Patrick Dempsey Named People's Sexiest Man Alive 2023

McDreamy is finally People's Sexiest Man Alive.

Patrick Dempsey was revealed as 2023 winner during the Nov. 7 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where the Grey's Anatomy star made an appearance during the late-night show via Proto hologram.

"I'm glad it's happening at this point in my life," the 57-year-old told People in the cover story. "It's nice to have the recognition, and certainly my ego takes a little bump, but it gives me the platform to use it for something positive."

Patrick joked that he was "shocked" to officially land the honor—which comes 20 years after he captured hearts on the ABC medical drama.

"I started laughing, like, this is a joke, right? I've always been the bridesmaid!" the Enchanted star said. "I'd completely forgotten about it and never even contemplated being in this position. So my ego is good."

Patrick noted that his kids—Talula, 21, and Darby and Sullivan, 16, who he shares with wife Jillian Fink—are going to keep him humble, saying they're "just going to make fun of me and pick on me and figure out every reason why I shouldn't be." He added, "Which is good, they keep me young."

 

The actor dethroned the 2022 winner, Avengers star Chris Evans, who upon receiving the marvelous title, thought of one person immediately.

"My mom will be so happy," Chris told the outlet in November 2022. "She's proud of everything I do but this is something she can really brag about."

As for his personal bragging rights?

"It feels like a weird form of humble bragging," he shared, predicting rightfully that "this will just be a point of bullying," and he'll be "ripe for harassment" from his fellow costars.

Sure enough, Chris Hemsworth (who was bestowed with the honor in 2014) revealed that he and his fellow MCU actors including Robert Downey Jr. and Jeremy Renner assembled to troll the Captain America star in their group chat, especially when it came to his cover photo.

"We have an Avengers text chain and it very quickly was like what are you doing with your hands back there," the Thor actor said during a 2022 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. "Downey said he's being arrested, I said beautiful mug shot and Jeremy Renner said a series of things, which I won't repeat."

Last year, the Gray Man actor became the latest Marvel star that had the title as their endgame, with fellow Avenger Paul Rudd nabbing the honor in 2021 and Black Panther star Michael B. Jordan earning the accolade in 2020.

As for Patrick, read on to look back on his best movie roles that earned him this spot in our hearts:

In his breakout performance, future Grey's Anatomy heartthrob Patrick Dempsey played a high school geek—hello, McNerdy!—who pays a popular girl $1,000 a month to pretend to be his girlfriend. Alas, they somehow end up riding off into the sunset on a lawnmower and his performance was so earnestly charming that it earned him Best Actor in a Motion Picture—Comedy at the 1987 Young Artist Awards.

In Dempsey's follow-up to Can't Buy Me Love, he starred as a pizza delivery boy who becomes a paid escort for his middle-aged clients, played by Kirstie Alley and the late Carrie Fisher. Audiences failed to fall in love with the 1989 comedy, which made just $3 million at the box office.

Apologies to Skeet Ulrich and condolences to Jerry O'Connell, but Dempsey's homicide detective Mark Kinkaid was, and is, our favorite love interest for Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell). While some fans might've been convinced he was shady, 2022's Scream revealed Sydney married Mark and they have twins, so he really did land the final girl in the end. 

Honestly, we still think Dempsey deserved a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the Oscars for his simple-yet-effective line reading of the iconic name "Melanie Smooter." While his character, Andrew Hennings (a.k.a. the son of New York City's mayor) was a total babe in this 2002 Reese Witherspoon-led rom-com, he proved to be no match for Josh Lucas' southern sweetheart.

Who needs a Disney prince when you have Dempsey? That was basically the moral of the story in this beloved 2007 rom-com, which starred Amy Adams as a fairy tale princess who travels to the real world and falls for a single father. And their happily ever after is set to continue when the sequel, Disenchanted, premieres this Thanksgiving on Disney+.

C'mon, like you would actually be able to marry someone else if Mc-Frickin-Dreamy was telling you he was in love with you?! While we love the gender-flipped take on My Best Friend's Wedding, our favorite thing about this 2008 flick is that Kevin McKidd, a.k.a. Dr. Owen Hunt on Grey's, plays the dumped groom. Awkward!

In the third Transformers movie—which grossed $1.1 billion worldwide, NBD!—Dempsey played Dylan Gould, a car collector who was secretly working with the Decepticons. Sure, it's not the franchise's best outing, but it was a blast watching one of TV's most beloved actors break bad and have so much fun doing it.  

Going up against rom-com heavyweights like Hugh Grant and Colin Firth is no easy feat. But Dempsey proved to be more than up for the challenge in the 2016 rom-com in which he played charming mathematician Jack Qwant.  

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