Ellen Pompeo News (Page 8)

This month's Reader's Digest observes that not since Ally McBeal has there been such a quirky, angst-ridden, lovable prime-time TV character as Dr. Meredith Grey.

In portraying the female lead of Grey's Anatomy, Ellen Pompeo has generated a great deal of the show's water-cooler and online forum chatter, and was recently nominated for a Golden Globe.

The actress has come a long way.

An agent first approached her in the mid-1990s in a New York restaurant, where she was working as a bartender. The 37-year old Everett, Mass., native made her film debut in Moonlight Mile with Jake Gyllenhaal, but found her calling as a surgical intern on the small screen.

Pompeo recently sat down with Reader's Digest to talk about her engagement to longtime boyfriend, record producer Chris Ivery, as well as her views on doctors and her steamy scenes with Patrick Dempsey.

RD: Which was the bigger surprise - your engagement or your Golden Globe nomination?
Ellen Pompeo: They were both very, very surprising, and I wasn't expecting either, honestly.

RD: How does your fiancé react to your romantic scenes with Patrick Dempsey?
Ellen Pompeo: Chris is the most secure man I know, which is why I'm going to marry him. But I don't like to throw these scenes in his face. I certainly wouldn't like to see him kissing another woman on-screen. He's not an actor, so he doesn't understand just how unsexy it really is with 40 crew members standing around and doing multiple takes.

RD: I hear you try to distract him from watching the romantic scenes.
Ellen Pompeo: Well, yes, baking chocolate chip cookies is a good way. He loves my chocolate chip cookies, so I put them in the oven and make him check on them all the time.

RD: What do you like most about the character of Meredith Grey?
Ellen Pompeo: The fact that she's flawed but is determined to become a surgeon even though she doubts herself sometimes. There's a remarkable amount of sexism on TV. When male characters are flawed, they're interesting, deep and complex. But when female characters are flawed, they're just a mess. It's good to put more flawed but interesting female characters out there because it promotes equality.

RD: Has playing the role of Meredith Grey given you certain expectations about doctors and hospitals that you didn't have before?
Ellen Pompeo: No. I have fewer expectations now because I understand more about what it means to be a doctor and what they have to deal with. With all the pressure they're under, and the many other things they have going on at any one moment, I understand now why they can't be as compassionate as I might like them to be.

RD: Tell us what you have learned about the medical profession.
Ellen Pompeo: I certainly have more respect for doctors than before. I didn't realize the fatigue and pressure that most of them are working under all the time. It's one of the few professions where if you make a mistake, it can mean somebody's life.

The leading man of Grey's Anatomy, who just became the father of twin boys, is "a good dad," his co-star says.

"I think the thing about Patrick is, obviously he has a tremendous love for his wife and his daughter, but he has a tremendous sense of duty," Ellen Pompeo said.

"He's really sort of old-fashioned in that way â€" he's got a good sense of being a gentleman and taking care of his family, and that's what makes him a good dad. It's an admirable quality," she tells People.

Patrick Dempsey and his wife, Jillian Dempsey, welcomed sons Darby Galen and Sullivan Patrick in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Galen is Dempsey's middle name. The couple, who have been married for seven years, also have a 4-year-old daughter, Tallulah.

In January, the 41-year-old Grey's Anatomy star spoke with Details and Life magazines about his career and fatherhood, and how his priorities are shifting by the day:

"Now, making money is about providing for my children. And being a father makes you look at yourself. You look at your marriage and go, 'How do I improve this? How do I keep growing and create a stable environment for my children?'"

It's great to see that Patrick is as happy off-screen as he is with his on-screen love, Pompeo, and that he retains a healthy perspective on life and fame.

Here are a couple of Ellen Pompeo pictures we were sent that we thought you would enjoy. We're not 100 percent certain as to their origin - our guess is from her recent Playboy interview - but regardless, it's always great to see new images of the talented and intriguing actress who's character puts the Grey in Grey's Anatomy.

Nothing new here, just pictures of our girl Ellen Pompeo out grocery shopping with her fiance, Chris Ivery. These were taken last month.

Ellen Pompeo - the Golden Globe-nominated Ellen Pompeo! - recently sat down with TheEnvelope.com.

To read the entire interview, click here. We've provided a few excerpts below:

Q: This is a big year for you. You get engaged on your birthday [to Chris Ivery] 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: 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: Were you surprised about the headlines the series made over the October on-set argument between regulars Isaiah Washington and Patrick Dempsey when Washington used a homophobic slur about one of the show's stars? (T.R. 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.

It's great to see Grey's Anatomy stars give back. Earlier this year, in one of his many charitable endeavors, Isaiah Washington offered his time in a charity auction to benefit the Jackie Robinson Foundation.

