Biography

Martin Donovan

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Overview

Born
August 19 · Reseda, California, USA
Height
6′ 1″ (1.85 m)

Mini bio

Martin Donovan is an award winning actor, writer and director. Donovan’s film career was launched in the 1990’s with Hal Hartley, one of the iconic figures in the 90’s American independent film movement. Among Hartley films Martin appeared in are the Sundance Film Festival winner Trust, Cannes Film Festival favorites Simple Men and Amateur starring opposite Isabelle Huppert as well as Surviving Desire, Flirt and The Book of Life.

In 1996 he starred opposite Nicole Kidman in Academy Award winning writer/director Jane Campion’s The Portrait of a Lady for which he won the National Society of Film Critic’s Award for Best Supporting Actor. ¬¬ In 2011 Martin also starred in, wrote and directed the critcally acclaimed Collaborator with David Morse and Olivia Williams which won the prestigious International Federation of Film Critics’ prize (FIPRESCI) for Best Picture at the 2011 Karlovy Vary Interntational Film Festival.

Donovan was recently seen in the critical hit Blackberry as well as opposite John David Washington in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, his second collaboration with Nolan after Insomnia where he played Al Pacino’s police partner. Other current films include the acclaimed horror dramady Come to Daddy opposite Elijah Wood and The Art of Racing in the Rain with Amanda Seyfried. Martin appeared as Mitchell Carson in Marvel’s Ant-Man with Paul Rudd, and Evangeline Lily. He shared the Robert Altman Award for ensemble acting at the 2015 Independent Spirit Awards for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar nominated Inherent Vice.

Donovan has currently reteamed with Nicole Kidman playing her husband in Taylor Sheridan’s series Lioness on Paramount +. Among a long list of television credits Donovan is perhaps best known as the corrupt DEA agent and Mary-Louise Parker’s love interest in Showtime’s Emmy Award-Winning series Weeds for which he garnered his first SAG Award nomination for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series. His second SAG Award nomination came for best ensemble in a dramatic series for his role as Zoe Kravitz’s father on season two of Big Little Lies.
- IMDb mini biography by: Buchwald

Family

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Trademarks

Quirky facial features
Blue eyes
Frequently cast in Hal Hartley films.

Trivia

Has enjoyed a long, valued association with writer/director Hal Hartley, starring in several of his films including Simple Men (1992) and Amateur (1994), both of which were selected for the Cannes Film Festivals, Trust (1990), Surviving Desire (1992), Flirt (1995) and The Book of Life (1998), the last mentioned being shown at the New York Film Festival.
Has collaborated twice with director Christopher Nolan, in Insomnia (2002) and Tenet (2020).
Has two sons with actress/wife Vivian Lanko. They lived in New York City for many years before relocating to Vancouver, Canada.
Born Martin Paul Smith, one of four children, in Reseda, California. He was raised Catholic, and has Irish and German ancestry. Attended Crespi Carmelite High School, then Pierce College for two years, then switched to the American Theater Arts (a combined conservatory and theater company), all in Los Angeles County.

Quotes

Hal and I are close friends. I understand his language, his humor, his film language, what he is trying to say. I tell actors who are new to Hal--this is more like dance. It's not acting naturalistically, it's carefully choreographed. Gestures are important and specific gestures are very important. -- On Writer/Director Hal Hartley
When you are raised Catholic there is one thing that you are confronted with at a young age, and that's death. You're confronted with all the big issues - and that sparks deep questions, like what the hell are we doing here anyway?
I'm always looking for something that tells me a little bit about what it means to be human. That's how I measure the success of any artistic endeavor.
I love watching Marty Scorsese's films, but they always make me feel terrible about being a man.
[on reality TV] Those shows could have the potential of drawing out the human condition, but they are shallow and have no interest in that. It's all about self-aggrandizement and people who are hopelessly self-centered.They make no attempt to connect with other people. They just proclaim and glorify the self.