Ellen Pompeo

DR. MEREDITH GREY TALKS ABOUT HER ANATOMY, DATING OLDER MEN, THE PAIN OF ENDING UP ON THE CUTTING-ROOM FLOOR AND WHY MEAN WAITRESSES GET THE BEST TIPS

Q1

PLAYBOY: Lots of us know you for roles in Catch Me If You Can and Old School, but playing a surgical intern on Grey's Anatomy has brought your biggest fame. When did you first notice guys wanting to play doctor with you? POMPEO: I didn't have any confidence as a young girl, because all the other girls had boobs and hips. I was always thin, always called the stick or the pencil. I didn't have a boyfriend until I was 16, and he was eight years older. My father was furious about this 24-year-old, and I had to hide the relationship.

Q2

PLAYBOY: Was Dad any better with your younger boyfriends? POMPEO: When my boyfriend slept with my best friend and I was playing the field a little, I dated some boys my age, but my father intimidated everybody. He'd wait at the window, and when they would drop me off in front of my house, he'd fly out the door and rip them out of the car by their neck. He didn't want me in cars with boys, and they would never come back. My father is a big, scary sort

of guy. He ruined my social life. For me, guys and sex and everything came after money, though. It was about survival, how to make money to better mv life and get myself out of that town.

Q3

PLAYBOY: That town was good, solid, working-class Everett, Massachusetts, where you were the youngest of six kids. How did you first start making your exit money?

POMPKO: At 14 and 15 I sold slush out­side Fenway Park in Boston for wiseguys. Back then I didn't know they were wise-guys, but I do now. They just seemed like nice guys who were willing to give me a job when I wasn't old enough to work. There were probably 10 other slush carts on the street, but mine was the only one with a line of people waiting down the block for my "special" slush. I was given this giant cleaned-out ketchup bottle, and for a couple of dollars extra I would squirt one or two shots into the slush. The cops never bothered me, so 1 eventually fig­ured out that these guys were connected and I could sell as much special slush as I wanted. Those streets of Boston will defi-

nitely teach you the art of the hustle, and I learned it very young.

Q4

PLAYBOY: You must also have learned the art of survival very young, since your mother died when you were four. POMPEO: I don't want to talk about that. But because of what happened to me as a child, we had different babysitters every day; all these characters in my life would babysit me. I have so many dif­ferent influences. My mother came from an Irish family of 11 kids and, of course, had a sister who was a nun, so I spent time at a convent and with an aunt and uncle who lived in New York and took me to the theater. It was the 1970s, and all my brothers and sisters were hippies. They were smoking pot and watching The Three Stooges. When I was small it seemed chaotic, but now, as an older woman looking back, I think. My God, it's so much to draw on.

Q5

PLAYBOY: In the early 1990s you were a cocktail waitress in Miami and then worked as a bartender in New York. The wav vou

look, your tips must have been huge. pompeo: My father was a salesman, so I guess the art of the hustle was always in me. Miami happened so fast. There were all these beautiful girls, models the rich guys wanted to meet. These playboys had absolutely no game, so I made big money by getting them to send champagne and drinks to these girls' tables, because the guys were so desperate to meet them. I worked the door at a couple of clubs, and that was very lucrative too. People will do anything to get in, and "anything" is throwing more money at you.

Q6

PLAYBOY: Did you do the same thing in New York?

pompeo: I got a job bartending in SoHo right away. I always worked in super-busy places, and that's hard work. My way of dealing was "If I have to put up with you and your drunkenness, you're going to have to pay me to listen to you babble and say how beautiful I am. If I have to listen to you and all your nonsense, you better make it worth my while." And they always did.

Q7

playboy: Did you have any bartender moves or specialties like, say, those women in Coyote Ugly? pompeo: 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 S20 on the bar. Then I'd come over and give them a drink. It's not that I wasn't nice. It was just "These are my rules, and you either play this way or try to find a drink from someone else." I wasn't there to make friends. My way worked brilliantly.

Q8

playboy: Did you use those skills to launch your acting career? pompko: I met an agent at the bar 1 worked in and went to see her the next day in her office. She sent me on three auditions for national com­mercials. I told her, "Listen, I know 1 said I was an actress, and I am, but I'm really not. I've never been to an audition, and I might make you look bad or something.' But I got all three jobs that same day, and the agent called me and said, "You can quit the bar." I thought, Wow, I'm 25. Maybe I should have pursued this earlier. I gave myself until 30 for acting to work out, though.

Q9

playbov You got there just in time. pompf.O: I made a lot of money doing commercials. Literally one year to the day after I got my first commercial. I got my first legitimate job, an episode of Law bf Order, and pretty soon I was getting work in series and independent movies. My agent was moving to Los Angeles and said, "Come with me." so I did. I hated it. I was depressed. I didn't understand the whole miniskirts-and-boobs mentality. Even now I'll walk the streets of Manhattan until four in the morning, but not in L.A. There are coy­otes—not that they're going to hurt you. I know, but it's their eyes. I'm chicken.

