In real life, Jeffrey Donovan comes off just like his character on Burn Notice, blacklisted spy Michael Westen, using the same introspectively sardonic, acerbically intuitive remarks. He often punctuates his words with an expression that approximates a sarcastic, “Really?” on his angular face as an answer to anything he considers dumb or obvious. Not that he’s rude. Donovan, an actor who has truly worked his way into a major starring role, is one of the industry’s nice guys (even though he can break every bone in your body), and thanks to his hit show Hollywood is beginning to perceive him as a viable leading man, which means more to him than being a star.

“I have come to a point where I am really fortunate I keep rising below the radar,” Donovan says. “If I can keep doing that and I can have a hit television show, and if I can keep that anonymity and have huge success at the same time, that I would love.”

Burn Notice is the first television show filmed entirely in Miami to make it to a second season since Miami Vice, which is why you’ll see Donovan all over town, including between takes (left) and during filming with co-star Gabrielle Anwar (right).

On July 10th, Burn Notice—one of a few programs set in Miami but the only major network show that shoots its entire production locally—is beginning its second season on the USA Network. It has developed a cult following enamored with its tongue-in-cheek twist on the old spy story, and a lot of that has to do with Donovan—an eloquent, chiseled, black-belt martial artist with a searing stare and dry wit.
“That kind of tone, it’s me having fun,” he says. “I figured if I were to play a spy, I can’t play James Bond better than Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Daniel Craig. They all have this suave but intense angle. I figured if I wanted to play a spy, I wanted to make people laugh. I asked myself, When does this guy enjoy himself the most? When he’s manipulating a situation that not only benefits him but also benefits the good guy, and when he’s doing that, nothing could make him happier.”

Unlike many of the prefabricated young stars littering Hollywood, Donovan himself is a rare “real” guy, one who worked his way through the industry the long and hard way. “I’m from a small town in Massachusetts called Amesbury,” says Donovan, who studied drama at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and went on to the New York University graduate actors program. “It’s a tiny town. I grew up doing plays with my friends, just putting on skits and stuff.

“There were times when it was very difficult making ends meet,” he continues. “I had to put myself through college and work three jobs. There is a difference between becoming a star and producing a star. George Clooney could walk down the street during the first season of ER; he can’t now, and that is because he built a career based on choices and hard work. Then there is someone who is given a huge three-picture deal in this epic movie, and then the studios, publicists and magazines tell you this person is a star. That person has no choice but to embrace what is being put in front of them.”

Donovan went on to roles on Broadway before moving to L.A., where he is now a veteran of 15 years of screen acting, including HBO’s original film When Trumpets Fade and recurring roles on Crossing Jordan, The Pretender, Monk, CSI: Miami and Law & Order. He got his first starring role playing a detective on USA Network’s Touching Evil and is slated to appear in Clint Eastwood’s next film, Changeling.

Playing tough-guy detectives or quick-with-a-joke wise guys comes naturally to Donovan: He’s lean and muscular and exudes a fearlessness that few actors show on screen. And he has trained in hand-to-hand combat maneuvers over the years, which now comes in handy as Burn Notice incorporates more realistic fisticuffs and stunt work into its story lines.

	On Donovan: Hat by Christy available at Leo, Miami Beach. T-shirt by Theory, shirt by Prada and shorts by Parke & Ronen, all available at Saks Fifth Avenue, Bal Harbour. On her: Sweater by Catherine Malandrino and earrings by Cousin Claudine, both available at Intermix, Miami Beach. Belt by D&G available at Saks Fifth Avenue, Bal Harbour.

A week before he leaves for Miami for preproduction of the show’s second season, I meet Donovan at his mixed-martial-arts workout with trainer Nikolay Sartchadjiev in Calabasas, about a half hour north of Hollywood. The two go at it for more than an hour on the mat, with Sartchadjiev, a former mixed-martial-arts champion from Bulgaria, hurling his stocky, powerful physique at Donovan repeatedly, using an assortment of attack modes. Donovan absorbs, blocks and retaliates with his own arsenal of strikes and choke holds. They aren’t using their full force, but it’s obvious each will bear bruises the following morning.

In one exercise, Sartchadjiev lunges at Donovan with a rubber knife, forcing the actor to practice his defenses. It’s a nonstop workout, and it can be dangerous. At one point, Sartchadjiev takes Donovan to the ground, twisting him and prompting a pop from his knee. So why risk injury? According to Donovan, who has practiced karate and aikido for more than 12 years, it’s because he wants his on-screen fights to look less Hollywood and more real than anything viewers typically see.

“I’m given this role of a spy who is a field agent,” he says. “These guys are lethal with there hands. I just wanted to bring an authenticity to the role that is like nothing on television. And every time the fight coordinator and I go into a fight, the first thing we do is ask, What would really happen walking out that door with this configuration, with these sight angles? Is it plausible to pull a knife here? So we almost take it out of the show and put it in real life and then ask the show to justify the fight rather than the fight justifying the show.”

Donovan’s character, Westen, is a CIA agent who awakes one day in Miami to find himself blacklisted, so he embarks on a personal vendetta to find the people who double-crossed him and learn why they did it. A voice-over narrative, provided by Donovan and reminiscent of MacGyver, describes many of the technical aspects of secret-agent life.

“The first voice-over dialogue in the pilot is, ‘You know what it’s like being a spy,’ in the tone of, I’m going to explain something to you.” Donovan says. “Not in a condescending way, more in a, Please understand the life I lead is not what you think it is.”

He draws support from his on-and-off flame, fellow spy Fiona (played by Gabrielle Anwar), and his somewhat reliable ex-partner, Sam (Bruce Campbell). Westen’s neurotic mother, Madeline, played by Sharon Gless, adds much of the comedy to the show. The blend of action, double-crossing spy stories and ironic humor is among the reasons why USA Network is marketing Burn Notice so aggressively. “USA believed in the show so much they shot season-two publicity during season one,” Donovan says. “There isn’t another show that has the same funny action tone to it. Matt Nix, the creator, and I talked about it: How do we put something in South Beach, where it will easily look good, but still bring substance to it and on top of that make people laugh?”

While the character and story elements are key to Burn Notice’s charm, Donovan insists that the setting, Miami, is a co-star, too. The show films all over town—interiors are shot in a set built at the Coconut Grove Expo Center—and because it is shot exclusively in the Magic City it has gotten strong support from the City of Miami. It has been mutually rewarding, as Burn Notice is the first television show filmed exclusively in Miami to make it to a second season since Miami Vice, and has brought millions of dollars in revenue to the city. And also, the star loves Miami.

“Miami is more international than L.A.,” says Donovan, who celebrated his 40th birthday at the Delano. “It’s more European, Brazilian, South American, Caribbean, Central American—everyone is coming here. The energy of that international culture, the Latino flavor, surrounds you on every corner, in every street and in every restaurant, and you feel that energy. So that character on the show is not just visual, because some hot people are down there, but also comes through the culture that surrounds you.”
In the meantime, as he prepares for another season of Burn Notice, Donovan is enjoying the moment. “It has just been a slow, perfect ride.”