This is the obligatory "this is me and this is where I come from" page. If you're looking for info on my professional life, please check out the CV, reviews and casting pages...
Well, where do I start? I was born at a very early age in October '68 and grew up in Bridgend (mid way between Cardiff and Swansea). An extremely patriotic Welshman, I am of course obsessed with Rugby, Tom Jones and warm, bitter beer. My childhood years were fantastic - long summer days filled with Star Wars and Scooby Doo, cold winter evenings spent at cubs. One of my first badges was the "Entertainer" badge, and my mum took great delight in telling everyone that when I grew up I was going to be an out of work actor...
My love of theatre began on a visit to my nan in Bristol - we went to the Bristol Hippodrome to see "Bugs Bunny in Space"! (well, I was only five...) I remember to this day sitting in one of the boxes at the back of the stalls and being transported - the lights, the music, the scenery - Bliss!. It felt very weird in 1994 when I played the Hippodrome - I stood on stage for the first time and looked back at that very box, and a shiver ran up my spine. I had come full circle.
Hold on, hold on... I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to school - I indulged the call of Thespis by appearing in school plays - Noah!, The Real Inspector Hound, The Beauty of Buttermere and many others. My love of escapism and "make believe" also led me to my other love - science fiction.
Ah yes... Blake's Seven, Sapphire & Steel and most of all - Doctor Who! Forward and backward in time, London, Skaro, Paris, Deva Loka - no other series before or since has had such a wide canvas on which to paint. From traditional sci fi to Hammer horror to Dickensian mystery all under the protective wing of a witty, charming and mysterious father figure. At it's height I don't think there was a lad in Britain who didn't secretly wish a certain blue box would appear at the bottom of their garden!
Eventually, in 1987, armed with 8 "O" levels and 2 "A" levels, I was told I had to put childish things behind me and head out to the big wide world. So I did. But before I left I cunningly hid the childish things deep inside me to be played with whenever I felt the need. Hell - I was going to be an actor, I was going to play for a living!
Firstly, however, I decided to get me a career to fall back on. I undertook a four year teacher training course at Middlesex Poly, specialising in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computing. Within a year I was working front of house at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End to pay the bills. I very soon progressed to Stage Door, and then Fireman - until the bills got out of control, and I decided to take a year out from college to sort it all out.
What a year! I've yet to work on another show that has the atmosphere generated at "Return to the Forbidden Planet". Everyone was into the show - the box office, FOH, crew, LX, the cast and management. There was no segregation between backstage and front of house - we all went to the pub together at the end of the day (ah yes, the Two Brewers - that's another story...) It was a year of Rock 'n' Roll, parties and friendship. All to soon it was time to return to the National Curriculum, SAT's and marking...
But go back I did. I finished the course (whilst working throughout the West End in the evenings) , got myself a 2:1 and applied for teaching jobs. Luckily - I didn't get any.
By now I was back in the West End earning a living wage, so I thought I'd stick it out for a year until it was again time to apply for a teaching post. However, by the time that year was up I'd taken my first steps in my acting career. I'd got my hands on a hallowed Equity Card (thanks to a dodgy panto in Basildon) and was auditioning for the major musicals. I decided to give it another year...
Then came the break. I was working at the Royalty Theatre on Kingsway at the time, which as it was about to be sold was dark, and was only being used for auditions.
I would go in of a morning, put a lighting state up on stage, fly in some blacks (curtains!) on stage, open up the doors and tick the auditionees in and out. Certain companies like Really Useful and Apollo would be in quite regularly, and consequently I got to know people quite well. This bore fruit early in 1994 during auditions for "Singin' in the Rain". They auditioned all day for the role of "Gozark" without success. So little success in fact, that the auditions overran. As I had to get over to "Phantom" for the evening show, I went down to the stalls to throw them out!
Halfway down the stairs I met Ann Lonergan, the casting director, coming up. Before I could speak she said "I hope you don't mind, but we've told Tommy (Steele, the director) you're an actor and he thinks you're perfect for the role. Would you mind coming down to read for it?"
Ten minutes later I'd got the job.
The tour ran for nearly two years, and after that I went from show to show for another two years. I had arrived.
Then, disaster struck (well, relatively speaking...). The show I was in ("Lock up your Daughters") was supposed to transfer from Chichester to the Savoy Theatre, it was November and we had contracts until the following May. Suddenly, the transfer was off, and we were given two weeks notice. I returned to the Cambridge, but found that I could not earn enough to get by in London.
Then I had a phone call from an old friend who had been House Manager at Drury Lane during my time there. He was now managing the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff, and wondered if I wanted to come home and work with him? As always, the Lord's timing was impeccable...
I stayed at the Sherman until March 1998, having worked as Assistant Theatre Manager for the preceding six months. I gained a lot of valuable experience, but was getting itchy actors feet by this time - so decided to come back to London and get back on the audition circuit (much to my agent's delight!)
The new Millenium has brought forays into TV, Audio (notably on Dr Who !) and most recently in film, working at the famous Ealing Studios.
