Ellen Pompeo was born in Everett, Massachusetts on November 10th, 1969. She lived most of her younger years in New York. She is the youngest sibling of 6. Her mother died when she was a young girl at four years old. After her teenage years, she moved to Miami, Florida where she found a job as a cocktail waitress. While working, she met and would go on to form a relationship with acclaimed fashion photographer Andrew Rosenthal. She would move to New York City with Rosenthal, where she worked on small projects. While working as a waitress at a SoHo Bar & Grill, she was found by a commercial agent who asked her if she was interested in appearing in commercials. She starred in commercials for L'Oreal hair products and Citibank.
Her interest in acting improved with her experience. In 2001, Pompeo moved to Los Angeles where she landed her first big role in Moonlight Mile (2002). After this she appeared in Daredevil, but most of her scenes were cut from the final version of the film. In 2004 she played Naomi in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind alongside Jim Carrey. All of her scenes were deleted from the final version of that film. This trend would soon end as her career blossomed.
She would star in two minor roles in Old School (2003) and Catch Me If You Can (2004) before landing a major role in ABC's surgeon drama Grey's Anatomy. Her character would be Meredith Grey, a intern surgeon for a private hospital. By, it's third season it became the highest-rated show on television. In 2007, Pompeo was nominated for a Golden Globe and in March of that year would sign a contract that gave her $200,00 per episode of Grey's Anatomy.
