Patrick Dempsey is featured in the February issue of Spanish magazine ICON El País.
When he was in Barcelona in November 2024, Patrick Dempsey took the time to pose for a photoshoot and sit for an interview for ICON, a magazine that comes with the newspaper El País.
In the interview, he talks about his work with TAG Heuer, his experience of Hollywood and dyslexia.
About dyslexia he says:
“It taught me not to give up. In fact, I attribute some of my best qualities to it, such as ambition and mental strength. At some point in my life, I decided that I was not going to let adversity diminish me, and I think that is where my perseverance and competitive nature come from. […] Dyslexia has made me take life as a continuous learning process. And it was also a permanent cure of humility that has saved me from the temptation of thinking that I am better than anyone else.”
About his career:
“In fact, I now think that my best role is yet to come. If I ever lost my professional ambition, I have now regained it. […] [about acting] Let’s say that I wasn’t as excited about it as I was about competitive sport. But being part of a company of professional actors that was going on tour in the United States at the age of just 17 was an extraordinary experience. And what came next, in those four or five years in which I made rapid progress and became known, was even better. It exceeded my expectations. Remember that I was a very poor student, with serious learning problems caused by the acute dyslexia that I was diagnosed with at the age of 12. I grew up without great ambitions, and I even thought that I was condemned to lead a mediocre life, because most of my classmates were progressing faster than me. […] [The actor says that he has always felt more comfortable] on the track and behind the wheel than on the set of a film.”
About juggling and his idols when he was young:
“I came in second in an international competition whose champion was Anthony Gatto, one of the best jugglers in history, […] [his heroes were not actors] but skiers like the Mahre brothers and the real hero of my childhood, the Swede Ingemar Stenmark, always focused, always ambitious. His 86 victories in 15 years still seem to me one of the most amazing sporting feats I have ever witnessed.”
About his relationship with TAG Heuer:
“They came to me with a generous offer of sponsorship for my professional team, at a time when racing had become my main priority and I was looking for strategic alliances to make my dream of competing at the highest level come true. Since then, we have maintained a very intense relationship, based on a common love of motor sports.”
He describes Hollywood as an artificial environment with a certain toxicity but “capable of concentrating a lot of talent and producing at least a handful of great films.” When it comes to his fellow actors, he respects those who have kept “their sanity and humility” and he mentions Keanu Reeves and ben Kingsley as examples:
“Keanu Reeves seems to me to be a great example. As well as being one of the best actors of my generation, he is one of the most approachable, sensible and empathetic people I have ever met in the business. I like how he has managed his career and how he behaves with everyone. With him it is not a question of image, but of coherence with his values, something deep and genuine. The same could be said of Ben Kingsley. I was lucky enough to work alongside Ben on a television movie, Crime and Punishment, and it gave me one of the most intense life and professional learning experiences of my career.”
He goes on explaining that that kind of human quality “is much more common in sports stars than in Hollywood actors.” taking Leo Messi and Lewis Hamilton as examples he adds:
“I was lucky enough to meet him a few years ago in Barcelona and I will never forget the kindness and affection with which he treated my children. I could say something similar about Fernando Alonso. We met at Le Mans and I loved the naturalness and joy he conveys. He seemed to me to be a man who loves his profession and feels lucky to practice it, but who does not behave as if being an exceptional driver puts him above other human beings. Lewis Hamilton is another champion with impeccable behavior and who always tries to set a good example. Not long ago I met his father and I realized immediately that he shares Lewis’s simplicity and good manners.”
About meeting people you admire:
“Once, when I was still a young debut actor whom nobody knew, I ran into Gene Wilder and had the audacity to introduce myself, ask for his autograph and tell him how much I had enjoyed his role as Willy Wonka in A World of Fantasy. He gave me his full attention and was so kind that I felt very lucky. However, shortly afterward I approached another Hollywood star, whose name I will not mention, and he treated me with such arrogance, such contempt, that I promised myself that I would never act that way.”
About being named Sexiest Man Alive in 2023:
“My children are still laughing. Even my wife couldn’t suppress a sarcastic comment. I don’t think anyone in their right mind really thinks that the most attractive man in the world is a Hollywood actor. These lists, as funny as they are, don’t make the slightest sense. But it was a great opportunity, because I appeared on the cover of People and they did a long interview focusing on my philanthropic activities. In particular, on my foundation to fight cancer, the disease that took my mother, the most important person in my life. If fame has one positive thing, it is that it gives you a formidable speaker that you can use however you prefer.”
All photos and videos of the photoshoot are available in the gallery.
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