Tate Donovan

Tate Buckley Donovan was born on September 25, 1963, in Tenafly, New Jersey, to John Timothy Donovan, a surgeon, and Eileen Frances Donovan, née McAllister. Both parents were Roman Catholics of Irish descent, and Donovan is the youngest of six children. He attended Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey, before transferring to Tenafly High School and later enrolling at the University of Southern California.

Donovan began accumulating film credits in the mid-1980s, playing Kevin Donaldson in SpaceCamp (1986), recovering drug addict Donald Towle in Clean and Sober (1988), and 1st Lieutenant Luke Sinclair in Memphis Belle (1990). He appeared opposite Sandra Bullock as Paul Matthews in Love Potion No. 9 (1992). In 1997, he provided the voice of the title character in the Disney animated film Hercules, a role he reprised in the accompanying animated television series and in several Kingdom Hearts video games. He played Jesse Zousmer in the Best Picture-nominated Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), starred alongside Emma Roberts in Nancy Drew (2007), and portrayed Bob Anders in the Oscar-winning Argo (2012). In 2019, he appeared as Doug Weston in Rocketman. Donovan received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his work in Inside Monkey Zetterland.

On television, Donovan portrayed Joshua Burgin, the love interest of Rachel Green, across several episodes of Season 4 of Friends. He played Jimmy Cooper in The O.C. beginning in 2003 and went on to portray Tom Shayes in the legal drama Damages from 2007 to 2010. He later took on the role of Brian Sanders in Hostages and White House Chief of Staff Mark Boudreau in 24: Live Another Day. Beginning in 2017, he appeared in CBS's MacGyver as James MacGyver, the titular character's father. Guest appearances across his television career include Magnum, P.I. (1986), The Guardian (2001), Mister Sterling (2003), and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2007). Donovan also built a parallel career as a television director, beginning with an episode of The O.C. in 2005 and subsequently directing episodes of Medium, Damages, Nip/Tuck, Weeds, Gossip Girl, and two episodes of Glee in 2011. He produced 30 for 30 Shorts, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series.

Donovan's Broadway career spans from 1994 to 2018. He played Alan Seymour in the Roundabout Theatre Company's 1994 revival of Picnic, and appeared with Judi Dench in Amy's View in 1999. In 2011, he starred alongside Frances McDormand in the world premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People at the Manhattan Theatre Club. He also appeared on Broadway in Celebrity Autobiography. Off Broadway, Donovan played the crooked cop Bill in Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero (2001) alongside Glenn Fitzgerald. He has participated in multiple productions at the Williamstown Theater Festival, including Once in a Lifetime, Under the Blue Sky, and The Glass Menagerie, and has performed at the Irish Repertory Theater in New York City. He also starred with Amy Ryan in the Los Angeles production of Rabbit Hole.

Beyond acting and directing, Donovan plays the bodhrán and fiddle and performed regularly with traditional Irish band the McGuffins, with whom he released an album titled Wake Amusements. He has volunteered with the Young Storytellers Program and voiced radio and video advertising for PNC Financial Services. Donovan was in a relationship with Sandra Bullock from 1990 to 1994 and with Jennifer Aniston for two and a half years between 1995 and 1998. He married writer Corinne Kingsbury in 2005 in Malibu, California; they divorced in 2008. He married Corry Scheuerman in 2015.