Martin Donovan

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. --- 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. 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. --- 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.