Jeffrey Donovan

Jeffrey Donovan is an American Actor. His real name is Jeffrey Thomas Donovan. He was born on May 11, 1968. He came to fame after he played the role of Michael Westen in the television series ‘ Burn Notice Burn Notice is an American series by Matt Nix. The >> Read More... ’, and starred in films like ‘Hitch’, ‘Changeling’, ‘Believe in Me’ and ‘Come Early Morning’. He played Robert F. Kennedy in Clint Eastwood’s ‘J. Edgar’ and his brother John F. Kennedy in Robert Reiner’s ‘LBJ’ in 2016. He also has a recurring role in the second season of the TV series ‘Fargo’. Donovan has two brothers. His elder brother was Michael Donovan and his younger brother is Sean. His mother brought up three sons all alone as his father abandoned the family. They moved several times before settling in Amesbury, Massachusetts.

At Amesbury High School, he was mentored by a teacher who helped him out in drama club, and fixed a private scholarship, enabling him to participate in the summer program which helped to gear up his acting career. He attended Bridgewater State College before transferring to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he graduated Bachelor of Arts in drama. While attending the college, he also served himself as a commercial bus driver at UMass Transit service, where he operated passenger buses as a part of PVTA. He went on to earn his Masters of Fine Arts from New York University’s Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of Arts. Donovan has over 20 years of martial arts experience. During his college days, he earned his black belt in Shotokan Karate and competed throughout the state. Later he studied aikido for over six years and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He married Michelle Woods on August 25, 2012. They have a daughter in December of that year. In 2014, Donovan and his wife welcomed their second child, a son. They again had a daughter a third child in 2017. 

Donovan has guest-starred in many television shows such as ‘CSI: Miami’, ‘Monk’, ‘Spin City’, ‘Millennium’, ‘Witchblade’, ‘The Pretender’, ‘Homicide: Life on the Street’ and ‘Law & Order’. In the short-termed television series ‘Threshold’, he played the role of Dr. Sloan. He has also played the recurring role of William Ivers in the ‘Crossing Jordan’. In 2004, he had played the first lead role in the American remake of a British television series ‘Touching Evil’ with Vera Farmiga She’s considered to be a Hollywood horror-empress. >> Read More... on the USA Network. In 2015, Donovan had a recurring role on ‘Fargo’ as North Dakota mobster Dodd Gerhardt. In 2016, he began his starring as a Tarot reading con artist Charlie Haverford in ‘Shut Eye’ on Hulu. On January 30, in 2018, ‘Shut Eye’ was canceled after two seasons. In 2021, he was cast as a series regular detective for the 21st season of ‘Law & Order’.

He has also performed on stage in various productions, including ‘Hamlet’ as the title character, ‘A View from the Bridge’ as Marco, ‘An Inspector Calls’, and Off- Broadway in ‘Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight’ as Gene, ‘The Glory of Living’ as Clint, regionally in ‘Toys in the Attic’ as Julian Berniers, ‘On the Waterfront’ as Terry Malloy, ‘Odepius’ as Teiresas and ‘Freedomland’ as Seth. From October 2008 until spring 2009, he starred in the farce ‘ Don Click to look into! >> Read More... ’t Dress for Dinner’ in Chicago. Donovan has also performed in the radio dramas ‘On the Waterfront’, ‘ Frozen Click to look into! >> Read More... ’ and ‘Grapes of Wrath’. In 2009, Donovan returned to Amesbury High School, where he took part in a career day mentorship program with other successful professionals and presented with a $100000 arts scholarship program. The first $10000 award was given out to a senior that June. Donovan also supports his friends in charity events.