Donovan Patton Biography

Donovan Patton (born March 1, 1978 at Agana Naval Air Station in Guam) is an American host, actor, voice actor, and singer. Patton graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy and acted in Shakespeare plays such as Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet before he replaced Steve Burns as Joe, the new host of Nickelodeon's children's television program Blue's Clues in 2002. On Patton's acting, series co-creator Angela Santomero stated that Patton brought Joe, his character, closer to the preschool viewer, as Joe was more willing to "jump into a problem rather than figure it out first like Steve". After Blue's Clues ended Patton voiced Bot on Nickelodeon's Team Umizoomi; for his work on children's television, Patton has been described as a "household name" and an "unqualified star to the 5-and-under set and their parents".

Although most of his career has been in children's television, Patton has also appeared in independent films, such as Awake and Lies I Told My Little Sister, and in television shows.

He also appeared in video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V, Lego Jurassic World, Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire and Halo 5: Guardians.

Early career

Donovan Patton graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in northwest Michigan. His first acting roles were in Shakespeare plays such as Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet.

Blue's Clues

Patton's "big break" came in 2002, when he was cast to replace Steve Burns as Joe, the second host of the Nickelodeon children's television program Blue's Clues. He was up for a part in Blair Witch Project 2 at the time, but considered the role as Joe "a happy accident". Patton became a "household name" and has been called "an unqualified star to the 5-and-under set and their parents". He was subjected to "the same kind of scrutiny" as Burns, who was involved in Patton's selection and helped train him, to earn the role. Patton was selected out of 1,500 auditions. He had never seen the show before his audition, but like Burns was the favorite with preschool test audiences. He said, "I am convinced that I got that part because of a Christopher Walken impression I sometimes do. There's a tape out there, somewhere, with both Steve Burns and myself doing a Blue's Clues scene both as Christopher Walken, which we did at the screen test. I haven't seen the tape, but I know somewhere it still exists". Beginning in September 2000, Burns trained Patton to take over the host spot and advised him not to "think of [the show] as children's TV", but rather as "acting and telling the truth".

According to Traci Paige Johnson, one of the producers and creators of Blue's Clues, Patton's character was more like a preschooler and more innocent than Steve. Angela Santomero, another producer and creator, stated that Patton's characterization as Joe brought him closer to the preschool viewer as Joe was more willing to "jump into a problem rather than figure it out first like Steve". Patton liked working on Blue's Clues because, as he stated, "I got to go be a kid for twelve hours a day". He called the show's crew "a real fun little family" and a "well-oiled machine" by the time he joined the show. Patton remained on the show for 50 episodes, until it ended its run in 2006, and also appeared in its spin-off, Blue's Room, which premiered in 2004. Several years later, Patton said he had not yet grasped the enormity of replacing Burns, even after he became a parent and witnessed the show's effect on his own children. He admitted that he preferred when his two-year-old daughter watched the Steve episodes.

Later roles

He made his very first role as a Waiter in the 1996 mystery & suspense film Dr. Ice, directed by James A. Brooks.

In 2012, he also appeared in the short films Awake and Pharmboy, the latter of which was directed by his longtime friend Lawrence Feeney. Mark Finguerra, the director of Awake, was able to look past the potential typecasting of Patton's role in Blue's Clues to cast him in a darker role. Patton had impressed him in an audition for an earlier feature film. Finguerra called Patton a "complete professional [and a] tremendous actor", and enjoyable on set. He appeared in the soap opera One Life to Live, in which he played, in a departure of his previous roles, "a very angry man". In 2014, he appeared in a small movie shot mostly in New Jersey, entitled Lies I Told My Little Sister, directed by William Stribling and starring Lucy Walters.

Patton called his career, with its mixture of children's television and darker roles in independent films, "an odd experience" and told a reporter that he had spent half his life at Nickelodeon. In 2009, he was cast as Bot, the robot superhero, on the children's show Team Umizoomi through the relationships he had made at Nickelodeon on Blue's Clues. He found working on Team Umizoomi "comforting" because many of the same crew, producers, and creators had also worked on Blue's Clues. It was the first time he had worked as a voice-over artist, unlike on Blue's Clues, when he was able to be more physical acting in front of a blue screen. He said, about Team Umizoomi, "the work the animators have done on it has been superlative". He stated that he enjoyed working on Team Umizoomi because it gave him the opportunity to participate in a show from its inception, which he had missed with Blue's Clues. Patton said his voice performance of Bot, which he modeled on Brent Spiner's performance as the android Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation and was influenced by Mel Blanc's work in the classic Warner Bros. cartoons, "ended up sounding more like my natural voice, with a teeny bit of superhero in there". Despite both roles in Blue's Clues and Team Umizoomi requiring him to sing, he did not consider himself a natural singer and felt that he had to work hard at it. He said, about being cast as Bot, "I get to be a superhero. Who doesn't want to be a superhero"?.

