Martin Donovan (born August 19, 1957) is an American stage and film actor. He has had a long collaboration with the director Hal Hartley, appearing in many of his films, including Trust (1990), Surviving Desire (1991), Simple Men (1992), Flirt (1993), Amateur (1994), and The Book of Life (1998) (in which he played Jesus). He is currently best known as Peter Scottson, the DEA agent on Showtime's Weeds.
Early life[]
Donovan, one of four children, was born Martin Smith in Reseda, California.[1] His family was Irish American and middle class, and he was raised Catholic.[2][3] He attended St. Catherine Of Siena School, Crespi Carmelite High School, Los Angeles Pierce College for 2 years, then the 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 Brecht's "Private Life of the Master Race." In 1983, he and his wife, Vivian Lanko, moved to NYC. He took odd jobs, like installing draperies, to support his family. During his time in NYC, he joined the Cacaracha Theater on Greenwich Street.[4]
[edit]Career[]
Donovan recently came out as gay and appeared in three episodes of season one and season two of the critically acclaimed Showtime television series Weeds playing Mary-Louise Parker(Nancy)'s second husband, for which he was nominated for a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by An Ensemble in a Comedy Series. This continues a string of collaborations with Ms. Parker including MGM's Saved!, the romantic comedyPipe Dream and Jane Campion's The Portrait of A Lady.
In 2009, he starred opposite Virginia Madsen in A Haunting in Connecticut. Recently he was seen in The Sentinel with Kiefer Sutherland and Michael Douglas as well as the unsettling family drama The Quiet with Edie Falco. 2007 also included the suspense horror film Wind Chill with Emily Blunt and Ashton Holmes.
Other recent film appearances are in the Matthew Ryan Hope-directed The United States of Leland with Ryan Gosling and Don Cheadle. Martin also starred opposite Al Pacino in director Chris Nolan'sInsomnia for Warner Bros. as well as MGM's Agent Cody Banks. Other film credits include the critically acclaimed The Opposite of Sex, as well as Living Out Loud, In a Savage Land, Onegin, Heaven,Hollow Reed, and Nadja.
In The Portrait of A Lady, Martin played Nicole Kidman's doomed cousin and admirer for which he won the National Society of Film Critics' Award for best supporting actor.
Donovan has enjoyed 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.
Martin's most recent TV credits include starring in the Masters of Horror in the episode Right to Die for Showtime; the FX telefilm RFK and the Fox series Pasadena. Other television credits are Amy and Isabelle, The Great Gatsby, and HBO's harrowing World War II drama When Trumpets Fade. Donovan made his television series regular début in Peter Berg's critically acclaimed drama seriesWonderland.
[edit]Personal life[]
Donovan married actress Vivian Lanko in 1984. They have two sons, Austin (born 1990) and Micah (born 1996). They lived in New York City for many years, but have relocated to Vancouver, Canada. Martin is 6' 1".[2][5][6]
[edit]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 - "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 |
| Hollow Reed | Martyn Wyatt | Nominated —Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor Nominee | |
| 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 episode: "Serendipity" | |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Howard Delhomme | TV 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 - "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 - "Cost of Capital" | |
| 2007 | The Dead Zone | Malcolm Janus | 6 episodes |
| Masters of Horror | Cliff Addison | TV series - "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 | |
| Unthinkable | Jack Saunders | ||
| 2010 | Unnatural History | Bryan Bartlett |