Christina Hendricks Shares How She Felt ‘Supported’ by Ellen Pompeo on ‘Good American Family’ (Exclusive)

Christina Hendricks didn’t get to share the screen with Ellen Pompeo on Good American Family — but she still felt supported by her fellow actress.

“I was only really in some courtroom scenes with her,” Hendricks, 49, teased during an exclusive interview with Us Weekly. “So I didn’t really get to do scenes with her, which is a bummer. I’m a huge fan and I love her.”

Hendricks was thrilled she got to experience Pompeo, 55, as an executive producer on the show, adding, “All I can say is that she was supportive and gets s*** done. She had my back and she wanted me to feel comfortable. She did everything that she could in her power to make sure that I could transition from that quick turnaround of getting the role to being on set. How can we make this work? What can we do to make this easy? How can we make this process?”

According to Hendricks, Pompeo went “above and beyond” on set.

“She really was checking on me and making sure that everything was all right,” Hendricks recalled. “So I just felt very taken care of. I knew she was smart as a whip so I loved her as a producer. But I do hope I get a chance to act with her.”

Pompeo has received praise from her Good American Family costars since the show premiered in March. Imogen Faith Reid recently told Us she chose not to tell Ellen Pompeo about her love for Grey’s Anatomy — out of respect, but still felt a bond with the star.

“She is very much a role model for me. I did love Grey’s Anatomy and I never told her because I didn’t want to weird her out,” Reid, 27, told Us last month. “But I really loved working alongside Ellen so much.”

Reid, who plays Natalia Grace, “learned so much” sharing the screen with Pompeo. “I remember there was a time on set where as an actor you have to get into your right mark and I was confused,” she continued. “Ellen asked the cameraman to turn over the camera for me so I could actually see what I was doing. That was a real learning moment for me — it was like I was really being taught there.”

At the time, Reid said she was thankful for the support on her first TV acting job.

“She always taught me that I could have a voice and that I could speak up,” Reid continued. “For my first job I was shy, I was a bit intimidated and she always made me feel so comfortable. It was just a real gift for me to have somebody like her to learn from. These things that she’s taught me, I’ll always take with me to each job that I do.”

Good American Family, which is currently airing on Hulu, is a scripted true crime series inspired by Natalia Grace, who made headlines when she was adopted by Kristine and Michael Barnett as a child only to accuse them of abandoning her. Hendricks plays Natalia Grace’s adoptive mother Cynthia Mans.

“I got cast 30 hours before I was on set. So I had to work very, very quickly,” Hendricks recalled to Us. “I had an opportunity to read the scripts and I did watch Investigation Discovery’s The Curious Case of Natalia Grace series that’s out there to try and get as much information as possible. Then I worked with a dialect coach because we wanted Cynthia to stand out in a little bit of a different way from the [Barnetts]. So I did all of the big fittings and everything in 30 hours and then I was on set.”

Hendricks called it a “fast and furious” process. “But I digested as much as I could in that amount of time,” she continued. “I actually was unfamiliar with the story. Then when they reached out to me, I turned to my husband [George Bianchini] and I was like, ‘Oh, this is this wild script.’ And he was like, ‘I know all about that.’ So I think there’s a fair amount of people who do know about it.”

New episodes of Good American Family premiere Wednesdays on Hulu.