He also provided additional voices for Monsters University, Lego Jurassic World, Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire, Clarence and Halo 5: Guardians.

He has an uncredited voice role as an Actor in the 2013 open world action-adventure video game Grand Theft Auto V.

He also has an uncredited role as Joe in the 2009 American comedy film Imagine That.

He also voiced Mr. Reese in the 2014 American animated television series Clarence.

He also played Shaina's Dad in the 2012 short film Beyond Belief.

He played Todd in the 2005 thriller film Black Wine, directed by Ryan Rossell.

He played the role of Bellhop in the 2010 American police procedural drama series Blue Bloods.

He also played a Dry Cleaning Boy at Hewes & Associates in the 2007 legal thriller television series Damages.

He is also set as he plays the role of Tim Kelly in The Broken Ones, directed by Elyse Niblett.

Patton is married and has two children. He is active in several charities in the New York City area, including Literacy Inc., the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, a large children's hospital.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Black Wine	Todd
2009	Imagine That	Joe	Uncredited
2012	Pharmboy	Mr. Morris
2013	Monsters University	Additional voices
2014	Lies I Told My Little Sister	Josh Davidson
2017	The Broken Ones	Tim Kelly

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002-2006	Blue's Clues	Joe	50 episodes
2004-2007	Blue's Room	Joe	13 episodes
2010-2015	Team Umizoomi	Bot (voice)	76 episodes
2011	Blue Bloods	Bellhop	1 episode
2011	Nurse Jackie	Husband	1 episode
2012	Damages	Dry Cleaning Boy at Hewes & Associates	1 episode
2015-present	Clarence	Jim Reese, additional voices	18 episodes
2016-2017	Creative Galaxy	Chef Zesty	5 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Grand Theft Auto V	Actor	Uncredited
2015	Lego Jurassic World	Additional voices
2015	Lego Dimensions	Additional Voices
2015	Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire	Additional voices
2015	Halo 5: Guardians	Additional voices
2017	Horizon Zero Dawn	Gildun
2017	Minecraft: Story Mode - Season 2	Warden
2017	Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds	Gildun

Shorts

Year	Title	Role
2012	Beyond Belief	Shaina's Dad
2013	Awake	Eddie
2015	Clarence Shorts: Big Boy	Mr. Reese (voice)

Videos

Year	Title	Role
1996	Dr. Ice	Waiter
2002	Blue's Clues: It's Joe Time	Joe
2002	Blue's Clues: Meet Joe!	Joe
2003	Blue's Clues: 100th Episode Celebration	Joe
2003	Blue's Clues: Blue's Big Band	Joe
2003	Blue's Clues: Get to Know Joe	Joe
2003	Blue's Clues: Shapes and Colors	Joe
2003	Blue's Clues: Blue Takes You to School	Joe
2003	Blue's Clues: Blue's First Holiday	Joe
2004	Blue's Clues: Blue Talks	Joe
2004	Blue's Room: Snacktime Playdate	Joe (Blue's Wishes)
2004	Blue's Clues: Bluestock	Joe
2005	Blue's Room: It's Hug Day	Joe (Joe's Clues)
2005	Blue's Room: Beyond Your Wildest Dreams	Joe (Playdates)
2005	Blue's Room: Alphabet Power	Joe (The Alphabet Train)
2005	Blue's Room: Holiday Wishes	Joe
2006	Blue's Room: Fred's Birthday	Joe (The Fairy Tale Ball)
2006	Blue's Clues: Blue's Jobs	Joe (2 episodes)
2006	Blue's Clues: Blue's Biggest Stories	Joe (3 episodes)
2006	Blue's Room: Meet Blue's Baby Brother!	Joe
2007	Blue's Room: Knights of the Snack Table	Joe
2007	Blue's Room: Shape Detectives	Joe
2007	Blue's Room: Little Blue Riding Hood	Joe
2007	Blue's Room: World Travelers	Joe