Dean McDermott (born November 16, 1966) is a Canadian actor best known as a reality television personality with his former wife, actress Tori Spelling, and as the host of the cooking competition Chopped Canada. He played the role of Constable Renfield Turnbull on the TV series Due South.

Early life

McDermott was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to David and Doreen McDermott. He has three sisters, Dale, Dawn, and Dana. He graduated from North Albion Collegiate Institute in Toronto's Rexdale neighbourhood.

Career

McDermott has performed in films Open Range, Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy and Against the Ropes. McDermott has appeared in several TV movies including Always and Forever, Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe and A Christmas Visitor. McDermott has had a variety of guest and recurring roles on television series, such as Earth: Final Conflict, Tracker, 1-800-Missing, NCIS and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. 2016 saw McDermott take on a starring role, portraying Iain Vaughn on Slasher.

Culinary arts

McDermott is a professionally trained chef. In 2013, he became a member of "Team Guy" on the second season of Food Network's Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off and was the winner, and in January 2014, McDermott began hosting Chopped Canada on Food Network Canada. McDermott hosted Chopped Canada for two seasons, announcing in March 2015 that he would leave the show. McDermott released a cookbook The Gourmet Dad, in which he wanted to make intimidating plates more attractive to kids.

Personal life

McDermott's first wife is actress Mary Jo Eustace. They have one child, son Jack Montgomery (born October 10, 1998). In July 2005, McDermott began filming the Lifetime TV movie Mind Over Murder in Ottawa, during which he met actress Tori Spelling, who was then married to writer-actor Charlie Shanian. Spelling and McDermott began an affair the night they met. Upon his subsequent divorce from Eustace, McDermott was granted joint custody of their son Jack, opting not to move forward with the adoption of a baby girl, Lola Eustace (born July 7, 2004), whom he and Eustace were in the process of adopting prior to their separation. However, according to recent Instagram posts, McDermott refers to Lola as his “step daughter” and Lola refers to McDermott as her “dad”. McDermott married Tori Spelling on May 7, 2006, in Fiji. Spelling and McDermott renewed their vows on May 8, 2010, in Beverly Hills. Spelling and McDermott have five children: three sons, Liam Aaron (born March 13, 2007), Finn Davey (born August 30, 2012) and Beau Dean (born March 2, 2017) and two daughters, Stella Doreen (born June 9, 2008) and Hattie Margaret (born October 10, 2011). On July 1, 2010, McDermott was involved in a dirt bike accident, his second motorcycle accident of the year. He was hospitalized in Los Angeles with a punctured and collapsed lung, and doctors said they expected him to make a full recovery. McDermott was released from the hospital on July 6, 2010. McDermott became an American citizen at a ceremony in Los Angeles on August 21, 2010. In December 2013, after welcoming their second son, Us Weekly broke the news that McDermott was unfaithful to Spelling. The couple worked through the aftermath of the affair on a Lifetime series titled True Tori. On January 23, 2014, a month after the news broke, McDermott's publicist announced McDermott had entered rehab for "some health and personal issues." While McDermott and Spelling's marriage was back on track, the couple once again made headlines in 2016 for owing $39,000 to American Express in unpaid credit card bills. McDermott's mother-in-law Candy, who was also on good terms with her daughter, told TMZ at the time that she was helping out the family financially. In June 2023, McDermott announced that he and Spelling decided to separate after 18 years together in a now-deleted Instagram post. On March 29, 2024, Spelling officially filed for divorce from McDermott, citing irreconcilable differences and asking for sole physical and joint legal custody of their five children with visitation rights for McDermott.

Filmography

Movies

Television