PATRICK DEMPSEY

'Patrick Galen Dempsey' (born January 13, 1966) is a Golden Globe Award-nominated American actor who first became prominent in Hollywood during the late 1980s. He is also known for his role as neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd (Dr. McDreamy) on the medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy''. During the 2000s, he also appeared in several film roles, including ''The Emperor's Club'' and ''Freedom Writers''.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Early career

1990s & early 2000s

Grey's Anatomy

Personal life

Selected filmography

Footnotes

External links

Biography

Early life

Dempsey, an Irish American,^[1] was born in Lewiston, Maine and grew up in Turner, Maine, the youngest of three children born to Amanda and William Dempsey. Dempsey attended St. Dominic Regional High School for his senior year, where his mother worked as a secretary, but dropped out before he graduated. He was an adept juggler, tying for second in a national juggling competition.^[2]
Patrick also spent some of his school years in the Town of Buckfield, Maine, where he attended Buckfield High School in the MSAD #39 (Maine School Administrative District) for his freshmen through junior years. His mother was secretary to the high school principal there and still resides in the area.

Early career

Dempsey was discovered by an agent and invited 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 San Francisco. Patrick also appeared in an MTV called Overnight Success by Teri DeSario, where he dances and juggles.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 ''The Subject was Roses'', which showed at the Roundabout Theatre in New York.
Dempsey's first major feature film role was at age 21 in the teen comedy ''Can't Buy Me Love'' in 1987 with actress Amanda Peterson. In 1989, he had the lead role in the film ''Loverboy'' with actress Kirstie Alley and ''Happy Together'' with actress Helen Slater. Although the teen comedy and romance roles led to Dempsey being somewhat typecast for a time, he was able to avoid playing the same character as his career progressed.

1990s & early 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''. 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, Sela Ward's psychologically unbalanced brother, on ''Once & Again''. In 1993 he starred as John F. Kennedy in the straight to television film JFK: Reckless Youth. Dempsey received an Emmy nomination in 2001 as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for the role of Aaron. In 2004, he co-starred in the highly acclaimed HBO production, ''Iron Jawed Angels'', opposite Hilary Swank and Anjelica Huston.
Dempsey had a high-profile role as one of the suitors for Reese Witherspoon in ''Sweet Home Alabama''. He also had a role as Detective Kincaid on ''Scream 3.'' Dempsey's most recent roles include the 2007 Disney film ''Enchanted'', and the Paramount Pictures film ''Freedom Writers'' where he reunites with his ''Iron Jawed Angels'' co-star Hilary Swank. He also voiced the character Kenai in ''Brother Bear 2 ''.

Grey's Anatomy

Dempsey has received significant public attention for his 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. Robert Chase on another medical show, ''House''.^[3] Initially a midseason replacement, the show was very well received and has become a highly rated program. Media attention has been focused on Dempsey's character Derek, often referred to as "McDreamy", and the character's romance with intern Meredith Grey (played by Ellen Pompeo).
The intense media attention has included coverage of some backstage friction. News reports surfaced in October 2006 that Dempsey was involved in an argument with co-star Isaiah Washington that appears to have become a physical altercation. News reports have also stated that this argument may have been initiated over Washington referring to T.R. Knight as a "faggot."^[4]
Dempsey was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama at the 2007 Golden Globes for the role. In 2006 Dempsey signed a contract with ABC raising his salary to $200,000 per episode.

Personal life

Dempsey has been married twice. From 1987 to 1994, he was married to Rocky Parker. When the couple married, much was made in the media of the age difference between the two (and its parallels to Dempsey's film ''Loverboy''); at the time, Dempsey was 21 years old, while Parker was 48. Because of the age difference in his first marriage, his stepson Corey Parker was actually one year his senior. The two remain friends.
Dempsey remarried on July 31, 1999; his second wife is noted make-up artist and founder of Delux Beauty, Jillian Fink Dempsey. The couple has three children: a daughter named Tallulah Fyfe, born in January 2002, and twin boys Darby Galen and Sullivan Patrick, born on February 1, 2007.^[5]
Dempsey enjoys racecar driving in his spare time. On June 27, 2004, he participated in race #2 of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, driving a Panoz GTS race car. In 2007 he will race in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Patrick is an avid racing enthusiast and has participated in the Panoz Series and the Pro Miata series. Dempsey has recently joined other celebrities in their quest to conquer the Baja 1000. He has raced Baja in 2005 and 2006, and plans to race again in 2007. He is currently the co-owner of IndyCar Series team Vision Racing.
On May 1, 2007, it was announced that Dempsey would drive the pace car for the 2007 Indianapolis 500.^[6]
On August 28, 2007, he announced that he will run the Sunchaser 1000 at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. He will drive the #40 Hyper Sport Racing Mazda RX-8 in the GT Class. ^[7]

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other Notes
2007	''Enchanted''	Robert
	''Freedom Writers''	Scott Casey
2006	''Brother Bear 2''	Kenai	voice only
2004	''Iron Jawed Angels''	Ben Weissman
2003	Lucky 7	Peter Connor
2002	''Sweet Home Alabama''	Andrew Hennings
2001	''Blonde ''	Cass Chaplin
2000	''Scream 3''	Det. Mark Kincaid
1998	''	Jeremiah
	''Denial''	Sam
1995	''Outbreak''	Jimbo Scott
	''Bloodknot''	Tom
1994	''With Honors''	Everett Calloway
	''Ava's Magical Adventure''	Jeffrey
1993	''	John F. Kennedy
1992	''Say I Do''
1991	''Mobsters''	Meyer Lansky
	''Run''	Charlie Farrow
1990	''Coupe de Ville''	Robert 'Bobby' Libner
1989	''Loverboy''	Randy Bodek
	''Happy Together''	Christopher Wooden
1988	''Some Girls''	Micheal
	''In a Shallow Grave''	Daventry
1987	''Can't Buy Me Love''	Ronald Miller
	''In the Mood''	Ellsworth 'Sonny' Wisecarver
1986	''	Rudy
	''A Fighting Choice''	Kellin Taylor
	''Fast Times'' (TV Series)	Mike Damone
1985	''The Stuff''	Underground Stuff buyer #2
	''Heaven Help Us''	Corbet

Footnotes

1. 100 Top Irish-Americans!!!
2. 1981 Juniors Championship of the International Jugglers' Association (IJA), http://juggle.org/history/champs1981.php
3. Grey's Anatomy Magazine, First Issue
4. http://www.etonline.com/tv/news/37424/
5. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20009324,00.html
6. http://www.brickyard.com/news/story.php?story_id=8725
7. http://grand-am.com/News/Article.asp?ID=9052

External links

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★ Patrick Dempsey's biography by ABC