Martin Donovan Biography

Martin Donovan (born August 19, 1957) is an American film, stage and television actor. He has had a long collaboration with director Hal Hartley, appearing in many of Hartley's films, such as Trust (1990), Surviving Desire (1991), Simple Men (1992), Flirt (1993), Amateur (1994), and The Book of Life (1998; in which he played Jesus). Donovan played Peter Scottson, a DEA agent, on Showtime's cable series Weeds, before his character was eliminated from the show. He made his writing/directorial debut in 2011 with the film Collaborator.

Early life

Donovan was born Martin P. Smith in Reseda, California to an Irish American middle-class family. He and his three siblings were raised Catholic. He graduated from Crespi Carmelite High School and attended Pierce College for two years. He attended American Theater Arts, a combined conservatory and theater company in Los Angeles, where he appeared in the plays Richard's Cork Leg by Brendan Behan and Private Life of the Master Race by Bertold Brecht.

In 1983, he and his wife moved to New York City, where he took odd jobs like installing drapery to support his family. He joined the Cucaracha Theater on Greenwich Street.

Career

Donovan has appeared in fourteen episodes of the Showtime television series Weeds, which stars Mary-Louise Parker, for which he was nominated for a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by An Ensemble in a Comedy Series. He has also acted with Parker in Saved!, Pipe Dream and The Portrait of A Lady. In The Portrait of A Lady, he won the National Society of Film Critics' Award for best supporting actor.

In 2009, he starred opposite Virginia Madsen in The Haunting in Connecticut. Recently he was seen in The Sentinel with Kiefer Sutherland and Michael Douglas as well as The Quiet with Edie Falco. In 2007 he appeared in the suspense horror film Wind Chill, which starred Emily Blunt and Ashton Holmes. Other recent film appearances include The United States of Leland, The Opposite of Sex, Living Out Loud, In a Savage Land, Onegin, Heaven, Hollow Reed, and Nadja. He will be taking playing "Douglas Cartland" in the upcoming Silent Hill: Revelation 3D.

Donovan had a long association with celebrated director Hal Hartley, starring in several of his films including Amateur which was selected for both the Cannes and New York Film Festivals. Other Hartley collaborations are Simple Men, which was also an official Cannes selection; Trust, Surviving Desire, Flirt and The Book of Life, which was shown at the New York Film Festival. Donovan starred in Shadows and Lies alongside James Franco and Julianne Nicholson.

Donovan made his television series début in Peter Berg's Wonderland. His recent TV credits include Masters of Horror (episode "Right to Die"); the FX telefilm RFK and the Fox series Pasadena. Other television credits are Amy and Isabelle, The Great Gatsby, and HBO's When Trumpets Fade. In 2011 he took a major role in the Starz original drama series Boss.

Writing & Directing

In 2010, Donovan wrote, directed and starred in Collaborator, portraying a once-successful playwright who is taken hostage while visiting his mother and childhood home.

Personal life

Donovan married actress Vivian Lanko in 1984. They have two sons. They lived in New York City for many years, but have relocated to Vancouver, Canada.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1985	Hard Choices	Josh
1987	At Mother's Request	Detective Rogen	TV movie
1990	Trust	Matthew Slaughter
1991	Surviving Desire	Jude
1992	Malcolm X	FBI Agent	AKA X (USA: poster title)
	Simple Men	Martin	AKA Uomini semplici (Italy)
1993	Quick	Herschel Brewer	AKA Crossfire (UK: video box title)
	Scam	Gordon Wexler	TV movie
	South Beach	Spencer Robinson	TV series: episode #1.7 "School for Scandal"
	The Adventures of Pete & Pete		TV series: episodes "Apocalypse Pete" and "Space, Geeks, and Johnny Unitas"
1994	The Rook	John Abbott
	Nadja	Jim
	Amateur	Thomas Ludens	Nominated"?Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
1995	Flirt	Walter
1996	The Portrait of A Lady	Ralph Touchett	National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated"?Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated"?New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor (2nd place)
	Hollow Reed	Martyn Wyatt	Nominated"?Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
1997	Night Sins	Paul Garrison	TV movie
1998	Rescuers: Stories of Courage - Two Couples	Aart Vos	TV movie: segment "Aart and Johtje Vos"
	When Trumpets Fade	Capt. Roy Pritchett
	The Opposite of Sex	Bill Truitt
	Heaven	Robert Marling
	Living Out Loud	Robert Nelson
	The Book of Life	Jesus Christ
	Spanish Fly	Carl
1999	In a Savage Land	Dr. Phillip Spence
	The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer	Richard DiBenedetto	TV movie
	Onegin	Prince Nikitin
2000	Desire
	The Great Gatsby	Tom Buchanan	TV movie
	Custody of the Heart	Dennis Raphael	TV movie
	Wonderland	Dr. Neil Harrison	8 episodes
2001	Amy and Isabelle	Peter Robertson	TV movie
	Pasadena	Will McAllister	13 episodes
2002
	Insomnia	Detective Hap Eckhart
	Pipe Dream	David Kulovic
	RFK	John F. Kennedy	TV movie
2003	The United States of Leland	Harry Pollard
	Agent Cody Banks	Dr. Connors
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Dr. Archibald Newlands	TV series: episode "Serendipity"
	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Howard Delhomme	TV series: episode "After the Show"
2004	The Pornographer: A Love Story
	Saved!	Pastor Skip
	Traffic	Brent Delaney	TV mini-series
	Dark Shadows	Roger Collins	TV series: episode "Pilot"
	White Like Me	Gus
2005	At Last	Mark Singleton
	The Quiet	Paul Deer
	Weeds	Peter Scottson	14 episodes Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2005)
2006	The Visitation	Travis Jordan
	The Garage	Adult Matt
	The Sentinel	William Montrose
	Day on Fire	Walter Evering
	Law & Order	Robert White	TV series: episode "Cost of Capital"
2007	The Dead Zone	Malcolm Janus	6 episodes
	Masters of Horror	Cliff Addison	TV series: episode "Right to Die"
	Wind Chill	Highway Patrolman
	Ghost Whisperer	Tom Gordon	4 episodes
2008	The Alphabet Killer	Jim Walsh
2009	The Haunting in Connecticut	Peter Campbell
	Duress	Richard Barnet
2010	Unnatural History	Bryan Bartlett
	Unthinkable	Jack Saunders
2011	Collaborator	Robert Longfellow	Written and Directed by Martin Donovan Karlovy Vary International Film Festival: FIPRESCI Prize
	Boss	Ezra Stone	10 episodes
2012	Silent Hill: Revelation 3D	Douglas Cartland
	The Firm	Kevin Stack	recurring role
	The Reluctant Fundamentalist	Ludlow Cooper
2013	Rogue	Richard Campbell	TV series