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| Breaking through: Local actors rise to stardom |
It wasn't so long ago that a young Jeffrey Donovan was faced with a choice. The setting was English class at Amesbury High School, the dilemma was whether to write about Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" or act out one of Shylock's well-known monologues.
"I wasn't a very good writer, I just wasn't that smart," joked Donovan, who donned a black robe for the role. "The whole class applauded and I got an A. I knew from then on, I wanted to do acting."
Fast-forward about 20 years, and the 35-year-old finds himself the star of the new USA network drama "Touching Evil" (Fridays at 10 p.m.). But that epiphany in English class was just the start of a long, hard journey.
The first person in his family to go to college, Donovan went to graduate school for acting to pursue his dreams and eventually landed "Touching Evil," which is produced by Bruce Willis.
Donovan plays Detective Inspector David Creegan on the show, a straight-arrow cop injured by a shot to the head. A frontal lobe injury allows Creegan to function normally but he has lost all sense of propriety and all ability to filter his own emotions. The injury brings a humanity to Creegan, a crusader with an unquenchable thirst for justice.
"This is as big a role or an opportunity as I have ever received," said Donovan, who has been featured in several movies and television shows, but this is the first series to center on him. "I love the work I am doing. ... They all trusted me with a role that any star on television or film would take."
If Creegan sees a little girl on the street, he bursts into tears. If he thinks a corpse looks funny in a casket at a funeral, he bursts out laughing. He has no inhibitions -- making him an incredibly fun character to play, Donovan said.
"I feel everything and anything in a moment. I speak my mind -- what better role is there than someone who does or says anything he wants?" said Donovan, who worked with a UCLA neurologist to research the role. "He's kind of like Job. He feels like he is being tested again and again. He's staying true to his mantra: to help and to protect everybody."
Donovan stays true to his acting by putting himself through some of Creegan's trials. When Creegan was plagued by insomnia on a recent episode, Donovan stayed up for 48 hours to accurately show what insomnia was like.
"That was a lot of caffeine, a lot of Jolt," said Donovan, who almost collapsed on the set (earning him kudos from the crew). "It ended up looking great. Everyone was happy."
Even when he isn't pulling all-nighters, Donovan works hard on the set, usually 12 to 15 hours a day, five days a week. Sometimes, shooting keeps him on the set until 3 a.m.
"I am exhausted," Donovan said. "You just get worn down. No matter how much you take care of yourself, (your body) can only take so much."
Already, the actor feels like all the hard work is paying off -- though he's glad none of his relatives, including his 18 aunts and uncles and 50 cousins, have visited him on the set to see the "Hollywood lifestyle."
"People would be disillusioned and disappointed about how romantic a TV set is," he said.
But the folks back home are still proud.
His mother, Nancy Matthews of Salisbury -- who describes herself as his "worst critic," thinks "Touching Evil" is great.
"I gave him five stars," Matthews said. "He respects everything I say because he knows I am honest and I tell him the truth."
Donovan grew up in the Amesbury area, raised by his mother along with his two brothers. He described the close-knit family as "incredibly poor."
After his experience with "The Merchant of Venice," Donovan pursued his dreams. He founded Amesbury High School's drama club and took acting classes at Bradford College in Haverhill during the summer to hone his craft. When Donovan went to his mother for advice, she gave him encouragement.
"I said, 'Jeffrey, follow your dreams and follow your heart and don't let anybody else disappoint you," Matthews said.
After graduating from Amesbury High, Donovan attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst -- the first member of his family to go to college. He worked daily from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. driving a bus around campus, took classes from 10 a.m. to about 6 p.m., and then went to rehearsals for the school's theatrical productions. About 11 p.m., Donovan would head back to his dorm room for study and sleep.
It paid off, after graduating Donovan headed to New York with $75 in his pocket and dreams of acting. Eventually, he entered New York University's graduate school for actors. Donovan was one of 18 actors chosen out of more than 1,000 for the master's of fine arts program.
He worked his way through school, bartending and waiting tables to make ends meet. He also took out "every single student loan" while maxing out his credit cards. After graduating, he had agents vying to represent him.
It was a good thing -- with $50,000 in school loans, Donovan needed the work. He split his time between acting on the soap opera "Another World" as a doctor and the Broadway show "An Inspector Calls." It was the soap acting with which Donovan had a hard time. When he first saw the show, he thought he was too good for it.
"Then I got on it, and I thought I am worse than them," he said. "They make melodramatic material better than it should be. I left with a lot of respect for them."
After about six months on the show, Donovan headed to California, appearing in movies such as "Bait" and "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" and some well-received television movies, "Witness to the Mob" and "When Trumpets Fade."
He's made several guest appearances on television in "Witchblade," "Spin City," "Law & Order" and most notably, "The Pretender," in which he played the recurring role of Jarod's brother.
"I've done four movies and a soap opera and all of those fans don't equal the fan base of 'The Pretender,'" said Donovan, who had fans creating Web sites in his honor after the show.
While on hiatus for "Touching Evil," Donovan will be working on a film. He has a small part in the next Will Smith movie.
He tries to get back to Amesbury twice a year. Because of his schedule, he hasn't been back to visit since last summer.
"They are very happy seeing me on television," said Donovan, who gets kidded by his mother for not having a wife and kids. "She said, 'Will you hurry up and have a son so you can pass on how smart you are?"'
"He'd better marry an actress that understands," Matthews said. "I really would like to see a grandchild."
Not that Donovan is defensive about it.
"It's hard to have room for a life with anyone working 15 hours a day," he said.
END
April 1, 2004 - article courtesy of The Eagle Tribune
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THURSDAYS
