Today we’d like to introduce you to Clare Margaret Donovan.
Hi Clare Margaret, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve heard it said recently that actors who always talk about how they were performing since they popped out of the womb aren’t really all that different from you know… all children. But I’d like to think I took it to a new level, forcing my baby brother to star alongside me in elaborate productions ranging from complex reimaginings of our favorite Disney Channel shows to amateur – but passionate – gymnastics routines during the Olympics. I’d even make us dress up and do Oscar Night sketches while our parents cooked a fancy meal at my unmoving request.
I’m frequently struck by how far we’ve both come since then.
When I was nine years old, my family moved from the small town in Colorado where both of my parents had grown up (and had hoped to raise us) to the big city! (Well, Phoenix, Arizona, if that counts?)
The only way they convinced me to leave my steady 3rd-grade routine was by dangling the opportunity to act that the city would offer.
Within 24 hours of landing at our new home, I had scheduled three meetings with agents and was begging my parents to hold off on unloading the moving truck to instead drive me to meet with them!
During the year we spent in Phoenix, I worked on a variety of shoots and shows but was most blessed to walk the famed runways of Old Navy (basically Fashion Week, right?)!
Naturally, when we moved back to our little town in Colorado a mere year later, I was devastated that my promising career as a tutu model was coming to an end … lucky for me, my hometown of Glenwood Springs is scarily close to the infamous slopes of Aspen. I signed with Aspen Model Team and got involved with Theater Aspen (yes, yes I did play a Duloc Dancer in Shrek The Musical, please calm down). My dad would pick me up from school early three times a week, drive me an hour in the snow to rehearsals, wait, and then drive me back. Some days he’d shuttle me straight from play rehearsals to soccer practice and then wait for me there too! I hope my future kids don’t expect this level of commitment from me, especially with gas prices these days.
When a prestigious casting director came to Theater Aspen to do a workshop and told me I should actually try to make it in LA, all bets were off. My mom has never shied away from an adventure, and even though people thought we were insane, she didn’t let anything stop us!
During our initial week-long vacation to the City of Stars, we signed with our first manager. Now, when I say “we”, it’s because forcing my baby brother to perform in my dinnertime productions didn’t stop there…I had now convinced him to follow along with me professionally.
My parents are literal angels and they took us out for Pilot Season that same year! We lived at Oakwood, a true right of passage for all child actors, with plans to return to Colorado after about three months, but we never left.
My brother and I signed with agents, started auditioning, and started booking. It’s a fallacy in most cases that one should be discovered on a playground and handed a career. In reality, my journey has been one of endless training and heartbreak, but with shining glimmers of my dreams coming true at every turn.
I could now offer you a play-by-play of the jobs I’ve been lucky enough to book, but that’s what my resume and reel are for (https://linktr.ee/ClareDonovan)!
I feel like “my story” is more tied to the things I’ve learned that have made my passion for art grow, and the people I’ve worked with along the way that have shown me what it means to be in this industry.
In LA, I’ve trained with incredible teachers including Margie Haber, Zak Barnett, and Scott Sedita. In New York, I’ve spent a summer with the unbelievable team at the Lee Strasberg Institute. And in Chicago, I’ve learned so much at The Second City.
I double-majored in Theater and Cinematic Arts at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) and honestly can’t say enough complimentary things about the incredible teachers, directors, faculty, and students there. We literally harmonized on the subway to get to school and sneakily memorized Shakespeare under the desk during math class while music students snuck to the bathroom to practice and visual arts kids madly sketched their assignment they forgot was due. It was honestly madness and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Guess what? I also made my brother go here!
During my time at LACHSA, I started an internship with Matt Nix (creator of Burn Notice, The Gifted, etc.)and discovered my intense passion for writing and development. I have somehow convinced Matt and his incredible team at Flying Glass of Milk Productions to let me keep hopping with them from project to project, doing research, script coverage, and sitting in on mind-blowing meetings where I pretend to be a scary female executive. Needless to say, I can’t even begin to tell you how much I’ve learned from and been inspired by these experiences.
Now? I attend DePaul University in their Comedy Filmmaking BFA program in partnership with The Second City. I want to be Mindy Kaling and Phoebe Waller Bridge’s love child, and what better way than to train in acting and writing! (Guess what? I also make my brother go here!)
And thanks to COVID, I can take classes online whenever I need to actually be in LA! I recently did the West Coast Premiere of “Hooded or Being Black for Dummies”, Tearance Chisholm’s latest darkly comedic play, at the Echo Theater Company. Ahmed Best is an unmatched director and the entire team behind the Echo is incredible. I was so grateful to work with the absolutely breathtakingly talented cast on a project that is so timely and powerful.
And I suppose that’s what I aim to do going forward in my career. I want to collaborate with other artists to create projects that affect positive change.
And whether that be by making a mindless comedy that makes people laugh and escape reality or by writing a groundbreaking cultural study like “Vice” or “Get Out”, I just hope to be writing and acting alongside people with open minds and hearts on their sleeves.
