Patrick Dempsey

The juggler who didn't want to be a heartthrob

Patrick Dempsey was a juggler before he was an actor. He won national competitions in Maine, and that physical coordination helped him move around Hollywood sets with an odd ease. In 1987 he starred in Can't Buy Me Love, and the success was so sudden that it almost swallowed him whole. He played teenagers dealing with hormonal problems for a couple of seasons, but the industry grew tired of his good-boy looks before he turned twenty-five.

The obscurity lasted nearly a decade.

Throughout the nineties he took one supporting role after another in movies nobody remembers and TV pilots that never aired. But Dempsey never stopped working. He took part in Scream 3 in 2000, and that project brought him some visibility again in the offices of Los Angeles. It was a time of pure perseverance, when the actor learned that fame is a material that rusts quickly if you don't take care of it.

The office of 243 episodes

In 2005 his life changed with a casting call for a medical drama on the ABC network. He joined the cast of Grey's Anatomy to play surgeon Derek Shepherd, and the impact was massive from the very first episode. The audience became obsessed with his on-screen chemistry with Ellen Pompeo. And although his salary rose each season, the atmosphere on set became suffocating over the years.

Dempsey put up with the show for eleven seasons.

His exit in 2015 was far from friendly. Rumors of friction with creator Shonda Rhimes filled the gossip magazines for months. But the actor already had his mind elsewhere. He needed air and, above all, he needed speed. His TV contract barred him from risky activities, and that included his true passion away from the spotlight.

Racing circuits and a return to the track

Speed was his real office.

Dempsey isn't the typical actor who buys expensive cars to show off in a Malibu garage. He actually races. In 2015 he made the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing second in his class in a Porsche 911. That trophy means far more to him than any Golden Globe nomination he has received in his career.

In 2023 he shot Ferrari under the direction of Michael Mann. He played Italian driver Piero Taruffi, and for that role he didn't need stunt doubles for the most technical driving scenes. The production made use of his real behind-the-wheel experience to cut costs on digital effects. It was a grueling shoot in Italy, where the actor felt more at home in the cockpit of a race car than on a red carpet.

In 2024 his casting for the series Dexter: Original Sin was confirmed, where he plays Captain Aaron Spencer. Production of this prequel was set in Miami during the summer to take advantage of Florida's natural light. The estimated budget of the series exceeds 5 million dollars per episode.

In 2023, the movie Ferrari grossed less than 40 million dollars at box offices around the world.