Actor Trevor Donovan may be best known as the leading man in romantic comedies, but the California native believes there is value in looking at …
Actor Trevor Donovan may be best known as the leading man in romantic comedies, but the California native believes there is value in looking at things from another perspective — whether that means exploring challenging onscreen characters, being a positive influence on social media, or driving a political conversation that fosters cooperation rather than simply taking sides. Onscreen, Donovan has often chosen roles that force him to expand his own personal horizons and perspectives. Early on in his acting career, that meant exploring the emotional journey of Teddy Montgomery (“90210”) — a teenager struggling to come to terms with his own sexuality. More recently in “ Wolf Hound,” that means playing an ace Nazi fighter pilot in a World War II drama — despite the fact that Donovan is the grandson of an American World War II veteran. Trevor Donovan MR/Photo courtesy of Trevor Donovan said that becoming someone else — even just for a short time — was the nature of the job. He noted that an industry move toward pigeonholing actors — by saying that only certain people could play certain roles — was frustrating. “This is by definition… that’s our job — to step out of who we are and take on a role that isn’t who we are. That’s the job. If everybody just goes in and plays who they are then that takes the creativity out of the process.” But Donovan also told The Daily Wire in an exclusive interview that it’s even more important to explore other perspectives and thought processes off-screen — especially in the often volatile arenas of social media and politics. When he first joined social media, Donovan said that he was disappointed to find it something of a “cesspool,” with people often arguing and getting angry — and not really listening or bothering to understand where others were coming from. “People are very easily offended. I have friends who we don’t see eye to eye politically but we can still be friends. I think that’s definitely missing from the political world and the world in general,” he explained. “It’s easy to have an emotional opinion and look for the headline that agrees with you and stick with that, but then you never learn anything about other people and the thought process they go through,” he said, adding that he believed people who had a larger platform — and sometimes hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers — had a responsibility to help bring people together rather than simply throwing out opinions that may not be any better informed.
