patrick dempsey is the SEXIEST man alive

He's a devoted husband and family man with a love for speed and adventure. No wonder we've been swooning over the dreamy actor for more than 20 years

- JULIE JORDAN

Laugh. Deflect. So goes Patrick Dempsey’s game plan when you make him ponder being deemed “sexy.” You’d think he’d be used to it by now. After all, it’s been almost two decades since he sauntered onto the small screen as neurosurgeon Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy (even longer since his breakthrough role as an endearing outcast in 1987’s Can’t Buy Me Love). His heartthrob status created such a fan frenzy that he graced the pages of this very issue countless times over the years. And now that he’s finally won the title? “I’m glad it’s happening at this point in my life,” says the Maine native, 57. “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.” Closest to his heart is the Dempsey Center, which he founded in honor of his late mom to support cancer patients. Other passions include being a family man to wife Jillian, 57, a makeup artist and founder of her own beauty line, and their kids Talula, 21, and 16-year-old twins Sullivan and Darby, as well as honing his penchant for race-car driving. In December he’s showing off those skills in the Michael Mann- directed biopic Ferrari (which received a waiver from SAG-AFTRA), playing Italian driver Piero Taruffi. It also taught him a different kind of lesson in risk-taking. “I’d been following the movie for years, so I called Michael and said, ‘I want to discuss being a part of this,’” Dempsey recalls. “That taught me if you really want something, you have to do it yourself.”