Donovan Patton (born March 1, 1978) is an American actor and television host. Patton graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy and acted in Shakespeare plays such as Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet before replacing Steve Burns as the host of the television program Blue's Clues in 2002. Series co-creator Angela Santomero stated that Patton brought Joe, his character, closer to the preschool viewer, as Joe was more willing to "jump into a problem rather than figuring it out first like Steve". He also reprised his role as Joe in the spin-off Blue's Room (2004–2007) and the reboot Blue's Clues & You! (2019–2024). Since 2006, Patton also voices Bot on Nickelodeon's Team Umizoomi, and CatRat on the Netflix original DreamWorks series Gabby's Dollhouse.
Although most of his career has been in children's television programs, Patton has also appeared in independent films, such as Black Wine (2005), Awake (2013), Lies I Told My Little Sister (2014), The Broken Ones (2017), The Murder (2019), The Anniversary (2019), Psycho Escort (2020), and DieRy (2020), and in television shows, such as Blue Bloods (2011), Nurse Jackie (2011), and Damages (2012).
He also appeared in video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V (2013), Lego Jurassic World (2015), Star Wars: The Old Republic – Knights of the Fallen Empire (2015), Halo 5: Guardians (2015), Horizon: Zero Dawn (2017), and God of War (2018).
Early life and education
Patton was born on a U.S. military base in Guam to Michael Patton (1951–2014), an Air Force meteorologist, and Darlene Curtis (born 1952), who worked for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He has an older brother, Casey, and a younger half-sister, Annabelle. After his parents divorced when he was 3, he, his brother, and their mother moved to Colorado. They moved to Las Vegas when Donovan was 12. Patton graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in northwest Michigan in 1996, having transferred there his junior year.
Career
His first acting roles were in Shakespeare plays such as Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet. Patton became a "household name" and has been called "an unqualified star to the 5-and-under set and their parents". Patton was selected out of 1,500 auditions. He had never seen the show before his audition, but like Burns was the favorite with preschool test audiences. He said, "I am convinced that I got that part because of a Christopher Walken impression I sometimes do. There's a tape out there, somewhere, with both Steve Burns and myself doing a Blue's Clues scene both as Christopher Walken, which we did at the screen test. I haven't seen the tape, but I know somewhere it still exists". Burns trained Patton to take over the host spot and advised him not to "think of [the show] as children's TV", but rather as "acting and telling the truth". Burns left the show in January 2001, with the transition episodes airing in April 2002.
According to Traci Paige Johnson, one of the producers and creators of Blue's Clues, Patton's character was more like a preschooler and more innocent than Steve. He called the show's crew "a real fun little family" by the time he joined the show. Patton remained on the show for 48 episodes, until it ended its run in 2006, and also appeared in its spin-off, Blue's Room, which premiered in 2004. Several years later, Patton said he had not yet grasped the enormity of replacing Burns, even after he became a parent and witnessed the show's effect on his own children. He admitted that he preferred when his daughter watched the Steve episodes.
Patton, alongside Burns, appeared in the first episode of the 2019 revival Blue's Clues & You!, reprising their roles as Joe and Steve respectively to help their cousin Josh (who was played by Josh Dela Cruz) learn how to take care of Blue. Patton and Burns continued to make recurring appearances throughout the remainder of the series, and prominently co-starred in the Paramount+ movie Blue's Big City Adventure in 2022.
Later roles
In 2012, Patton appeared in the short films Awake and Pharmboy, the latter of which was directed by his longtime friend Lawrence Feeney. He said, about Team Umizoomi, "the work the animators have done on it has been superlative". He stated that he enjoyed working on Team Umizoomi because it gave him the opportunity to participate in a show from its inception, which he had missed with Blue's Clues. "ended up sounding more like my natural voice, with a teeny bit of superhero in there". He said, about being cast as Bot, "I get to be a superhero. Who doesn't want to be a superhero?" Patton was the only main cast member to stay on Team Umizoomi for its entire run, voicing Bot in all episodes spread through its four seasons.
Patton is married to his wife Jackie and has two children. They live in Los Angeles. He is active in several charities in the New York City area, including Literacy Inc., the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, a large children's hospital.
|-
| 2013
| Grand Theft Auto V
| Actor
| Uncredited (Also additional motion capture)
|-
| rowspan=4 |2015
| Lego Jurassic World
| Voice Cast
|
|-
| Lego Dimensions
| Additional voices
|
|-
| Star Wars: The Old Republic – Knights of the Fallen Empire
| Additional voices
|
|-
| Halo 5: Guardians
| Additional voices
|
|-
| rowspan=3 |2017
| Horizon Zero Dawn
| Gildun
| The Frozen Wilds downloadable content
|-
| Minecraft: Story Mode – Season 2
| Warden
|
|-
| Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds
| Gildun
|
|-
| 2018
| God of War
| Additional voices
|
|-
| 2021
| Halo Infinite
| Additional voices
|
|-
| 2023
| Horizon Forbidden West
| Gildun
| The Burning Shores downloadable content
|}
Shorts
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
|-
| rowspan=2 |2012
| It's Not You, It's Me
| Arguing Man
|-
| Beyond Belief
| Shaina's Dad
|-
| 2013
| Awake
| Eddie
|-
| 2015
| Clarence Shorts: Big Boy
| Mr. Reese (voice)
|-
| rowspan=2 |2016
| Clarence Shorts: Beans
| Mr. Reese (voice)
|-
| Clarence Shorts: Sticky Clarence
| Mr. Reese (voice)
|-
| rowspan=2 |2019
| The Murder
| Psychiatrist
|-
| The Anniversary
| Psychiatrist
|}
Video
- Dr. Ice (1996) – Waiter
- It's Joe Time (2002) – Joe
- Blue's Clues: Meet Joe! (2002) – Joe
- Blue's Big Band (2003) – Joe
- Blue Takes You to School (2003) – Joe
- Blue's Biggest Stories (2006) – Joe
- Blue's Jobs (2006) – Joe
- Meet Blue's Baby Brother (2006) – Joe
- Fred's Birthday (2006) – Joe
References
Works cited
- Barron, Natania (January 25, 2010). "Donovan Patton Interview". GeekDad.com. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
- Tracy, Diane. (2002). Blue's Clues for Success: The 8 Secrets Behind a Phenomenal Business. New York: Kaplan Publishing. .