Ray Donovan

Season 4 Tue M-Net Edge (*102) 21:00 Repeats Wed M-Net Edge (*102) 23:10

Eddie Marsan describes himself as “a funny little man”, but nobody’s laughing at the 48-year-old’s performance as ex-boxer Terry, whose Parkinson’s Disease has worsened in the current fourth season of drama Ray Donovan (2013current). And like his character, Eddie’s taken a couple of punches in his life…

Like when he was 16 and growing 1

up in London. “I was lost after my parents’ divorce. I got caught up with some religious fanatics. They’re manipulative. They wanted me to reject the theory of evolution and ‘save’ homosexuals. I thought, ‘This doesn’t make sense,’ and my mum saved me.”

He dropped out of school aged 16 2

to become a printer’s apprentice, but that didn’t last and he took up drama at a local playhouse that year.

Eddie studied acting at Mountview 3

Academy Of Theatre Arts and got his first role in 1992 – as a yob (disruptive person in the UK) in Brit sitcom The Piglet Files (1990-1992). And while Eddie loves doing comedy movies, he jokes that those roles have dried up now “because of my mug [face]. I love how everyone’s trying to be good-looking in LA, then I turn up and get the work”.

He has a sense of humour too 4

and claims that “Matthew McConaughey is the only actor good-looking enough to play me in a film of my life”.

Eddie’s been married to make-up 5

artist Janine Schneider since 2002 and says that “loving Janine feels like ‘champagne’”. They have two daughters and two sons and live in London.

He also has great personal insight 6

into playing Terry. “My best friend, who died two years ago, he had it [Parkinson’s]. It was heart-breaking the way that it was debilitating to his confidence.” NB! See more on p34