Q10

playboy: Despite the miniskirts-and-boobs mentality in L.A., you were cast in the 2002 flick Moonlight Mile, for which you won star-is-born reviews by playing the girlfriend who helps Jake Gyllen-haal deal with his fiancee's death. pompf.O: Weeks before I auditioned for that, I had met Jake by chance on the street. He wasn't Jake Gyllenhaal then. He came over and said, "Hi, how are you?" We talked, he said I was beauti­ful, and I said I was an actor. He kind of didn't want to say he was an actor. Then it got awkward. I wasn't going to ask for his phone number, and he wasn't going to ask for mine. I didn't know what else to say, because he'd come over with these compliments and he's much younger than I am. I just said, "Well, maybe we'll work together someday," and that was it. But two weeks later I walked into this audition and he was there. It was clearly meant to be.

Q11

playboy: Does it bug you that more peo­ple didn't see you in the movie, espe­cially considering the good reviews you received?

pompeo: It was a fantastic lesson. Noth­ing in life should be about end results. That's too self-serving. Moonlight Mile was about the experience I had with Jake, Dustin Hoffman and writer-director Brad Silberling. I worked for five days on Eternal Sunshine of the Spot­less Mind, and all my scenes were with Jim Carrey because I played his ex-girlfriend, from before he meets Kate Winslet's character. I was cut out of the movie completely, but I got to work with Carrey, who was phenomenal, so who gives a shit what happens?

Q12

playboy: When you were making Old School, did you ever wish your char­acter would cut loose the way Will Ferrell's or Vince Vaughn's did?

(concluded on page 173)

POMPEO

(continued from page I 32)

I would have been too self-con­scious. Making that movie was great because I didn't have a lot of responsibil­ity but still had the joy of seeing all those guys carry on and have so much fun. I took Grey's Anatomy because I felt I was getting strictly girlfriend and wife roles. I was ready for something more.

Q13

PLAYBOY: Everybody now knows you for playing the complicated, lovelorn intern on that show. In real life would you hang out with someone like your character? pompeo: I don't believe in judging people. Nobody's perfect. Some of the choices my character makes are a little off, but you know, the girl's in love, and that's what love does to you. I don't have any influence over what the character says or does, but the writ­ers clearly know what they're doing, because the show is a hit. So who am I to challenge them?

Q14

playboy What's it like working long hours under hot lights with the various body parts you use in the surgical scenes? pompeo: It's gross. We use real brains—I think they're lamb or cow or something. Intestines smell. Brains don't really smell, but what's amazing about the brain is that it's almost like scrambled eggs or soft tofu, almost like a gel. The brain controls so much of what we do, but you could put your finger right through it.

Q15

playboy: Grey's Anatomy is such big news that the paparazzi watch you like hawks now. The tabloids have you battling everything from a serious eating disor­der to a case of diva-itis. pompko: I have absolutely nothing to hide. If I could gain five to 10 pounds, it would probably go straight to my boobs and ass. 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 boobs and a cut butt. Instead I'm paying a trainer SI,000 a week to tor-lure me with weights so I can get bigger. Oh. excuse me, I have to go throw up now. [laughs]

Q16

PLAVBOV: Does the scrutiny ever get under your skin?

pompko: The trap is when you start to pay attention to that stuff and care, because in six months they're going to be look­ing at someone else. You know how fickle

everyone is. They love it, then they hate it, then they love it. So I'm going to enjoy it because it could be over at any minute.

Q17

pi-ayboy: What famous woman would you like to make out with? pompeo: Ooh! Angelina Jolie. She's gor­geous. Or Sandra Oh. [toughs] I'd be too afraid of Isaiah Washington's Dr. Burke, though. I don't want to be on his bad side.

Q18

playboy: Why do so many people find nurses and doctors hot? pompeo: Because nurses and doctors are smart. But let's be real here. We don't go to a hospital and think doctors are sexy; Patrick Dempsey playing a doctor is sexy. People ask me, "Have you ever had a crush on a doctor?" Well, no, but I've never had a doctor who looked like Patrick Dempsey.

Q19

pi-ayboy: You have the distinction of being one of the most famous victims on Punk'd. A sexy waitress at an LA. restaurant came on to your boyfriend so strongly that you jokingly threatened to gouge her with a fork. Then you found out your boyfriend tipped her $200 on your credit card. When did you catch on? pompeo It smelled funny from the begin-

ning. My boyfriend, Christopher, is defi­nitely a lady-killer, but 10 minutes in, the waitress was calling him baby and honey. She also had makeup like a Vegas showgirl's. I caught on halfway through, but they edited that out. I said to Chris, "Are you punking me right now?" and he said, "Ellen, you're not that famous. Sorry, darling." If Chris hadn't been so good, I would definitely have known, but he played it right to the last min­ute. What's so funny is that people have said terrible things about me because of that show. I don't read a lot of Internet stuff, because it's not healthy, but from what I hear, a lot of women have called me names, saying, "Oh, she was such a bitch." Like what they're saying about me is any better than what I did to that wait­ress? And they don't watch Grey's Anatomy because I was such a terrible bitch to that waitress? That's so hypocritical.

Q20

PLAYBOY: Has doing Grey's Anatomy brought you a lot of movie offers? I'OMi'KO: I've been offered a few things but nothing that remarkable. I'm sure I don't get as many offers as big movie stars like Angelina Jolie. I'm seriously consid­ering working during our next hiatus, but I don't need to work for the money. If there's something with an unbelievable cast and director, I'm going to jump at it. But I did this TV show so I wouldn't have to do shitty parts in shitty movies, so I'm not going to start now. I'm not that desperate.

We use real brains—/ think they're lamb or cow or something. Intestines smell. Brains don't really smell.