Now, Ellen Pompeo is doing the same to benefit the Home For Little Wanderers, a Boston non-profit child welfare agency which serves children at risk and their families through prevention and early intervention.

Sadly, we didn't learn about this quickly enough to share with you. The bidding closed last night, with 70 people vying for lunch with Ellen. The winner ended up paying $16,900, a terrific sum for this wonderful charity in Pompeo's native Boston! Here's what the official auction page says:

Item Number: 156

Estimated Value: Priceless

Description:

Here is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for you and three of your friends to chat with Grey's Anatomy star, Ellen Pompeo, about the hit ABC show over lunch.

Ellen, an Everett, Mass., native, is most famous for her current role as Meredith Grey in Grey's Anatomy. She also recently appeared opposite Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell in the wildly successful Old School and, before that, in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.

Ellen made her major studio screen debut in Brad Silberlin's Moonlight Mile, starring alongside Susan Sarandon, Dustin Hoffman and Jake Gyllenhaal. She received outstanding reviews for her portrayal of an outspoken woman carrying a silent burden that's breaking her heart.

Special Instructions:

Maximum of four people. The lunch will take place in Boston after March 1, 2007 at a mutually agreed upon time. The winning bidder will be contacted by The Home for Little Wanderers after the auction closes to make arrangements. This item is not for re-sale.

Grey's Anatomy stars Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey are both featured in People Magazine's profiles of Golden Globe nominees. The awards, which will be announced January 15, feature a number of talented Grey's Anatomy stars - plus the show itself. Here are a couple of pictures and what the publication has to say about both these cuties.

ELLEN POMPEO

Nomination: Best dramatic TV actress for Grey's Anatomy
Despite the success of her ABC drama, the Boston-area native says that her long hours on the show helps her relate to her character, Dr. Meredith Grey. "I get a lot less sleep, but it helps, I think, it helps us feel like interns because we really are exhausted," Pompeo told ABC News.
Next Up: No scrubs allowed: Pompeo, who got engaged on her 37th birthday in November to record producer Chris Ivery, has a wedding to plan.

PATRICK DEMPSEY

Nomination: Best dramatic TV actor for Grey's Anatomy
The former '80s teen star spent much of the last decade doing TV guest spots before taking up permanent residency on the hit hospital drama. Now making hearts swoon as Dr. Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd, the two-time nominee told People about his sex-symbol status: "This is so funny. I'm a hunky guy now. How did that happen?"
Next Up: Dempsey returns to the big screen opposite Hilary Swank in the drama Freedom Writers, out in January.

In the picture below, Ellen Pompeo doesn't quite have her eyes on the ball - and we think it's pretty obvious why. We also think we can find it in our hearts to forgive the newly-engaged Grey's Anatomy star.

Ellen and fiancé Chris Ivery took in the Los Angeles Lakers' 106-99 win over the San Antonio Spurs at the Staples Center on Sunday. They had some pretty good seats! Don't they just look so happy?

Ellen Pompeo is growing tired of questions about her weight.

In the January issue of Playboy, the star of Grey's Anatomy says she's "paying a trainer $1,000 a week to torture me with weights so I can get bigger."

Then she adds (facetiously, one presumes): "Oh, excuse me, I have to go throw up now."

"If I could gain 5-10 pounds, it would probably go straight to my boobs and [butt]," Ellen Pompeo told the magazine.

"I would be the happiest girl in Hollywood, trust me. I'd have this sick bod because I'd be the skinny girl with big [breasts] and a cut butt."

Pompeo answered other questions in the magazine's January "20Q" (20 questions) feature, some saucy, some semi-serious. Angelina Jolie is the female celeb she'd most like to make out with, she says.

"She's gorgeous," Pompeo said. "Or Sandra Oh. [laughs] I'd be too afraid of Isaiah Washington's Dr. Burke, though. I don't want to be on his bad side."

Funny stuff. Here are a few other quotes from the interview with Ellen Pompeo, which hits the newsstands Friday:

ON BARTENDING: "I wouldn't say I was a good drink maker, but I was a very good hustler. I'd abuse the customers, yell and scream at them and make them wait. If they put money down on the bar and it wasn't enough, I'd go wait on someone else who was giving me enough money. If they put another five down and I made them wait longer, pretty soon there would be $20 on the bar. Then I'd come over and give them a drink."

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Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo traded in her blue scrubs for something a bit more chic at the opening of the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum in Westwood, Calif., Sunday. The actress, recently engaged to beau of three years, music producer Chris Ivery, brought her fiance to the event. The picture below appears in People magazine.