Trivia

Was engaged to actress Jennifer Aniston from 1995-1996.

He was considered for the role of George McFly in Back to the Future (1985).

In addition to fiddling, he can sing and play the bodhran (a hand-held Irish drum). He used to play a regular gig with a local band in Los Angeles.

Is the youngest of six children in a Catholic family. He is of Irish, and a small amount of German, ancestry.

He is hoping to become a television director, and is learning how to do it by "trailing" the directors on his series The O.C. (2003).

He plays the fiddle. Displayed this skill on the The New Tom Green Show (2003).

Attended Dwight-Englewood High School in New Jersey, the same school attended by Brooke Shields, Mira Sorvino and Lesley Gore.

Participated in the 2005 ING New York City Marathon - finish time was 3:28:49.

Donovan and his Hercules (1997) adversary James Woods each played former White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman: Woods in Oliver Stone's 1995 film Nixon (1995) and Donovan in 2016's Elvis & Nixon (2016).

As of 2017, has appeared in three films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005), Argo (2012) and Manchester by the Sea (2016). Of those, Argo (2012) is a winner in the category.

In September 2006, he starring with Amy Ryan in the West Coast production of "Rabbit Hole".

He played the White House Chief of Staff in both 24: Live Another Day (2014) and Elvis & Nixon (2016).

Uncle of Ari Weiss and Marnika Weiss.

Tate Donovan delivered an intense performance as a white supremacist opposite onscreen brother actor Frank Military in the 1989 movie Dead Bang. The movie co-starred actors Don Johnson and Penelope Ann Miller.