Captivating, yet a little nerdy, Patrick Dempsey has been successful in accomplishing what only the rare few teen idols ever strive to do, disappear from the screen for a few years before recreating their adult profession as the home grown hunk on one of the most successful television series ever. Almost twenty years after riding that legendary lawnmower to prominence as the would-be murderer Ronald Miller in “Can’t Buy Me Love” (1987), Dempsey was cast in the role of the tastefully dressed neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd on the television smash hit, “Grey’s Anatomy” (ABC, 2005- ). Scoring a personal homerun with the role, Dempsey became a countrywide fascination with the female audiences, all approved that the actor lived up to his well-known nickname, “Dr. McDreamy.”

Born Patrick Galen Dempsey on Jan. 13, 1966 in Lewiston, Main to parents Amanda and William Dempsey, Dempsey grew up in Lewiston, attending St. Dominic Regional High School in the close by township of Auburn. Diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age, Dempsey fought with the not well understood learning disability, but managed to swing focus from his weaker subjects to his love for dance and acting. An enthusiastic juggler, he created his own act and toured with the New England Vaudeville Circuit at age fifteen. Showing an unusual gift for performance, Dempsey won the Talent America Contest in 1981, grabbing the attention of an agent, who offered to try out the young teen for the San Francisco fabrication of “Torch Song Trilogy.” Portraying the part of David, Dempsey toured with the ensemble for six months. He went on to act with the Maine Acting Company in “On Golden Pond” and the worldwide touring creation of “Brighton Beach Memoirs.”

Making his feature film introduction in 1985, Dempsey played a young catholic school boy next to Andrew McCarthy in the farce “Heaven Help Us” (1985). The next year, Dempsey made his television debut as Mike Damone in the short run “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” (1982)  Admired by a young female audience, Dempsey became a leading man in a series of 1980's romantic productions. Women fell head-over-heals over Patrick as a goofy high school junior who cuts grass for extra money, and bribes a cheerleader into dating him in “Can’t Buy Me Love” (1987), a part that earned Dempsey the 1988 Young Artist Award. Also near to every girls heart was the actor’s role as a pizza deliveryman who doles out his “special services” in “Loverboy” (1987) to much more mature actresses such as Carrie Fisher, Kirstie Alley and Kate Jackson. 

Shocking his fan base in 1988, at the young age of 21, he married his 48 year old agent and management lead, Rocky Parker.

Hoping to break from his young teen idol figure, Dempsey started to take different types of roles. He played one of  the brothers coming together for a cross country car trip in “Coupe de Ville” (1990), and co-starred next to Christian Slater and Richard Grieco as mobster Meyer Lansky in the disgusting mafia movie, “Mobsters” (1991), then played a law school student on the run besides Kelly Preston in the fittingly titled, “Run” (1991). 

Returning to his roots on the theatrical stage, Dempsey unveiled his Broadway debut in “The Subject was Roses” at the Roundabout Theatre. He continued to give gripping performance as John F. Kennedy in the ABC miniseries “JFK: Reckless Youth” (1993) and worked behind the scenes to direct the family friendly movie, “Ava’s Magical Adventure” (1994) with his real wife Parker. 

Regrettably, Dempsey’s work went unseen and Patrick and wife Parker ended their marriage in 1994. Dempsey was able to find moderate acting work during this period, the status he had during his early twenties had shrunk to an imperceptible level.  His old fans had moved on to the next hot stud actor. Troubles with his dyslexia made the act of reading scripts and performing "read-throughs" even more grueling for the actor.

Dempsey began accepting the only jobs available to a former child actor and young teen idol, supporting parts in a slew of projects of low value and presence. He played alongside Joe Pesci and Brendan Fraser as a Harvard student in “With Honors” (1994) and gave a convincing performance as a man who becomes mixed up in a murder cover-up in the television variation of Dominick Dunne’s “A Season in Purgatory” (1996). 

Patrick starred next to Michael Caine in the NBC adventure of Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” in 1997, and then shared the screen with Ben Kingsley, as Rodya Raskolnikov in the television revision of Dostoyevskys’s “Crime and Punishment” (NBC, 1998). In 2000, Dempsey took the role of detective in the Wes Craven terror sequel, “Scream 3.”

Dempsey astounded viewers by playing a gay sportscaster and romantic interest to Eric McCormack’s  "Will" on a four episode run of the popular "gay themed" television series “Will & Grace” (NBC, 1998-2006). Viewers of both sexes couldn't help but see that Dempsey was budding into a fine actor - regardless of this one gay role. Next, he gave an impressive performance as Sela Ward’s insane brother, Aaron on the award winning ABC show, “Once and Again” (1999-2002), a part that won Dempsey an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. 

Patrick's career was starting to shot to he stars, and he continued to shine with has added sex appeal as Reese Witherspoon’s romantic love interest in the movie comedy, “Sweet Home Alabama” (2002). In a less gaudy role, he took the part as Washington Post cartoonist Ben Weissman next to Hilary Swank and Anjelica Houston in the HBO television drama “Iron Jawed Angels” in 2004.

Patrick Dempsey then got the breakthrough role he was looking for in 2005.  Dempsey took the role of Dr. Derek Shepherd on the replacement smash hit “Grey’s Anatomy” (ABC, 2005- ). 

Dempsey and his remarkable talent swiftly found himself back in the limelight, and back in the hearts of admiring young female fans. Portraying Ellen Pompeo’s tormented love interest, Dempsey’s role was dubbed “McDreamy” on the show, and with good reason. Dempsey’s heartwarming appeal and gripping performance on “Grey’s” earned him Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series.

The good hype the series enjoyed the first full season came to a stop in October of 2006 when Dempsey and co-star Isaiah Washington got into an on-set brawl. Media reports said that Washington had lunged out at Dempsey, allegedly by way of choking McDreamy, and had thrown out a anti gay insult in the direction of their costar T.R. Knight (Dr. George O’Malley). As the story goes, Dempsey had vocally came to Knight’s defense for being late, which upset Washington and it went downhill from that point.

Washington later apologized, and issued a proclamation taking accountability for his actions, more for attacking the male lead in the show, than for Knight to come clean about his homosexuality and gay lifestyle once news of the fight reached the media. In any event, Dempsey emerged looking like the hero, since he was the one who had come to his gay friends defense.

Once all the drama died down, Dempsey was able to transform his unbelievable reputation on television back to the big screen, reuniting with “Angels” co-star Hilary Swank in the dramatic film, “Freedom Writers” (2007) about a young teacher (Swank) who inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school. Also that year, Patrick appeared in the animated family comedy "Enchanted" (2007) working with Susan Sarandon, about the classic Disney fairytale that collides with modern-day New York City in a story about a fairytale princess who is sent to our world by an evil queen. Next the actor was cast in the romantic comedy "Made Of Honor" (2008) about  guy in love with an engaged woman who tries to win her over after she asks him to be her maid of honor.