Mark Donovan 2004
"My God shall supply all my needs, according to his riches in glory"
Well, where do I start? I was born at a very early age in October '68 and grew up in Bridgend (mid way between Cardiff and Swansea). An extremely patriotic Welshman, I am of course obsessed with Rugby, Tom Jones and warm, bitter beer. My childhood years were fantastic - long summer days filled with Star Wars and Scooby Doo, cold winter evenings spent at cubs. One of my first badges was the "Entertainer" badge, and my mum took great delight in telling everyone that when I grew up I was going to be an out of work actor...
My love of theatre began on a visit to my nan in Bristol - we went to the Bristol Hippodrome to see "Bugs Bunny in Space"! (well, I was only five...) I remember to this day sitting in one of the boxes at the back of the stalls and being transported - the lights, the music, the scenery - Bliss!. It felt very weird in 1994 when I played the Hippodrome - I stood on stage for the first time and looked back at that very box, and a shiver ran up my spine. I had come full circle.
Hold on, hold on... I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to school - I indulged the call of Thespis by appearing in school plays - Noah!, The Real Inspector Hound, The Beauty of Buttermere and many others. My love of escapism and "make believe" also led me to my other love - science fiction.
Ah yes... Blake's Seven, Sapphire & Steel and most of all - Doctor Who! Forward and backward in time, London, Skaro, Paris, Deva Loka - no other series before or since has had such a wide canvas on which to paint. From traditional sci fi to Hammer horror to Dickensian mystery all under the protective wing of a witty, charming and mysterious father figure. At it's height I don't think there was a lad in Britain who didn't secretly wish a certain blue box would appear at the bottom of their garden!
Eventually, in 1987, armed with 8 "O" levels and 2 "A" levels, I was told I had to put childish things behind me and head out to the big wide world. So I did. But before I left I cunningly hid the childish things deep inside me to be played with whenever I felt the need. Hell - I was going to be an actor, I was going to play for a living!
Firstly, however, I decided to get me a career to fall back on. I undertook a four year teacher training course at Middlesex Poly, specialising in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computing. Within a year I was working front of house at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End to pay the bills. I very soon progressed to Stage Door, and then Fireman - until the bills got out of control, and I decided to take a year out from college to sort it all out.
What a year! I've yet to work on another show that has the atmosphere generated at "Return to the Forbidden Planet". Everyone was into the show - the box office, FOH, crew, LX, the cast and management. There was no segregation between backstage and front of house - we all went to the pub together at the end of the day (ah yes, the Two Brewers - that's another story...) It was a year of Rock 'n' Roll, parties and friendship. All to soon it was time to return to the National Curriculum, SAT's and marking...
But go back I did. I finished the course (whilst working throughout the West End in the evenings) , got myself a 2:1 and applied for teaching jobs. Luckily - I didn't get any.
By now I was back in the West End earning a living wage, so I thought I'd stick it out for a year until it was again time to apply for a teaching post. However, by the time that year was up I'd taken my first steps in my acting career. I'd got my hands on a hallowed Equity Card (thanks to a dodgy panto in Basildon) and was auditioning for the major musicals. I decided to give it another year...
Then came the break. I was working at the Royalty Theatre on Kingsway at the time, which as it was about to be sold was dark, and was only being used for auditions.
I would go in of a morning, put a lighting state up on stage, fly in some blacks (curtains!) on stage, open up the doors and tick the auditionees in and out. Certain companies like Really Useful and Apollo would be in quite regularly, and consequently I got to know people quite well. This bore fruit early in 1994 during auditions for "Singin' in the Rain". They auditioned all day for the role of "Gozark" without success. So little success in fact, that the auditions overran. As I had to get over to "Phantom" for the evening show, I went down to the stalls to throw them out!
Halfway down the stairs I met Ann Lonergan, the casting director, coming up. Before I could speak she said "I hope you don't mind, but we've told Tommy (Steele, the director) you're an actor and he thinks you're perfect for the role. Would you mind coming down to read for it?"
Ten minutes later I'd got the job.
The tour ran for nearly two years, and after that I went from show to show for another two years. I had arrived.
Then, disaster struck (well, relatively speaking...). The show I was in ("Lock up your Daughters") was supposed to transfer from Chichester to the Savoy Theatre, it was November and we had contracts until the following May. Suddenly, the transfer was off, and we were given two weeks notice. I returned to the Cambridge, but found that I could not earn enough to get by in London.
Then I had a phone call from an old friend who had been House Manager at Drury Lane during my time there. He was now managing the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff, and wondered if I wanted to come home and work with him? As always, the Lord's timing was impeccable...
I stayed at the Sherman until March 1998, having worked as Assistant Theatre Manager for the preceding six months. I gained a lot of valuable experience, but was getting itchy actors feet by this time - so decided to come back to London and get back on the audition circuit (much to my agent's delight!)
The new Millenium has brought forays into TV, Audio (notably on Dr Who !) and most recently in film, working at the famous Ealing Studios.
Mark Donovan 2004
"My God shall supply all my needs, according to his riches in glory"
