough to care for at a tender age. Pompeo handled such tragedy at the age of four years old when her mother died from a painkiller overdose. When talking at the matter to Allure (h/t Wattpad), she mentioned, "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 a number of years later the place as an adult living in Florida together with her boyfriend on the time, she had an excessively different profession from that of a Hollywood actor. In reality, it was much less of a profession and more of a elementary task the place she merely sought out to make ends meat. She was a bartender running on the local SoHo Bar and Grill.

9 The Day She Became An Actor

Ellen Pompeo had quite the unconventional access into the appearing world. And it all started because of that afformentioned barmaid task at SoHo Bar and Grill. She ended up relocating from Miami to New York to paintings at that SoHo location within the space, where she ended up being found out by means of a casting director.

Related: 15 Actresses Who Would've Made A Better Meredith Grey Than Ellen Pompeo

8 The L'Oreal Campaign

While the casting director did not means Pompeo with any titillating movie or television show gives, the casting director did persuade Pompeo to do a few commercial gigs promoting the manufacturers Citibank and, maximum notably and seen above, L'Oreal. This was Pompeo's first style of the acting malicious program and he or she hooked from there.

7 TV And Movie Acting Debuts

After the commercials hit tv, Ellen Pompeo began receiving increasingly performing alternatives and she was excited by accepting as many as possible. Between 1999 and 2000, she took up a number of small performing portions. Her reputable performing debut came within the brief movie Do You Have the Time as an extra. What adopted were small parts in displays like Law and Order and Strangers with Candy.

6 First Hollywood Movie

Ellen Pompeo's first large break came when she grabbed herself a professional supporting position within the movie Moonlight Mile, a Hollywood manufacturing directed through Brad Silberling - the similar thoughts that directed classics like Casper and A Series of Unfortunate Events - the place she labored alongside Tinseltown juggernauts Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, and Jake Gyllenhaal.

5 Working With Spielberg

A 12 months later after incomes vital acclaim and mainstream attention from operating in Moonlight Mile, Ellen Pompeo had some other small function, however this one got here in a good larger 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 doorways for her.

Related: 20 Surprising Facts About Grey's Anatomy Star, Ellen Pompeo

4 Big Roles, But Deleted Scenes

The giant alternatives stored 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 now not in a position to capitalize on newfound attention in those big movies, as her scenes in both scenes were reduce from each movie fully. How unfortunate.

3 Small Supporting Roles, Big Films

While her stints in Daredevil and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind had been practically scrubbed from cinematic history completely, the early 2000's have been nonetheless kind to Ellen Pompeo's blossoming movie career. Most significantly, she was in a position to take up a supporting position as Luke Wilson's love interest in field place of business comedy Old School.

2 Big Break Postponed Because Of Cancellation

In 2005, Grey's Anatomy was with regards to being dropped at her doorstep, however first, she auditioned for another ABC display known as Secret Service. Never heard of it? Well, that's as a result of Secret Service's pilot episode in the long run wound up not getting picked up through any community. What's so interesting about that is that after she got the Grey's Anatomy be offering, she initially sought after to turn it down in prefer 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 since she permitted the main role of Shonda Rhimes' ABC show, Grey's Anatomy was destined for luck. Since 2005, Pompeo has starred in 363 episodes and counting at the display. In addition, Pompeo's acting efforts received popularity in the type of a Golden Globe nod and several other People's Choice Award nominations, with two wins.

Next: 15 Lesser Known Facts About Ellen Pompeo's Rise To Fame

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