<Tr> <Th> Children </Th> <Td> Zola Grey Shepherd (daughter with Meredith) Derek Bailey Shepherd (son via Meredith) Ellis Shepherd (daughter via Meredith) </Td> </Tr> <P> Derek Christopher Shepherd, M.D., also referred to as "McDreamy", is a fictional surgeon from the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy, portrayed by actor Patrick Dempsey . He made his first appearance in the pilot episode, "A Hard Day's Night", which was broadcast on March 27, 2005 . Derek was married to Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) for 12 years, before their divorce in 2006 . Before his death in 2015, Derek was happily married to his longtime girlfriend and wife Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo). The couple have three children together . Shepherd was formerly the Chief of Surgery at Seattle Grace Mercy West (now known as Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital), but abruptly resigned as chief in season 7 following the shooting . For his portrayal of Shepherd, Dempsey was nominated in 2006 and 2007 Golden Globe for the Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series Drama for the role, and the 2006 SAG Award for the Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Drama Series . </P> <P> Derek arrives at Seattle Grace Hospital as the new Head of Neurosurgery from New York City . He is a Bowdoin College graduate and attended Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons alongside his childhood best friend Mark Sloan and ex-wife Addison Montgomery and Private Practice characters Naomi Bennett and Sam Bennett . Derek was a student of Dr. Richard Webber and was enticed to come with an "offer he couldn't refuse"--the position of Chief of Surgery, which he eventually turned down . He specializes in highly complex tumors and conditions of the brain and spine and came to Seattle Grace with a reputation for taking on "lost causes" and "impossible" cases that most of his peers would turn down . As an attending he is both well - liked and feared--well - liked by patients and his scrub nurses for his compassion and gentlemanly bedside manner and feared by interns and residents who are intimidated by his reputation and high standards . He is passionate about his job and has been known to expel staff or remove interns and residents (or at least threaten them) from his service for being disrespectful about patients or if he deems their attitude to be detrimental to his patient's well - being . </P> <P> Derek first meets Meredith Grey at a bar, and soon finds out that she is an intern at Seattle Grace . They begin to have feelings for one another and it causes some awkwardness at work, particularly after her supervising resident Dr. Miranda Bailey discovers their relationship . Meredith's housemates and fellow interns George O'Malley and Izzie Stevens both antagonized her for some time as they felt she was using her relationship with Derek to further her career . He generally tolerated them despite his dislike of sharing his living space with the interns who worked under him . While most of his family members accepted Meredith, his sister, Nancy, particularly disliked her and repeatedly called her "the slutty intern"; as of season nine she still refuses to speak to Meredith or acknowledge her as her sister - in - law . His mother Carolyn approved as she felt Meredith's gray perspective of life complemented Derek's tendency to see everything in black and white . </P>

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