Patrick Dempsey Biography

Patrick Galen Dempsey (born January 13, 1966) is an American actor and race car driver, best known for his role as neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd ("McDreamy") on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy. Prior to Grey's Anatomy he made several television appearances and was nominated for an Emmy Award. He has also appeared in several films, including Sweet Home Alabama, Made of Honor, Valentine's Day, With Honors, Flypaper, Freedom Writers, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Dempsey, who maintains an exclusive sports and vintage car collection, also enjoys auto racing in his spare time. He has competed in prestigious pro-am events such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car race, and Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 off-road race. Prior to the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, Dempsey declared that he would "walk away" from acting if he could and dedicate himself full-time to motorsports.

Early life

Dempsey was born in Lewiston, Maine, and grew up in Buckfield, Maine. His mother, Amanda (née Caisson), was a school secretary, and his father, William, was an insurance salesman. He attended Buckfield High School and St. Dominic Regional High School. He was an adept juggler, tying for second in a national juggling competition. He was also an accomplished skier and while in high school won the Maine state slalom championship.

As a child, Dempsey attended Camp Wekeela located in Hartford, Maine.

Dempsey was diagnosed with dyslexia at age twelve. He told Barbara Walters on her 2008 Oscar special that he thinks dyslexia made him what he is today. "It's given me a perspective of"?you have to keep working," Dempsey told Walters. "I have never given up."

Acting career

Early career

Dempsey was discovered by an invitation to audition for a role in the stage production of Torch Song Trilogy. His audition was successful, and he spent the following four months touring with the company in Philadelphia. He followed this with another tour, Brighton Beach Memoirs, in the lead role, which was directed by Gene Saks. Dempsey has also made notable appearances in the stage productions of On Golden Pond, with the Maine Acting Company, and as Timmy (the Martin Sheen role) in a 1990 Off-Broadway revival of The Subject Was Roses co-starring with John Mahoney and Dana Ivey at the Roundabout Theatre in New York

Dempsey's first major feature film role was at age 21 with Beverly D'Angelo in the movie In The Mood, the true World War II story about Ellsworth Wisecarver whose relationships with older married women created a national uproar. This was followed by the teen comedy Can't Buy Me Love in 1987 with actress Amanda Peterson and Some Girls with Jennifer Connelly in 1988. This film was a flop. In 1989, Dempsey had the lead role in the films Loverboy with actress Kirstie Alley and Happy Together with actress Helen Slater.

1990s and 2000s

Dempsey made a number of featured appearances in television in the 1990s; he was cast several times in pilots that were not picked up for a full season, including lead roles in the TV versions of the films The Player and About A Boy. However he received good reviews as he portrayed real-life mob boss, Meyer Lansky in 1991, when Mobsters was put on the screen. His first major television role was a recurring role as Will's closeted sportscaster boyfriend on Will & Grace. He went on to play the role of Aaron Brooks, Lily & Judy's psychologically unbalanced brother, on Once & Again. Dempsey received an Emmy nomination in 2001 as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for the role of Aaron. In 1993, he played a young John F. Kennedy in the 2-part TV mini-series JFK: Reckless Youth. In 2000, he also had a role as Detective Kincaid on Scream 3.

Dempsey had a high-profile role as the fiancé of Reese Witherspoon's character in Sweet Home Alabama. In 2004, he co-starred in the highly acclaimed HBO production Iron Jawed Angels, opposite Hilary Swank and Anjelica Huston. He also appeared as special guest star in The Practice for its 3-episode finale season (8x13-8x15), as a married man who murdered his lover.

In 2007, Dempsey starred in the Disney film Enchanted, and the Paramount Pictures film Freedom Writers where he reunited with his Iron Jawed Angels co-star Hilary Swank. He also voiced the character Kenai in Brother Bear 2. Dempsey's most recent roles include the 2008 film Made of Honor as Tom and the 2010s romantic comedy Valentine's Day; the latter film, directed by Garry Marshall, follows five interconnecting stories about Los Angelinos anticipating (or in some cases dreading) the holiday of love.

Universal Pictures acquired the rights to the prize-winning novel The Art of Racing in the Rain in July 2009, for Dempsey to star in. The project has not been able to find a director. Dempsey starred as Dylan Gould in the 2011 movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

On November 1, 2012, Deadline.com reported that Patrick Dempsey is set to star in the romantic comedy "Wonderful Tonight" playing opposite Amanda Seyfried.

Grey's Anatomy

Dempsey has received significant public attention for his ongoing role as Dr. Derek Shepherd in the drama Grey's Anatomy. Prior to landing the role of Derek Shepherd, Dempsey auditioned for the role of Dr. Gregory House on another medical show, House. Initially a midseason replacement, the show was well received and has become a highly rated program. Dempsey's character, Derek Shepherd is often referred to as "McDreamy" and has received press attention for his sex appeal, and his chemistry with Grey's Anatomy co-star Ellen Pompeo was well received by fans and critics. Dempsey also appeared in two episodes of the Grey's spinoff Private Practice, playing the same character as in Grey's Anatomy.

