Ray Donovan

Season 2 e.tv (*194) 21:30 Drama

Dash as Benvolio in Romeo + Juliet.

Dash Mihok admits that he wasn’t entirely prepared for the mental stress of playing Brendan “Bunchy” Donovan in drama show Ray Donovan (2013-current). “I spoke to victims who were sexually abused and it was disturbing,” says the 43-year-old. “I had to go to very dark places that I never knew existed.” But uphill battles aren’t new to Dash…

He was diagnosed with tic-symp1

tom Tourette Syndrome aged six after his dad Raymond saw him shaking his head violently. Dash had two shoulder surgeries by his 20s to fix damage that his tic had caused.

He still uses medication that calms 2

his tics but says that “my condition helped me become a better actor. I had to pretend to be normal”.

One of his favourite pieces of work 3

was playing Benvolio in Romeo + Juliet (1996) with Leonardo DiCaprio. But not because of the guns and cars in the re-imagined movie. “It was great having an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt and shorts for wardrobe,” he laughs.

While he misses New York, Dash 4

loves living in LA because he gets time to get “into the country” to ride horses. He also enjoys dancing and wants to get into music, adding that “I’ve always loved hip-hop and rap. It just feels right and calming”.

Music is also a big part of his pri5

vate life. Dash is married to violin player and singer Valeria Mason and he dated Alanis Morissette from 1998 to 2001. He danced in Alanis’s video for So Pure, which she wrote for him.

He has his own band – Diz & The 6

Fam – and their 2015 music video for their song Love features the cast of Ray Donovan, including Liev Schreiber (Ray) and Jon Voight (Mickey).