Patrick Dempsey currently stars on the hit ABC series "Grey's Anatomy." His portrayal of Dr. Derek Shepherd has earned him a 2007 Screen Actors Guild Award and the 2007 People's Choice Award. In addition he was nominated for the 2007 and 2006 Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series -- Drama, and received a 2006 Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series.
Dempsey's movie career is keeping him just as busy. He is currently filming the romantic comedy "Made of Honor" in London and Scotland. This fall he can be seen in Disney's "Enchanted," opposite Amy Adams. He was last seen in the critically acclaimed "Freedom Writers," alongside Hilary Swank.
Dempsey became well known as the unlikely heartthrob of such classic '80s nostalgia films as "Can't Buy Me Love" and "Loverboy." Other films include "Sweet Home Alabama," "Scream 3," "With Honors," "Outbreak," "Hugo Pool," "The Treat," "The Palace Thief," "Heaven Help Us," "Happy Together," "Some Girls," "Coupe De Ville," "Run," "Mobsters" and 'In the Mood."
On television Dempsey nabbed an Emmy nomination in 2001 for his portrayal of Aaron Brooks, Sela Ward's psychologically unbalanced brother, in the critically acclaimed "Once and Again." In 2003 he made a memorable guest appearance on NBC's hit "Will & Grace" as Will's love interest, and in 2004 he co-starred in HBO's highly-acclaimed "Iron Jawed Angels," opposite Hilary Swank and Anjelica Huston.
Additionally, Dempsey starred in the NBC movie based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment," opposite Ben Kingsley; appeared in the television miniseries "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," with Michael Caine; co-starred with Oliver Reed in the biblical epic, "Jeremiah," and could also be seen in "JFK: Reckless Youth," "A Season in Purgatory," "Blood Knot," "The Right to Remain Silent," "Shallow Grave" and "Blonde."
Dempsey was born and raised in Lewiston, Maine. He first appeared on stage as David in the San Francisco production of "Torch Song Trilogy." Other early stage work included "On Golden Pond" for the Maine Acting Company, the international touring production of "Brighton Beach Memoirs," directed by Gene Saks, and "The Subject Was Roses" at the Roundabout Theatre in New York. He recently took the stage in The Pasadena Playhouse run of "The Importance of Being Earnest" as Algernon Moncrieff.