Recently, I find myself really drawn to projects that walk the line between drama and comedy and thus truly feel like real life; a mix of the ups and downs that is life. Movies like “Silver Linings Playbook”, “The Royal Tenenbaums”, and “Juno”. Shows like “Shameless” and “Fleabag”.
In conclusion, thank God my parents didn’t listen to people who thought they were crazy to give us the chance to follow our dreams out here in La La Land. Thank God for the people we’ve met along the way, and thank God for “Star Wars”!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Look, you thought Maggie in “Million Dollar Baby” had it hard? Wait until you hear what actors do every day.
In all sincerity, though, I’ve been eternally lucky to have the opportunities I’ve had with the people I’ve had them with, this industry is sometimes nothing short of brutal.
I’ve been told at 12 years old that my breasts were too big and I needed to “strap them down” if I ever wanted to get a part. I’ve been told at 13 to be careful not to gain any weight (and maybe at least lose 5 pounds) because you can still be pretty, but “big girls don’t work”.
I’ve been encouraged to work with coaches to appear “younger and dumber” because I looked old for my age, but only got auditions for young roles. In these same conversations, I’ve been told to tone down my natural bubbliness to make sure I don’t appear desperate.
And these are all assuming I get in an audition room! Getting auditions at all is quite a catch-22 because you need credits to seem legitimate enough to make it to casting, but you can’t get credits without getting cast! Being “too old”, “too young”, “too tall”, “not Middle Eastern enough” (what?!), “too much like another actor”…it can be really disheartening because it truly often doesn’t have anything to do with you as an actor, but that doesn’t matter. Every fiber of your being is put on display as an actor…you are your product and every aspect of you can be scrutinized in terms of a job!
And yet, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Hopefully, publications like this and the conversations being had as part of the #MeToo movement will start to really change the game.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As I’m sure you’re tired of hearing from me already, my passion lies in acting and writing. I really enjoy these crafts in various mediums (for example, I love theater), though I think I am most drawn to film and television.
As I mentioned, of late I have been really intrigued by projects that walk the line of drama and comedy to truly reflect reality. Movies like “Silver Linings Playbook”, “The Royal Tenenbaums”, and “Juno”. Shows like “Shameless” and “Fleabag”. I also like elements of these projects like their rocking soundtracks and quirky, moody aesthetics.
When I sit down to write, I most often find myself writing comedic pilots…I recently completed one revolving around the dog-eat-dog culture of dog rescue organizations and another slightly darker piece about my own struggles with OCD.
In every case, I hope to follow in the footsteps of Dan Levy, Issa Rae, Donald Glover, Phoebe Waller Bridge, and Mindy Kaling by maintaining a creative role as a writer but also getting to bring a character to life as an actor.
As far as writing, my favorite project I’ve ever completed is a mockumentary-style film about the Salem Witch Trials. I know it sounds bizarre (and it is!) but you’d be surprised how much fun I had taking myths, legends, and historical facts and making it feel like an MTV segment. I do hope to produce that at some point.
When it comes to acting, “Hooded or Being Black for Dummies” was one of the most challenging, rewarding, and important adventures of my life. My character was not only a very far cry from me as a person, but she could have so easily fallen into a stereotype box or a caricature of a human being, so I had to work hard to ground her overtly comedic purpose in the show in her humanity. I like to think of her as Blair Waldorf meets Cher from “Clueless” meets Maddy from “Euphoria”.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Oh my goodness gracious, MY MOTHER. Erin Donovan. She’s a genius, she’s a legend, she is the moment. She’s going to be a famous actress and producer, she has to be. No really, I couldn’t do any of this without her.
MY BABY BROTHER, Maxwell Acee Donovan. He’s been mentioned several times. He’s an icon. He’s so talented. Our goal is to end up like Ben and Casey Affleck (especially if one of us gets to marry JLO) or John and Joan Cusack.
MY FATHER, Brent. Driving isn’t even all he’s good for, folx! He’s especially helpful with voice-over auditions.
My team!! Nicole Diaz-Miller, Tiffany Treibell, Emily Urbani, Haydn Jones, everyone at Osbrink. All those along the way, Susan Havins who passed away, Tal Fox who is now following her own dreams as an actress and casting director. Thank you all for believing in me.
Matt Nix, Justice Hardy, Mike Horowitz, Josh Levy. I can never thank you enough.
My teachers and directors! I can’t sing their praises enough…y’all know who you are. I sincerely worship you.
My grandparents, my family, my friends. From getting me my very first acting classes to fundraising for me to go to a talent expo when I was 10 to thinking of me when opportunities cross their desk to just caring about me as a human! Wow, what would I do without all of you.
Oh yeah, also: ANYONE WHO HAS EVER CAST ME OR READ ONE OF MY SCRIPTS OR HELPED ME IN ANY WAY, I LOVE YOU FOREVER.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/ClareDonovan
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happyinhollywood/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW2aT8Rv4smQGYeh_vBO7nA
Image Credits
Jon McKee Guy Viau