Dempsey was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series"Drama at the 2006 Golden Globes for the role. His success on the show has led to his becoming a spokesman for Mazda and State Farm Insurance. BuddyTV ranked him #1 on its list of "TV's Sexiest Men of 2011".

Promotional work

He has been the face of L'Oreal and Versace and was featured in ads for Serengeti sunglasses. In November 2008 he launched an Avon fragrance named Unscripted, and due to its success, a second fragrance named Patrick Dempsey 2 was launched in October 2009. On September 29, 2012, Mexican cable company Cablemás, Megacable and Mexico city's Cablevisión launched an advertising campaign featuring Patrick Dempsey as the love interest of a domestic worker who comes across his profile on an online dating site. Starting 2013, Patrick Dempsey is the face of Silhouette, promoting eyewear fashion from Austria.

Auto racing

Dempsey, who maintains an exclusive sports and vintage car collection, has enjoyed auto racing in his spare time for several years, and declared before the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans that he would like to compete full-time, telling Eurosport:

I would like to make that [motorsports] a complete priority and just focus on this full-time. If I could just walk away from acting, I think I could do that very easily, and just focus on the driving, I would love that more than anything else.

He has competed in prestigious pro-am events such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car race, and Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 off-road race. He was a co-owner of the Vision Racing IndyCar Series team and current owner of Dempsey Racing, which is presently racing two Mazda RX-8 cars in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series GT class. He participated in this series as often as his schedule allowed, although insurance restrictions kept him from driving competitively while also filming a motion picture. In 2009, he raced a Team Seattle Advanced Engineering Ferrari F430 GT in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans's GT2 class, and finished ninth in class. Dempsey announced he would race the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona along with other races throughout the season in a Mazda RX-8. Dempsey finished in third place in the GT Class of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

In 2012, Dempsey competed in the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge behind the wheel of an Aston Martin Racing-Multimatic Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4, which, after five successful racing seasons in Europe, was to make its debut on American tracks.

Dempsey also formed the Dempsey Racing team to compete in the American Le Mans Series. The team fielded a full-time Oreca FLM09 in the Prototype Challenge class as well as a Lola B12/80 coupe in the Prototype 2 class (with Patrick himself driving) from Laguna Seca onward.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

After debuting at the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, Dempsey returned to France four years later and competed in a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR at the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. Dempsey and his co-drivers finished 29th overall and fourth in-class.

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps
2009	Advanced Engineering Team Seattle	Don Kitch, Jr. Joe Foster	Ferrari F430 GT2	LMGT2	301	30th	9th
2013	Dempsey Del Piero-Proton	Joe Foster Patrick Long	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	LMGTE-AM	305	29th	4th

Tully's Coffee

In January 2013, Dempsey announced that his company (Global Baristas) had secured the winning bid to purchase Seattle-based Tully's Coffee, which had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October. Dempsey's bid of $9.15M was enough to secure Tully's over the bids of six others including Starbucks. Dempsey's company will control 47 Tully's locations in the Seattle area, but not the online business which had been purchased by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in 2009.

Following a legal dispute with investor group Global Baristas owner Michael Aventatti, Dempsey left the group, in effect officially leaving his managerial positions with Tully's. Dempsey had filed a lawsuit on behalf of Global Baristas, claiming that Aventatti borrowed $2 million against Tully's assets without informing Dempsey, rather than fully financing the coffee chain as was promised, calling the 15 percent interest rate on the loan "exorbitant" and sued for Avenatti to fund Tully's operations and meet its working capital needs, as well as for any damages owed the company. Soon after, Avenatti's office issued a second statement saying the partnership was dissolved and that Dempsey wished the lawyer and the company "all the best." Aventatti has stated the dispute was only a "misunderstanding" and will continue operating the group with other investors and new management.

Personal life

Dempsey was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 12. As a result, it is necessary for him to memorize all his lines in order to perform, even for auditions where he was unlikely to get the part.

Entertainment Weekly put Dempsey's hair on its end-of-the-decade "best-of" list, saying, "What made Grey's Anatomy a mega-medi-hit? It could have something to do with creator Shonda Rhimes' scalpel-sharp writing?or McDreamy's impossibly luxurious man hair. Just saying." In 2005, People magazine ranked him second in its annual list of "Sexiest Men Alive" and again in 2006.

At a bankruptcy auction on January 3, 2013, an investment group led by Dempsey had the highest bid of US$9.15 million to buy Tully's Coffee. A bankruptcy court judge approved the deal at the end of January 2013. On June 1, 2013, Dempsey was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Bowdoin College.

