Background:

“A career in showbiz is like a distance run. You have to have patience and pace yourself.” Tate Donovan.

American actor and director Tate Donovan is most famous to television audiences for his roles as financial planner Jimmy Cooper who was married to Melinda Clarke's Julie Cooper-Nichol on the Fox teen drama series “The O.C,” which he played from 2003 to 2006, and as Tom Shayes on the FX drama “Damages” from 2007 to 2010. He also had recurring roles in the hit television series “Ally McBeal” (1997, as Ronald Cheanie) and “Friends” (1998, as Joshua Burgin). On the silver screen, Donovan received an Independent Spirit nomination for his scene stealing role as  Brent Zetterland in the Toronto premiered “Inside Monkey Zetterland” (1992). Additionally, he played significant roles in “Memphis Belle” (1990), “Love Potion No. 9” (1992), “Hercules” (1997; voice), “The Pacifier” (2005), “Good Night, and Good Luck” (2005, earned a SAG nomination), “The Lather Effect” (2006), “Nancy Drew” (2007), “Neal Cassady” (2007), “Wild About Harry” (2009) and “Below the Beltway” (2010). Donovan's fans should look forward for his performance on the forthcoming film “Argo” (2012), directed by actor Ben Afflect.

More personally, Donovan was romantically linked to actress Lauren Graham (met in 2002) of the television series “Gilmore Girls,” British socialite Plum Sykes (dated in 2000), Whitney Allen (dated in 2001), Jennifer Aniston (November 1995-April 1998) and Sandra Bullock (together four years). He married Corinne Kingsbury from 2005 to 2008.

“She likes top-notch hotels and luxury, and I like bed and breakfasts and riding my bike. That's the most shallow version of it, but it's indicative of our personalities.” Tate Donovan (on his former love Jennifer Aniston).

Tate has been an active supporter and spokesperson of BCAN (Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network) since the death of his father. He also enjoys still photography and owns an Airedale/Terrier/Lab mix named Buddy. He enjoys running with his dog. Additionally, he participated in the 2005 ING New York City Marathon and the finish time was 3:28:49. He placed 2,646th out of 37,000. Being asked about what motivates him running, Tate explained: “I was really inspired by people who ran with blind runners. Man that's something I'd like to do. I feel like I did my marathon for myself, but I would like to maybe do that (run with a blind person) the next time around. Not worry about time and my performance and just do it for someone else.”


Tate Buckley

Childhood and Family:
        
Tate Buckley Donovan was born on September 25, 1963, in Tenafly, New Jersey. He is the youngest of six children of Irish-Catholic parents J Timothy Donovan (urologist; died from bladder cancer) and Eileen Donovan. He attended Dwight-Englewood High School, the same school attended by Brooke Shields, Mira Sorvino and Lesley Gore, before studying Theater at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, where he met his now long-time friends Grant Heslov and George Clooney.

In 2005, Tate married Corinne Kingsbury, an L.A.-based entrepreneur, in a Catholic ceremony on a Malibu, California beach. The couple divorced in 2008.


Inside Monkey Zetterland

Career:
    
 First appearing on screen in the 1984 film “No Small Affair,” opposite Jon Cryer, Tate Donovan was cast to play troubled teen roles in the 1985 TV movies “Not My Kid” (CBS) and “Into Thin Air.” He also delivered a memorable appearance in the 1986 science fiction adventure “Space Camp” and was spotted as guest in a January 1986 episode of the CBS drama “Magnum, P.I.” In 1989, he was nominated for a CableACE Award in the category of Actor in a Dramatic Series for his performance in the segment “R&R” of the independent film “Vietnam War Story II” (1988). He also spent the rest of the 1980s working as a still photographer on two wildlife documentaries for “Mutual of Omaha's Spirit of Adventure.”
 
Donovan subsequently moved to Los Angeles where he landed a post-collegiate role as hotshot copilot 1st Lt. Luke Sinclair in Michael Caton-Jones' fictionalized story of the 1944 documentary, “Memphis Belle” (1990), alongside Matthew Modine and Eric Stoltz. He eventually landed his first leading role, as Paul Matthews, the geek biochemist with no luck at all with women and later decided to consume a magic potion in writer-director Dale Launer's romantic comedy movie “Love Potion No. 9” (1992), opposite Sandra Bullock. Commenting about the film, he said, “It's a movie about that one true love everyone is supposed to have. But I don't know if I believe in that.”

