“Grey’s Anatomy” wouldn’t exist without Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey, whose foundational presence on the acclaimed medical drama is nothing short of iconic. Pompeo has garnered several accolades for playing Meredith over the years, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Drama Series and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
Before her work on “Grey’s Anatomy,” Pompeo kicked off her television career with NBC’s “Law & Order,” followed by guest roles on shows like “Strangers with Candy,” “Strong Medicine,” and “Friends.” In recent years, Pompeo has appeared in “Station 19” (a spin-off of “Grey’s Anatomy”), “Repeat After Me,” and “Good American Family.” The actress has also crossed over to film, making her debut in the medium with the 1999 romantic comedy, “Coming Soon.”
Pompeo’s historic run on “Grey’s Anatomy” showcases an incredible amount of skill and commitment as an actor, which is why she is today’s quote of the day.
Quote of the Day by Ellen Pompeo
“When you have a platform and you have any type of privilege, I like to try to use it to lift other people up. I think it’s important to use your voice.”
The above quote comes from Pompeo’s visit to “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in March 2025. While speaking about the fight for equal pay for women in television, Pompeo urged folks to speak up against any sort of prejudice or injustice. Pompeo added that while she doesn’t need to self-advocate for equal pay at this stage of her long and successful career, she recognizes the importance of using one’s privilege to help out anyone in need of assistance.
Deeper meaning of Ellen Pompeo’s quote — use your voice to help others
Pompeo has been outspoken about her efforts to fight for equal pay on the set of “Grey’s Anatomy,” especially in relation to her co-star, Patrick Dempsey, who played Derek Shepherd on the show.
“I’m not saying [Dempsey] didn’t deserve that money. It’s just, being that I was the namesake of the show, I deserved the same, and that was harder to get,” Pompeo said on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast while explaining why she chose to fight for herself and “all the other women coming up behind her.”
Pompeo lives by her own words, making consistent attempts across her career to level the playing field for female actors in television.
“You really do have a responsibility to look and see what everybody else is making and use your power to say, ‘Listen, I appreciate what I got. But I really think that all the women deserve a bump,'” she told E! News in 2025.
Because of her recognition, Pompeo has admitted that she no longer has to fight for equal pay for herself, but she wants to use her platform to make sure that other voices will be heard.
More quotes from Ellen Pompeo
- “You know, with everything that happens in our experience, if we come out the other side of that stronger and better and able to voice for others to speak sooner, it’s all worth it.” — from an interview with Shondaland
- “There’s something sort of strange about fame, and there’s something sort of strange about the way we idolize other human beings. A lot of my fans are young. I think it’s important to try to be as authentic as possible for them because they see so much inauthenticity online.” — from a 2018 interview with Parade
- “You can look at a long journey like, ‘I gotta get off this bus. I gotta jump off. It’s too long.’ But then, there’s something empowering about saying, ‘I’m going to stay on and see where this takes me. I’m going to have the curiosity. I’m going to have faith in myself to stay on this bus, take it mindfully, grow from it, and just trust in the universe that it’s taking me somewhere good.'” — from an interview with Shondaland
