Ellen
Pompeo was
born in Boston and then lived for a time as a child on New York's
Upper West Side. She eventually
moved to Miami, where
she was a cocktail waitress before heading back to New York, where
in 1996 she was bartending at the SoHo Bar & Grill when an agent
approached her about appearing in commercials, and she subsequently
landed her first spot the next day, soon, appearing in commercials
for Citibank and L'Oreal. Minor roles on primetime series and a handful
of unremarkable films followed. Her most notable credit, a guest-starring
role on episode of “Law & Order” in 2000 (she previously
appeared as another character in a 1996 outing) was impressive enough
to catch the attention of critics but did not turn out to be as big
a break as anticipated.
Determined to get serious about her career,
Ellen Pompeo moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and finally struck gold
in 2002 when she was tapped
by director Brad Silberling for a crucial role in his film “Moonlight
Mile”. Despite her thin resume and non-existent name value,
Silberling--who also penned the the script--saw in Pompeo the sparkle
he needed to make his cast complete. As Jake Gyllenhall’s romantic
interest in the grueling film about death, grief, and dealing with
personal loss, Pompeo provided a desperately needed ray of hope,
taking an underwritten part and making it breathe. Despite the film’s
mixed reviews, critics were generally unanimous regarding Pompeo’s
performance.
Pompeo’s next high-profile project was Steven Spielberg’s “Catch
Me If You Can” (2002) In it, Pompeo played one of the long
string of women that Frank Abagnole (Leonardo DiCaprio) cons, loves,
and leaves. On a roll, Pompeo landed a short-but-sweet part in big-screen
adaptation based on the Marvel Comics icon “Daredevil” (2002)
as Karen Page, the loyal secretary of Daredevil’s alter ego,
a.k.a. Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck). Unfortunately for Pompeo, the
sweet role wound up to be more short than sweet: Finding that the
Karen-Matt subplot of unrequited love detracted from the primary
romance between Daredevil and Electra (Jennifer Garner), most of
Pompeo’s scenes were left on the cutting room floor.
Ellen Pompeo fared much better in her next role,
the lowbrow but very funny campus comedy, “Old School” (2003).
Directed by Todd Phillips, Pompeo filled the role of Nicole, the
love interest
of the central character Mitch (Luke Wilson) and the principal female
in a testosterone laden frat house, When “Old School” grossed
over $75 million at the box office, Pompeo’s bankability shot
up as well.
Pompeo also appeared in a string of lower
profile projects, including the little-seen thriller “Undermind” (2003) and the poorly
conceived Spanish-made action film “Art Heist” (2004)
opposite Daniel Baldwin, as well as the comedy short “Nobody’s
Perfect” (2004), directed, co-written and starring Hank Azaria.
She also has a guest stint on an episode of the final season of “Friends” in
2004.
In 2005, after a year of doing nothing but
reading scripts looking for the project that suited her best, Pompeo
returned to the small
screen as Dr. Meredith Grey, the titular lead of the mid-season medical
dramedy “Grey’s Anatomy” Pompeo headlined a solid
ensemble cast that included Patrick Dempsey, Chandra Wilson, and
Sandra Oh, and quickly earned TV star status when “Grey’s
Anatomy” premiered to strong ratings and was immediately granted
regular occupancy of the coveted post-“Desperate Housewives” timeslot
as a reward.
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Britney
Spears
Britney Spears is ranked as the eighth best-selling female recording artist
in the United States with 32 million sold albums certified by the Recording
Industry Association of America and one of the world's best-selling music
artists having sold an estimated 85 million records worldwide. Spears also
holds the title to multiple Guinness World Records. Britney
Spears Biography and Pictures |
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Brittany
Daniel Actress
Brittany played one of the lead characters in short-lived FOX series That
'80s Show. She also appeared on the show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
as a transsexual named Carmen. In 2006, she teamed up with the Wayans Brothers
for their films White Chicks and Little Man. Brittany
Daniel Bio and Photos |
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Brittany
Murphy
When she was nine years old, Brittany
Murphy landed a singing role in a musical version of Les
Misérables, and had signed on with a manager by
the time she turned thirteen.
Brittany Murphy Pictures and Biography |
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Amy Acker
Television Actress
In her junior year of college, Amy
Acker enjoyed a short stint of modeling work for the J.
Crew clothing catalog. In 1999, she was nominated for a
Leon Rabin award for "Outstanding Performance by an
Actress in A Lead Role.
Amy Acker Bio and Photo Gallery |
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Aishwarya
Rai Actress and Model
Aishwarya Rai began modeling on
the side while studying architecture. In the 1994 Miss
India contest, she was placed second behind Sushmita Sen,
and went on to win the Miss World title that same year
and the Miss Photogenic award.
Aishwarya Rai Bio and Photo Gallery |
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Daisy
Fuentes TV Actress and Model
MTV took notice of the 19-year-old Daisy Fuentes and made her host of MTV
International which was a success, it later became MTV en Español
and later MTV Latin America. She later landed a role on the ABC soap opera
Loving.
Daisy Fuentes Biography and Pictures |
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Leslie Fiest Model
and Musician
Leslie Feist is a Juno Award-winning
Canadian singer-songwriter. She performs as a solo artist
under the name Feist. In 1991, at age fifteen, Feist got
her start in music when she founded, and was the lead vocalist
for a Calgary punk band called Placebo.
Leslie Fiest Bio and Photos |
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Nelly Furtado Musician
By the age of four, young Nelly was playing the ukulele and singing in
Portuguese and English, and was the trombone player of a jazz band, concert
band and marching band, from nine to eighteen.
Nelly
Furtado Photo Gallery and Bio |
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Marisa
Tomei Movie Actress
Marisa Tomei grew up in the Midwood area of Brooklyn, New York. While there
she became captivated by the Broadway shows that her theater loving parents
took her to and became drawn to acting as a career. Marisa
Tomei Biography and Pictures |
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Tyra Banks TV Host
and Fashion Model
Banks began modeling in the 11th
grade. She later went to Paris, France to do some runway
modeling. Within Tyra's first week in Paris, designers
were so entranced by her presence on the runway that she
was booked for an unprecedented twenty five shows.
Tyra Banks Bio and Photos |
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Katherine
Heigl Television Actress
Katherine Heigl was first thrust
into the limelight as a child model. An aunt took a number
of photographs of her niece, then aged 9 - in series of
poses to advertise a hair care product she had invented. Katherine
Heigl Photos and Bio |
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