Ellen Pompeo says she wouldn’t have stayed on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ if she wanted critical acclaim

Ellen Pompeo is opening up about critical acclaim and her time on Grey’s Anatomy.

The actress known for portraying Dr. Meredith Grey on the popular medical drama series recently told The Hollywood Reporter if she wanted more critical acclaim, she wouldn’t have stayed on the show as long as she has.

“On Grey’s, you really only get an opportunity to be nominated for things in your first few seasons, and so that time had clearly passed,” Pompeo said. “I didn’t crave that kind of recognition. I craved the sort of financial and job security situation more than I did critical accolades — that’s why I stayed on the show.”

While Pompeo has not been the main focus of the series since 2022, her character still narrates the show and has appeared on a handful of episodes over the last few seasons. She also executive produces the series.

“Had I been [chasing] critical acclaim, I wouldn’t have stayed on Grey’s for so long,” Pompeo said. “So it wasn’t always the most important thing to me but now that I’m doing something new, it would definitely, probably help me in this next chapter of my story — moving on from Grey’s, doing other roles.”

Now she says it might be nice to receive award recognition at some point in her career.

“I haven’t given anybody a reason to believe that I could do anything else, so if people did recognize that I did do something else and it was worthy of even just [an Emmy] nomination, maybe I can give myself a compliment, because I’m not so good at that!” Pompeo said. “After 500 episodes of TV, I think it’s OK to want a little trophy now.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.