This 'Grey’s Anatomy' actor had a surprise cameo on Friends you probably missed

Ellen Pompeo, best known for her role as Dr Meredith Grey on 'Grey’s Anatomy', made a brief appearance on 'Friends' before her medical drama ever aired. She appeared in Season 10, Episode 11, titled The One Where the Stripper Cries.

Though short, her cameo left a lasting impression and has since become a fun surprise for fans revisiting the episode.

When Ellen Pompeo appeared on Friends

Ellen Pompeo’s cameo aired in February 2004, just a year before Grey’s Anatomy premiered. She played Missy Goldberg, a former college crush of both Ross and Chandler. The episode already featured multiple chaotic storylines—Joey struggling hilariously on the game show Pyramid and Phoebe’s bachelorette party going off the rails thanks to an awkward male stripper.

Amid all this madness, Missy’s arrival added an unexpected twist.

How Missy nearly broke Ross and Chandler’s friendship

At a college reunion, Ross and Chandler run into Missy, despite having once promised never to date her. With Chandler happily married to Monica, Ross finally asks Missy out. However, things take a turn when Missy casually reveals that she and Chandler had a long history of making out. The revelation stuns Ross.Chandler then drops another bombshell, admitting that Ross once broke the same pact by dating Rachel.

Confusion follows as the two friends argue over whose bed Rachel was on the night of Ross’s first kiss. The chaos peaks when Monica reveals the truth—Ross’s first kiss was actually with her.

Why Ellen Pompeo remains deeply attached to Meredith Grey

Even after two decades, Pompeo remains strongly connected to Grey’s Anatomy. In a 2025 interview with El País, she explained why walking away from the show entirely doesn’t make sense to her.“That would make no sense, emotionally or financially. The show was streamed more than a billion times in 2024.

More than a billion times,” she said.She further highlighted how the series continues to reach massive audiences worldwide and remains emotionally meaningful to fans. “The companies that own and stream the show make a lot of money from our images, our voices, and our faces. If I were to walk away completely, everybody gets to make money from my hard work for 20 years, and I wouldn’t make any money. To me, it doesn’t make sense that everybody gets to profit off my hard work.

And emotionally, the show means a lot to people. I want to have an attitude of gratitude towards the show.”