Ellen Pompeo may quit acting after 'Grey's Anatomy' ends

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Ellen Pompeo may quit acting after Grey's Anatomy ends.

The 44-year-old actress has portrayed Dr. Meredith Grey on 10 seasons of the ABC series, and is under contract through season 13. Although Pompeo is grateful for the opportunity, she told fans at a BuzzFeed-hosted panel she feels ready to move on.

"I definitely don't have a strong desire to act after Grey's," she revealed. "I definitely feel myself transitioning. I don't find acting terribly empowering ... I feel like the acting has been a wonderful opportunity and I've just done so much of it over the past 11 years ... I feel like I did it and I don't have anything left to prove, and I'd like to try to challenge myself."

Pompeo founded her own production company, Calamity Jane, in 2011, and finds producing "very challenging" but "interesting." The actress enjoys searching for new projects, and said the work is where she really has "fun" now.

"I mean, never say never," she said of future acting. "I try to keep an open heart, an open mind, an open soul and spirit to whatever comes my way, and whatever is meant to be for me will be."

Grey's Anatomy will return for an 11th season September 25 on ABC.