He nabbed an Emmy nomination in 2001 for his portrayal of Aaron Brooks, Sela Ward's psychologically unbalanced brother in the critically acclaimed television series, Once and Again. On Will and Grace he portrayed Matthew, a sportscaster and love interest of Will's. He also starred opposite Ben Kingsley in a TV movie based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel, Crime and Punishment.
Other TV movies and miniseries include JFK: Reckless Youth, A Season in Purgatory, Blood Knot, The Right to Remain Silent, Shallow Grave, Blonde, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, with Michael Caine, and the biblical epic Jeremiah, with Oliver Reed.
On the big screen Dempsey starred opposite Reese Witherspoon in Disney's romantic comedy, Sweet Home Alabama, and with Kevin Kline in the Universal drama, The Emperor's Club. Other feature film credits include Wes Craven's Scream 3, with Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Parker Posey; Can't Buy Me Love, With Honors, Outbreak, Hugo Pool, Loverboy, Heaven Help Us, Mobsters and In the Mood.
He first appeared onstage as David in the San Francisco production of Torch Song Trilogy. Other early stage work includes On Golden Pond for the Maine Acting Company, the international touring production of Brighton Beach Memoirs, directed by Gene Saks, and The Subject Was Roses at the Roundabout Theatre in New York. He recently took the stage as Algernon Moncrieff in the Pasadena Playhouse run of The Importance of Being Earnest.
Dempsey was born and raised in Lewiston, Maine.
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