Marriages and family

Dempsey has been married twice. In 1987, he married actress and acting coach Rochelle "Rocky" Parker (born February 26, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York), who was also the mother of his best friend (Corey Parker) with an age gap of 26 years. She appeared with Dempsey in the film In the Mood. The couple divorced in 1994.

On July 31, 1999, Dempsey married Jillian Fink. The couple have three children, daughter Tallulah Fyfe (born February 20, 2002) and twins Sullivan Patrick and Darby Galen (born February 1, 2007).

Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing and Dempsey Challenge

In 1997, Dempsey's mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Her cancer has relapsed five times over the past fifteen years. In response to his mother's bouts with cancer, Dempsey helped start the Patrick Dempsey Center at Central Maine Medical Center in his home town of Lewiston, Maine. In October 2009 when Dempsey introduced the first Dempsey Challenge, registration was closed after reaching the goal of 3,500 cyclists, runners and walkers. The event raised more than $1 million for the cancer center. His mother was in the crowd as Dempsey finished his 50-mile ride. The Challenge has since become an annual October event presented by Amgen in the Lewiston"Auburn area.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1985	The Stuff	Underground Stuff buyer #2
	Heaven Help Us	Corbet
1986	Meatballs III: Summer Job	Rudy Gerner
1987	Can't Buy Me Love	Ronald Miller	Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture " Comedy
	In the Mood	Ellsworth 'Sonny' Wisecarver
1988	Some Girls	Michael
	In a Shallow Grave	Daventry	Limited release
1989	Loverboy	Randy Bodek
	Happy Together	Christopher Wooden
1990	Coupe de Ville	Robert 'Bobby' Libner
1991	Mobsters	Meyer Lansky
	Run	Charlie Farrow
1993	Bank Robber	Billy
	Face the Music	Charlie Hunter
1994	With Honors	Everett Calloway
	Ava's Magical Adventure	Jeffrey	Also director
1995	Outbreak	Jimbo Scott
1997	Hugo Pool	Floyd Gaylen	Limited release
1998	Denial	Sam
	The Treat	Mike	Jonathan Gems film
	There's No Fish Food in Heaven	The Stranger	aka Life in the Fast Lane
1999	Me and Will	Fast Eddie
2000	Scream 3	Det. Mark Kincaid
2002	Sweet Home Alabama	Andrew Hennings
2003	Lucky 7	Peter Connor
	The Emperor's Club	Older Louis Masoudi
2004	Iron Jawed Angels	Ben Weissman
2006	Brother Bear 2	Kenai	Voice only
	Shade	Paul Parker	Short film
2007	Freedom Writers	Scott Casey
	Enchanted	Robert Philip	Nominated"?MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (with Amy Adams)
2008	Made of Honor	Tom Bailey
2010	Valentine's Day	Harrison Copeland
	Easy A	Himself	Archive footage; scene taken from Can't Buy Me Love
2011	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	Dylan Gould	Nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor
	Flypaper	Tripp	Also producer
2013	Ushi Must Marry	Himself	Movie from Dutch producers, but the movie itself is in English

Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	A Fighting Choice	Kellin Taylor	TV movie
	Fast Times	Mike Damone	Television series
1989	The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!	The Plant	1 episode
1990	The General Motors Playwrights Theater		1 episode "Merry Christmas, Baby"
1993	For Better and for Worse	Robert Faldo	TV movie
	JFK: Reckless Youth	John F. Kennedy	Miniseries
1995	Bloodknot	Tom	TV movie
1996	The Right to Remain Silent	Tom Harris	TV movie
	A Season in Purgatory	Harrison Burns	Miniseries
1997	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea	Pierre Arronax	Miniseries
	The Escape	Clayton	TV movie
	The Player	Griffin Mill	TV movie
1998	The Bible: Jeremiah	Jeremiah	TV movie
	Crime and Punishment	Raskolnikov
2000	Will and Grace	Matthew	2000"2001 (3 episodes)
2000	Once and Again	Aaron Brooks	2000"2002 (4 episodes) Nominated"?Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
2001	Blonde	Cass	Miniseries
	Karen Sisco	Carl	1 episode
	About a Boy	Carl	TV movie
2004	Iron Jawed Angels	Ben Weissman	TV movie
	The Practice	Dr. Paul Stewart	3 episodes
2005"present	Grey's Anatomy	Dr. Derek Shepherd	2005"present (185 episodes) Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Drama Series (2006) People's Choice Award for Favorite Male TV Star (2007, 2008) Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series (2005, 2006) Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Drama Series (2006, 2008) Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series (2005) Nominated"?People's Choice Award for Favorite Male TV Star (2009)
2009–2012	Private Practice	Dr. Derek Shepherd	TV episode ("The Ex-Life" and "You Break My Heart")