Patrick Dempsey Biography

After years of B-pictures and false starts in television, Patrick Dempsey found his niche in 2005 as Dr. Derek Shepherd — aka “McDreamy” — in the TV drama Grey’s Anatomy. Patrick Dempsey got his start in the entertainment industry as a juggler and magician, and spent his later teen years touring the U.S. on stage. In Hollywood in the mid-1980s, he made a string of romantic comedies as a supporting player and lead, including Heaven Help Us (1985) and Can’t Buy Me Love (1987). Playing cute-but-awkard teens seemed to be his specialty, and Dempsey did it well enough to be a frequent face on magazine covers. He worked steadily in films and television during the 1990s, turning more to drama and getting good reviews for performances in the films Mobsters (1991, with Christian Slater) and Outbreak (1995, with Dustin Hoffman). By 2005 the mature Dempsey was re-discovered as a hunk and credible leading man, and the success of Grey’s Anatomy put him on magazine covers once again. He played naughty neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd, known on the show as McDreamy for his utter hunkishness; Dempsey continued in the role until 2015, when his character died in an auto accident. His other movies include Some Girls (1988, with Jennifer Connelly), Sweet Home Alabama (2002, starring Reese Witherspoon), the charming Disney fantasy Enchanted (2007, co-starring Amy Adams), and the romantic comedies Made of Honor (2008) and Valentine’s Day (2010, with Jennifer Garner).