Book Martin Donovan

Martin Donovan is an American actor admired for his understated intensity across independent film, studio features and prestige television. He became a defining face of American indie cinema through his long partnership with writer-director Hal Hartley, starring in Trust (1990), Surviving Desire (1991), Simple Men (1992), Amateur (1994) and Flirt (1995), and playing Jesus Christ in The Book of Life (1998). He won the National Society of Film Critics Award for best supporting actor for The Portrait of a Lady, and also shared the screen with Mary-Louise Parker in Saved! and Pipe Dream. On television he played Peter Scottson in 14 episodes of Showtime's Weeds, sharing in a Screen Actors Guild ensemble nomination. Christopher Nolan cast him twice: as Detective Hap Eckhart in the thriller Insomnia (2002) and as Fay, the protagonist's CIA handler, in Tenet (2020). His other film credits include When Trumpets Fade (1998), Inherent Vice (2014), Ant-Man (2015) and The Apprentice (2024). Donovan stepped behind the camera as writer and director with his debut feature, Collaborator (2011). He brings thoughtful insight into decades of filmmaking with some of cinema's most distinctive directors.