Željko Ivanek

Željko Ivanek
Born	Željko Šimić-Ivanek (1957-08-15) August 15, 1957 Ljubljana, Yugoslavia (now Slovenia)
Education	Yale University (BA) London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1981–present

Željko Ivanek (né Šimić-Ivanek; /ˈʒɛlkoʊ ɪˈvɑːnɪk/; Slovene: [ˈʒɛːlkɔ iˈʋaːnək]; born August 15, 1957) is a Slovenian–American actor, known for his role as Ray Fiske on Damages, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award. Ivanek is also known for his role of Ed Danvers on Homicide: Life on the Street and Homicide: The Movie, Governor James Devlin on Oz, Andre Drazen on 24, Blake Sterling on the short-lived NBC series The Event, and Emile "The Hunter" Danko in Heroes. From 2014 until 2019, he starred as Russell Jackson in the CBS drama Madam Secretary. He also had a recurring role as F.B.I Special Agent Jim Racine in the Cinemax original series Banshee.

Early life and education

Ivanek was born Željko Šimić-Ivanek in Ljubljana, PR Slovenia, FPR Yugoslavia. In 1960, Željko, his mother and younger brother, Ivan, immigrated to Palo Alto, California, where his father was studying for his PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford University.

After a two-year stay, in 1962, the family moved back to Yugoslavia for five years and then returned to Palo Alto in 1967. Having performed in numerous community theater plays in the San Francisco Bay Area, he graduated from Ellwood P. Cubberley High School in Palo Alto in 1975. Ivanek graduated from Yale University majoring in theater in 1978 and afterward attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Acting career

Ivanek has worked extensively on the stage. In 1982, he originated the role of Hally in Athol Fugard's play "Master Harold"...and the Boys. He appeared in the U.S. premieres of Cloud Nine (for which he earned the 1981 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play) and The Pillowman. He performs frequently on Broadway and has been nominated for three Tony Awards, for his performances in the original production of Brighton Beach Memoirs, in Two Shakespearean Actors, and in a revival of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, alongside David Schwimmer and Tim Daly.

However, Ivanek is perhaps best known for his supporting roles in a number of well-known television series. His first television role was as Sammie Wheaton on the ABC soap opera The Edge of Night. Other roles include Emile Danko in Heroes; Roland in The X-Files; prosecuting attorney Ed Danvers in Homicide: Life on the Street; Ray Fiske in Damages; J.J. in Big Love; the Magister in True Blood; Governor James Devlin in Oz; Serbian terrorist Andre Drazen in 24; and Blake Sterling, the Director of National Intelligence in the NBC drama series The Event.

Most recently, Ivanek played Russell Jackson, Chief of Staff, in the TV series Madam Secretary. He portrayed John Dickinson, the Pennsylvania representative to the Second Continental Congress, in the HBO miniseries John Adams. He has guest-starred on such shows as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and House. He has appeared several times on Law & Order as both one-off characters and as Ed Danvers, this last in crossover episodes with Homicide: Life on the Street.

In addition to his stage and television work, Ivanek has appeared in more than 20 feature films, including The Sender, in which he made his feature film debut as the unnamed title character, The Bourne Legacy, In Bruges, Dogville, Black Hawk Down, Donnie Brasco, Argo, Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

In 2012, he portrayed Dr. Stafford White in the Fox drama The Mob Doctor. As of 2014, he has supporting roles in several shows on broadcast and cable television, including the NBC drama series Revolution, where he plays the recurring roles of Dr. Calvin Horn and an illusory nanotech avatar of Horn; the USA Network drama Suits; the Cinemax drama Banshee; and the FX series The Americans.

In the documentary That Guy... Who Was in That Thing, Ivanek states that his contract includes a rider to ensure that the first letter in his name, Ž, has its caron properly rendered in any credits sequence where his name appears.

