Take the BuddyTV Personality Quiz: Which Grey's Anatomy Character Are You? Actor Patrick Galen Dempsey was born on January 13, 1966 in Lewiston, Maine. He spent his formative years in Turner, Maine with his two older siblings. His father William was an insurance agent while his mother Amanda, was a secretary at St. Dominic Regional High School, where Patrick pursued his secondary education.
However, Dempsey abandoned his studies and consequently did not obtain his diploma. As a young man, he excelled greatly in juggling, even placing second in the National Juggling Competition.
Dempsey's first audition was made possible by a talent scout. It was for a touring production of Torch Song Trilogy. He starred in the play for four months, traveling around San Francisco in the process. Shortly thereafter, he joined the cast of another touring company, this time for the Gene Saks-directed play, Brighton Beach Memoirs. He also performed on Maine Acting Company's production of On Golden Pond. He also got the opportunity to act at the Roundabout Theater in New York when he appeared in the play, The Subject was Roses. When he was 21, his popularity grew with his work on the film Can't Buy Me Love, and two years later, impressed the audience with his performance on the film, Loverboy.
But Dempsey has come along way from appearing in nostalgia films to acquiring an Emmy nomination in his portrayal of Aaron Brooks in the drama series Once & Again.
Aside from that, he has starred in countless movies like Iron Jawed Angels, Sweet Home Alabama, Scream 3, With Honors, Happy Together, Some Girls, In the Mood, Outbreak and Hugo Pool.
His other television credits include a recurring role in Will & Grace. In 2007, Dempsey was heard in the Disney Animated Film, Enchanted, and starred in the critically-acclaimed drama Freedom Writers, opposite Academy Award Winner Hillary Swank. Before Dempsey became a major cast member of the drama series Grey's Anatomy, the actor tried out for another medical television drama House MD.
Dempsey's stellar portrayal of Dr. Derek Shepherd on Grey's Anatomy earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series-Drama in 2007. His success on Grey’s Anatomy led him to become a spokesman for Mazda and he also became the new Versace model. Also, he started the Patrick Dempsey Center in his hometown, due to his mother’s bouts of cancer.