Ellen Pompeo opened up about the challenges of tackling her latest role in Hulu’s new limited series, Good American Family.
Despite taking a step back from her long-running medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy to pursue outside projects, the actress, 55, admitted to having reservations about portraying Kristine Barnett, the adopted mother of Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian adoptee accused of faking her age.
‘It was like, “Wow, this is intense. How would we pull this off?”‘ she recalled to People thinking after reading the script. ‘And I said, like I say often, “This isn’t for me.” And then everyone around me convinces me that this is something you definitely should take seriously and you should do.’
Although she did not meet Barnett, Pompeo prepared to get into character by reading parenting books and police reports ahead of production.
‘I mean, so much of acting is not only just emotion, but it’s physicality. You have to tie the two things together,’ she explained. ‘And you have to work yourself up, you have to get yourself in a state to be able to deliver certain lines and a truthful performance.’
She continued: ‘And you have to work yourself up, you have to get yourself in a state to be able to deliver certain lines and a truthful performance. It’s hard, but you have to go to dark places in your mind and make yourself uncomfortable.’
Pompeo noted that ‘just the very ideas of some of things’ she ‘had to do and say’ on set ‘were so tough.’
Although the role is a huge departure from playing her beloved character, Meredith Grey, the Golden Globe nominee said she used her experience as a mom and life experiences to shape her portrayal of Barnett.
‘I think all mothers have the intention to love their children endlessly and to do everything in their power to give their children the best chance,’ she explained. ‘I have three children of my own, so a mother’s love and passion was where I started from.’
The star, who shares Stella Luna, 15, Sienna May, 10, and Eli Christopher, 8, with her husband Chris Ivery, also raved about working with Imogen Faith Reid, who was cast as Natalia.
‘We probably had a two or three-hour Zoom, and we just really hit it off,’ Pompeo said. ‘And I thought, “This is how we pull it off — with her.” And I wasn’t wrong. She delivers, for sure.’
Pompeo, who founded the production company Calamity Jane, went on to reflect on how her years working on Grey’s Anatomy with creator Shonda Rhimes have shaped which projects she has taken on.
‘Obviously I have a fantastic legacy working with Shonda, and she changed the television game forever, for the better. So I have learned from the best,’ she told the outlet.
Pompeo said she is motivated to ‘tell inclusive stories and to tell all kinds of stories about all kinds of people.’
She said Good American Family is an example of a project that shines a light on how ‘human beings look at people’ and ‘judge them’ based on ‘preconceived notions we have of people based on what they look like or how they may sound.’
‘And sometimes that’s for the better and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s a defense mechanism, we think we’re keeping ourselves safe. But at the end of the day, less judgment and more acceptance would do us all so much good,’ the mom-of-three pointed out.
The eight-episode series, which comes out on March 19, will discuss the Barnett family background, the adoption and the events that unfold afterwards.
Grace was born in the Ukraine and diagnosed with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita – a rare form of dwarfism.
She was adopted by the Barnetts in 2010, and her name was legally changed to Natalia Grace Barnett.
Kristine and Michael grew suspicious of her age after the adoption and petitioned a court to ‘re-age’ her by changing her birth year from 2003 to 1989.
Her legal age was changed to 22 in 2013, and after the Barnetts got Grace her own apartment, they moved to Canada before divorcing in 2018.
Grace was later taken in by Cynthia and Antwon Mans, who adopted her in 2023 after her birth year was restored to 2003.
She left the Mans’ household later that year and began living with Nicole and Vince DePaul in New York.
Grace is now preparing for independent living and told PEOPLE she was learning to drive and studying for her GED in January 2025.