Aside from her starring role on Grey's Anatomy, we like to remember Ellen Pompeo as the only non-beer-chugging character on the wildly successful Old School—where she held her own on the big screen alongside comedy heavyweights McHottie Luke Wilson, McDashing Vince Vaughn and McWitty Will Ferrell.

Her ever-so-popular portrayal of Meredith Grey earned Pompeo a Golden Globe nomination in 2007 and countless—perhaps fanatical—fans. Along with her fellow Grey's Anatomy cast members, she also received the 2007 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Television Drama.

A Boston native, Pompeo made her major studio film debut in Brad Silberling's Moonlight Mile, alongside the McScrumptious Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon. She went on to star in the wildly successful Old School as wall as in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can, opposite the McSexy Leonardo DiCaprio.

Prior to Moonlight Mile, Pompeo had starred in several independent features, including In the Weeds and Coming Soon.

"It's a striking display - equal parts briskness, vulnerability and goofiness - and coupled with her looks which combine Meg Ryan winsomeness with Kate Hudson warmth it's not hard to see why Shonda Rhimes elected to build a show around her."

. c h r i s . e l l e n . s t e l l a

(click the image for more)
"I enjoy everything about her, even her spit-ups and her poops. She is the light of my eye and my husband's too."

"If there's a crisis, you don't freeze - you move forward. You get the rest of us to move forward. Because you've seen worse. You've survived worse. And you know we'll survive too. You say you're all dark & twisty. It's not a flaw. It's a strength. It makes you who you are."

. m e r . q u o t e s
. so all of a sudden I'm the president of people with crappy lives?
. we screw boys like whores on tequila.
. I shaved my legs - sometimes.
. I was gonna build us a house but I don't build houses because
I'm a surgeon.
. I feel like one of those people who are so freaking miserable that they
can't be around normal people.
. my mother was one of the great - me? I'm kinda screwed.
. stupid, corny idiotic - I cannot believe I did this.
. cause my babies will have Alzheimer's, and suicidal tendencies, and split ends.
. my hair smelled like lavender - from my conditioner.
. I'm the kind of crazy person who feels bad for serial killer.
. I know you don't understand me - I don't understand me.

. m o m e n t s

"She’s got this phenomenal vulnerability in her face, but she’s got this little tough girl. She’s a fighter. She’s also somebody who would fight for her friends and bring people together."

. o p . c r e d i t . e t c
Jaje, Wala, Haylie
bios ~ ABC.com

"She's flawed but she's kind."