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RD Face to Face: Ellen Pompeo

Not since TV’s Ally McBeal has there been such a quirky, angst-ridden but lovable prime-time character as Meredith Grey.

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In portraying the female lead of Grey’s Anatomy, Ellen Pompeo has generated the lion’s share of the show’s publicity and viewer feedback, and she was nominated for a Golden Globe. The actress has come a long way since an agent first approached her in the mid-1990s in a New York restaurant, where she was working as a bartender. A native of Boston, she made her film debut in Moonlight Mile opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, but found her true calling playing a surgical intern on the small screen.Now 37, Pompeo recently sat down with Reader’s Digest to talk about her engagement to long-time boyfriend, record producer Chris Ivery, her views on doctors, and her steamy scenes with co-star Patrick “Dr McDreamy” Dempsey.

RD: Which was the bigger surprise – your engagement or your Golden Globe nomination?

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?

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.

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?

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 that you didn’t have before?

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  learnt about the medical profession.

Pompeo: I certainly have more respect for doctors than before. I didn’t realise 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.

From Reader's Digest Magazine - June 2007