Ellen Pompeo Got Real About Her Acting Career After "Grey's Anatomy"

Even though Ellen Pompeo does a great job playing Dr. Meredith Grey on Grey’s Anatomy, she doesn’t plan on continuing her acting career once she’s done with the show.

The Station 19 actor opened up about her career in Hollywood during a recent appearance on the Ladies First with Laura Brown podcast.

“I’m not saying I’ll never act again, I very well may, but I’m not super excited about continuing my acting career,” she said. “I’m more entrepreneurial at this stage.”

“I’m excited about investing in businesses and starting a business,” Pompeo continued. “That’s an area of growth that I’m excited about, using my brain in a different way.”

The Life of the Party star explained that even though she feels like she hasn’t “done a million different roles,” she still feels like she’s “done it” all.

“Sitting around in trailers, traveling around, shooting this in Atlanta, shooting that in Vancouver. I have no desire to go sit in trailers at 11 o’clock at night and wait to shoot scenes,” she said. “And have ADs knock on my door and tell me when I can eat lunch.”

“You know, it’s for the young at heart. It’s for the youth!”

At age 51, Pompeo feels different about acting than she did at 31. She especially came to terms with only being known for her Grey's role.

“When I was in my 30s, I absolutely saw myself as in a box,” Pompeo explained. “That’s why I stayed on the show, because I said, ‘Holy shit. By the time I can negotiate my contract again and get out of this, I’m going to be almost 40 years old.'”

“I am super typecast in this role,” she added. “'I am 40, so I’m never going to work again.’ Even 15 years ago, the thought of being 40 was, like, you’re over as an actress.”

“Now that I’m 50, I don’t see myself that way at all,” Pompeo explained. “I think of myself [as someone who] can do whatever [they] want, or can do nothing at all, quite honestly.”

Pompeo has started to take her future into her own hands. She’s already working on releasing a new podcast called Tell Me.

“[I thought], ‘Let me go out there and do something I’ve never done before and try something completely different for absolutely no other reason than to try something different because I haven’t for so long,’” she said.

“If it fails, it fails, but at least I’m trying something new.”