Patrick Dempsey
Patrick Galen Dempsey is an American actor and racing driver, best known for his role as neurosurgeonDerek “McDreamy” Shepherd in Grey’s Anatomy, starring with Ellen Pompeo (Dr. Meredith Grey). He saw early success as an actor, starring in a number of films in the 1980s, including Can’t Buy Me Love (1987) and Loverboy (1989).
Born on January 13, 1966 in Lewiston, Maine, the youngest of three children, Dempsey dropped out of high school to tour as a juggler and magician. He eventually segued into theater, performing in several plays including the lead role in Brighton Beach Memoirs in San Francisco and The Subject was Roses in New York City. He did his first film at the age of 21 in ‘The Mood’.
I first heard about Patrick Dempsey when a friend of mine mentioned that he had come second place at the 24 hours le mans race. I later watched the rerun and then came across his various other works which kinda interested me.
He is quite inspirational. He is a perfect example of a person who is passionate and does what he loves. Dempsey has had dyslexia since the age of 12. He often thought that he was stupid and found it really hard to memorise his dialogues. Despite his dyslexic condition, he still is an actor which is something I really really admire about him.
Another thing I admire about ‘The Great Patrick Dempsey’ is that he is a cancer philanthropist. Patrick has his own cancer center to support cancer patients. ‘The Dempsey Center’ was founded by him in the year 2008 with the intention of giving back to the community where he grew up, and where his mother first received cancer treatment in 1997.
Dempsey does a lot of charitable work. He supports a number of foundations such as American Foundation for Aids Research, American Heart Association, American Stroke Association, Avon Foundation, and The Tony Hawk Foundation.
However, the thing I admire the most about Patrick Dempsey is his work in the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. I think he has really played the role of Derek Shepherd (Mcdreamy) in the best way possible and I personally feel no other actor would’ve been able to play the role better than him. In addition to his work on Grey’s Anatomy, Dempsey has taken on a few film roles. He plays Tripp Kenedy, a man caught in the middle of two simultaneous robberies at the same bank who desperately tries to protect the teller with whom he’s secretly in love with in the movie ‘Flypaper’. He acts really well in that movie and aces the character he plays.
He then later reunited with former co-star Hilary Swank for Freedom Writers (2007). In this drama, Swank played a teacher trying to improve the lives of her at-risk youths and Dempsey appeared as her husband. In his next film project, he has taken on lighter fare — a romantic comedy with a fantastical twist.
I also think he acted really well in the 2007 movie ‘Enchanted’ as Robert Philip, a lawyer who falls for a princess from long ago who has been sent to modern times by an evil queen. He has really killed it in this movie and acted so well, that it makes this movie a part of my top 5 movies of all time.
Racing — In 2014, Dempsey told Reuters in the Hockenheimring support paddock at the German Grand Prix that motor racing was not just a hobby, and had become as much a part of who he is as acting. He said, “It’s all-consuming in many ways. I couldn’t imagine not racing right now. It really keeps me motivated. It’s all I think about on a daily basis.”
Dempsey, who maintains an extensive sports and vintage car collection, has enjoyed auto racing during his spare time for several years. Before the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2013, he said 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 Porsche 911 GT America’s in the Tudor United Sports Car Series. 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.
After debuting at the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, Dempsey returned to France four years later and competed in a Porsche 997 GT3 RSR at the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. Dempsey and his co-drivers finished 29th overall and fourth in-class.
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, Dempsey left the group, in effect officially leaving his managerial positions with Tully’s.
Dempsey was married to actress and manager Rocky parker from 1987 to 1994. He later married makeup artist Jillian Fink in 1999. The couple had a daughter, Talula Fyfe, and twin boys, Darby Galen and Sullivan Patrick.
In January 2015, after nearly 15 years together, Fink filed for divorce.
In my personal opinion, I think that Patrick Dempsey is a very determined and skilled at his job and really cares about others. He is a type of person who wants to do good for the world. We can see this by the number of foundations that he supports for cancer, aids etc.
Being a big fan of Greys Anatomy, us, grey fans were really upset when they killed his character on the show. He had left the show for personal reasons which put him under a lot of scrutiny and hate for apparently ‘screwing up the show’. He later came back in the show with a bang which surprised all the viewers of the show. Patrick Dempsey is really someone I look up to.
Hope you learnt something new about Patrick Dempsey and his life.
Until next time
Adiós!