Awards

Ivanek has received recognition for his on-screen work. In 2008, he was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in the role of Ray Fiske on Damages.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	The Soldier	Bombmaker/Cleaning lady
1982	Tex	Mark Jennings	Credited as "Hitchhiker".
1982	The Sender	John Doe #83 / The Sender
1984	Mass Appeal	Mark Dolson
1984	The Sun Also Rises	Bill Gorton
1987	Rachel River	Momo
1990	Artificial Paradise	Willy
1991	Our Sons	Donald Barnes
1992	School Ties	Mr. Cleary
1996	White Squall	Coast Guard Captain Sanders
1996	Courage Under Fire	Ben Banacek
1996	Infinity	Bill Price
1996	The Associate	SEC Agent Thompkins
1997	Donnie Brasco	Tim Curley
1997	Julian Po	Tom Potter
1998	Nowhere to Go	Principal Jack Walker
1998	A Civil Action	Bill Crowley
1999	Snow Falling on Cedars	Dr. Whitman
2000	Dancer in the Dark	District Attorney
2001	Hannibal	Dr. Cordell Doemling
2001	Black Hawk Down	Lieutenant Colonel Gary Harrell
2002	Unfaithful	Detective Dean
2003	Dogville	Ben
2004	The Manchurian Candidate	Vaughn Utly
2005	Manderlay	Dr. Hector
2006	The Hoax	Ralph Graves
2007	Ascension Day	Master Travis
2007	Live Free or Die Hard	Molina
2008	In Bruges	Canadian Guy
2011	Tower Heist	FBI Director
2012	The Bourne Legacy	Dr. Donald Foite
2012	Argo	Robert Pender	Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Nominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble
2012	Seven Psychopaths	Paulo	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast Nominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble
2012	The Words	Cutler
2016	X-Men: Apocalypse	Pentagon Scientist
2017	Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri	Desk Sergeant Cedric Connoly	Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Acting Ensemble Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Great Performances	March Hare	Episode: "Alice in Wonderland"
1986	American Playhouse	George Deever	Episode: "All My Sons"
1987	St. Elsewhere	Mark Dolson	Episode: "You Again?"
1987	Echoes in the Darkness	Vince Valaitis	Television movie
1990	L.A. Law	Joel Lassen	Episode: "Bound for Glory"
1993	Law & Order	Phillip Swann	Episode: "American Dreams"
1993–1999	Homicide: Life on the Street	Ed Danvers	37 episodes
1994	The X-Files	Roland Fuller / Dr. Arthur Grable	Episode: "Roland"
1995	Murder, She Wrote	Eddie Saunders	Episode: "Home Care"
1995	Truman	Eddie Jacobsen	Television movie
1997–1999	Law & Order	ASA Ed Danvers	2 episodes
1997	Frasier	Dr. Arnold Shaw	Episode: "Death and the Dog"
1997	The Practice	D.A. Mark McGovern	Episode: "The Civil Right"
1997	Millennium	Dr. Daniel "Danny" Miller	Episode: "Walkabout"
1997–2003	Oz	Governor James Devlin	27 episodes
1997	Ally McBeal	Judge Marshal Pink	Episode: "One Hundred Tears Away"
1998	From the Earth to the Moon	Ken Mattingly	Episode: "The Original Wives Club"
1998	The Rat Pack	Robert F. Kennedy	Television movie
2000	ER	Bruce Resnick	Episode: "The Dance We Do"
2000	Homicide: The Movie	Ed Danvers	TV film
2001	The Practice	U.S Attorney Sanders	Episode: "The Confession"
2002	The Practice	Matthew Davies	Episode: "Neighboring Species"
2002	24	Andre Drazen	15 episodes
2002	The Twilight Zone	ER chief	Episode: "The Lineman"
2003	The West Wing	Steve Atwood	2 episodes
2004	Law & Order	Mr. Capplin	Episode: "Gov Love"
2004	Touching Evil	Ronald Hinks	Episode: "Pilot"
2005	NYPD Blue	Justin Deroos	Episode: "Stoli With a Twist"
2005	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Andrew Melton	Episode: "Nesting Dolls"
2006	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Everett Drake	Episode: "Taboo"
2006	Bones	Carl Decker	Episode: "The Woman in the Car"
2006	Shark	Eliot Dasher	2 episodes
2006	Cold Case	John Doe	Episode: "One Night"
2007–2010	Damages	Raymond "Ray" Fiske	16 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film
2007	Lost	Edmund Burke	Episode: "Not in Portland"
2008–2014	The Mentalist	Dr. Linus Wagner	3 episodes
2008	Numbers	William Fraley	Episode: "When Worlds Collide"
2008	John Adams	John Dickinson	2 episodes
2008–2014	True Blood	Magister	5 episodes
2008	House	Jason	Episode: "Last Resort"
2009	Heroes	Emile "The Hunter" Danko	13 episodes
2009–2010	Big Love	J.J.	12 episodes
2010–2011	The Event	Blake Sterling	22 episodes
2013	White Collar	Brett Forsythe	Episode: "Digging Deeper"
2012–2013	The Mob Doctor	Dr. Stafford White	13 episodes
2013–2014	Revolution	Dr. Calvin Horn	5 episodes
2014	Banshee	F.B.I. Special Agent Jim Racine	3 episodes
2014–2015	Suits	Eric Woodall	4 episodes
2014	The Americans	John Skeevers	Episode: "Stealth"
2014–2019	Madam Secretary	Russell Jackson	102 episodes
2015–2017	12 Monkeys	Leland Goines	3 episodes

External links

• Željko Ivanek at IMDb
• Željko Ivanek at the Internet Broadway Database
• Željko Ivanek at Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Zeljko Ivanek(Aveleyman)