Ellen Pompeo thinks that diversity on "Grey's Anatomy" has come a long way, but better representation in Hollywood is a constant work in progress.
Series creator Shonda Rhimes recently reflected on the show's legacy in an interview with Variety, saying that the medical drama's groundbreaking diverse casting made her "embarrassed for television" because that step should have been taken sooner.
When asked about Rhimes' comments during an interview promoting her company, Betr Remedies, Pompeo told Insider that making Hollywood a more equitable space is "a huge part" of her job "every single day" and that non-marginalized people in the industry need to think beyond simply checking boxes for on-screen diversity.
"I still find that a lot of white people still feel like they've checked a box and they're good," Pompeo said.
"I can only speak for our show, obviously. I don't work on anybody else's show, but I would say that I am still shocked at where we are," she continued. "And I think that it's a constant. We don't get somewhere and then we're there and then the work is done."
"Grey's Anatomy" broke ground by changing "the faces you see on TV," as Rhimes put it to Variety, back in 2005. That diversity has come farther in the nearly two decades since.
"I think 'Grey's Anatomy' today looks a lot different than it did in the beginning," Pompeo told Insider.
The show's first LGBTQIA+ character, Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez), was introduced on season two in 2006, though she doesn't come out as bisexual until a few seasons later. Over a decade later, in 2018, "Grey's" introduced its "first gay male surgeon," Dr. Nico Kim (Alex Landi).
As far as representing other marginalized groups, like people with disabilities, Dr. Virginia Dixon, played by neurotypical actor Mary McDonnell, was the first doctor with autism and appeared in three episodes. The portrayal has been criticized by people with autism for many years.
Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital welcomed its first Deaf doctor in 2018 for several episodes, but the show has portrayed most visibly physically disabled characters as patients, not doctors or hospital staff, to date.
The "Grey's Anatomy" lead hopes to see more diversity behind the scenes, in the rooms where the stories are crafted, not only marginalized characters in front of the camera.
"It's not enough to just have a Black character on a show, or an Asian character on a show, or a non-binary character on the show," Pompeo told Insider. "You then have to back that up and have representation in the writers' room to write for that character."
"You can have 10 non-binary characters on a show. If there isn't a non-binary writer to write for those characters to speak to what that really is like, you're only doing a little bit of the work, you're not doing all of the work," she continued. "It's my understanding that people not only want to be seen, they want to be written for by people who know their experience, who can speak for their experience."
"Grey's Anatomy" introduced the series' first non-binary character, Dr. Kai Bartley (played by E.R. Fightmaster) earlier in 2021, during season 18. It's unclear whether any of the writers on the series who are writing for Dr. Bartley identify as non-binary.
"It's work that has to constantly be tended to. It's like a garden," Pompeo added.