Donovan was cast as Brent Zetterland in the Jefery Levy directed indie comedy “Inside Monkey Zetterland,” which  premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 12, 1992 before released in the US on August 25, 1993. For his bright acting, he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for     Best Supporting Male in 1994. He supported Matthew Modine, Lara Flynn Boyle and Fred Ward in Alan Rudolph's “Equinox” (1992), worked with Liam Neeson, Patricia Arquette and Gil Rood in the big screen adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel, “Ethan Fromme” (1993) and reteaming with Arquette in Leonard Nimoy's crime comedy movie “Holy Matrimony” (1994). On stage, Donovan made his Broadway debut in 1994 in the Roundabout revival of “Picnic,” opposite Ashley Judd. He also continued working on screen, starring as Owen (1995-1996) on the Fox short-lived sitcom “Partners,” with Jon Cryer, and giving a memorable guest appearance as the brother of Det. Kellerman (played by Reed Diamond) in a February 1997 episode of NBC's highly acclaimed police procedural series “Homicide: Life on the Street.” He also lent his voice to the title role of the son of the Greek Gods Zeus and Hera in Disney's animated feature “Hercules” (1997) and voiced the character on the animated TV spin-off, “Hercules: The Wonder Boy Years.”

“When I told everybody I was doing ‘Hercules,’ they felt really sorry for me. They thought I was so down on my luck that I was having to do extra work on the TV series “Hercules” (1998).” Tate Donovan.

More success came in the late 1990s with appearances in the hit television series “Ally McBeal” and “Friends,” in which he played recurring role as Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel's love interest. He also returned to series TV playing a priest in an Irish Catholic family on NBC brief-lived drama “Trinity” (1998). The next year, he went back on stage and had a featured role in the Broadway production of “Amy's View,” starring Judi Dench, followed by an Off-Broadway appearance in a production of “Lobby Hero” in 2001.

After appearing in Chiara Edmands' 12-minute film “The Office Party” (2000) and in writer-director Misti Barnes' comedy film “Exposed” (2003), Donovan returned to the small screen in 2003 with a regular supporting role as financial planner Jimmy Cooper (2003-2006), who was married to Melinda Clarke's Julie Cooper-Nichol on the Fox long-running teen dramedy “The O.C.,” and as Barry Reed (2003) on NBC short-lived political serial drama “Mister Sterling,” alongside Josh Brolin, Audra McDonald and William Russ.

During his “O.C.” stint, Donovan also starred in the George Clooney’s Academy Award-nominated biopic which portrays the conflict between veteran radio and television journalist Edward R. Murrow and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, “Good Night, and Good Luck” (2005), from which he shared a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Additionally, he could be seen in Adam Shankman's action comedy film starring Vin Diesel, “The Pacifier” (2005), and in Sarah Kelly's independent comedy “The Lather Effect” (2006) as well as in two TV films, “Silver Bells” and “Silver Bells” (both 2005). On stage, he starred opposite Amy Ryan in the West Coast production of “Rabbit Hole” in September 2006.

Donovan co-starred with Mark Wahlberg, Danny Glover, Ned Beatty and Michael Peña in  “Shooter” (2007),  Antoine Fuqua's film version of Stephen Hunter's novel “Point Impact,” portrayed the title character's father in Andrew Fleming's teen drama/thriller adapted from the popular series of mystery novels about the famed teen detective, “Nancy Drew” (2007), starring Emma Roberts, had the title role of the major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic movement of the 1960s in the biopic “Neal Cassady” (2007), directed and written by Noah Buschel. The same year also saw the actor began his three seasons stint as Patty Hewes (played by Glenn Close)'s associate, right-hand man and later partner, Tom Shayes, on the FX later Audience Network legal drama series “Damages.” Donovan also guest starred in “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (2007, the episode “Rocket Man”) and in “The Cleaner” (2008, the episode “Meet the Joneses”). In 2009, he starred in Gwen Wynne's drama/family movie, “Wild About Harry.”   

After leaving “Damages” in 2010, Donovan played the lead of Paul Gibson on director Dave Fraunces' award winning comedy film, “Below the Beltway” (2010), opposite Sarah Clarke as Anne and Kip Pardue as Luke. Besides, he appeared in the pilot of “No Ordinary Family” (2010). He will play Bob Anders in Ben Afflect's upcoming directorial film, “Argo,” which is set to be released in the US on September 14, 2012.

Since 2005, Donovan has tried his luck behind the cameras as director. Making his debut with an episode of “The O.C.” called “The Game Plan” (2005), the charming actor continued to direct episodes of “Medium” (2009, “Pain Killer”), “Nip/Tuck” (2009, “Joel Seabrook”;2010, “Wesley Clovis”), “Damages” (2009, “I Agree, It Wasn't Funny” and “Uh Oh, Out Come the Skeletons”; “Drive It Through Hardcore” (2010), “Weeds” (2010, “Yippity Sippity”), “The Good Guys” (2010, “Old Dogs”), “Gossip Girl” (2010, “Gaslit'; 2011, “Memoirs of an Invisible Dan”) and “Glee” (2011, “Silly Love Songs” and “I Kissed a Girl”).   

Donovan, who plays the fiddle (he displayed this skill on the “The New Tom Green Show” (2003)), also can sing and play the bodhran (a hand-held Irish drum). He used to play a regular gig with a local band in Los Angeles and has released a CD called “Wake Amusements” with his band The Decadents.    
    

Awards:

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