Ellen Pompeo

Born:
Ellen Pompeo,
Nov 10, 1974,
Everett, Massachusetts, USA

Nickname: The Pencil

Height: 5' 7''

Father: Joseph Pompeo, salesman for Lorillard Tobaccoa, "a big, scary sort of guy"

Mother: Died when Ellen was 4 years old. She was raised by family and friends.

Youngest of six children. All of her siblings are at least 8 years older than she is.

Fiance: Chris Ivery, record producer, with whom she lives in Los Angeles, CA.
Engaged on her 37th birthday, Nov, 2006.

Born near Boston, Ellen Pompeo lived for a time as a child on New York's Upper West Side. She eventually moved to Miami, where she was a cocktail waitress, before heading back to New York, where in 1996, she was bartending at the SoHo Bar & Grill when an agent approached her about appearing in commercials. She subsequently landed her first spot the next day, and later appeared in commercials for Citibank and L'Oreal. Minor roles on primetime series and a handful of unremarkable films followed.

Pompeo moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and in 2002, she was tapped by director Brad Silberling for a crucial role in his film, Moonlight Mile. Despite her thin resume and non-existent name value, Silberling--who also wrote the the script--saw in Pompeo the sparkle he needed to make his cast complete.

Most recently, Ellen appears as Meredith Grey in Grey's Anatomy.