Eddie Marsan in motion

The British actor on portraying Parkinson’s on screen, working away from his family and a packed 2019

After a career spanning 20 years, British actor Eddie Marsan claims people have only started to recognise him after he began playing Terry, in Showtime’s Ray Donovan . “I’ve played Heinrich Himmler, Bob Dylan, the headmaster in Deadpool 2 but I’ve never been recognised as somebody I’ve played before. Ray Donovan fans have this ownership of Terry,” he says over a phone call. Now in its sixth season, the long running show about the ‘fixer’ (Liev Schreiber), who can make all his clients’ problems go away, shifts to New York from Los Angeles. “There’s less of the Hollywood influence and more brutality. It’s definitely a harsher season. The focus is on this dysfunctional [Donovan] family,” reveals Marsan, known for films such as V for Vendetta , and Mission: Impossible III .

The actor’s portrayal of the eldest Donovan brother, with Schreiber and Jon Voight playing his siblings, has garnered several positive reviews over the years. A retired boxer, Terry also suffers from Parkinson’s disease, which has been progressing over the years. After playing the character for the better part of six years, becoming Terry is not tough for the 50-year-old star. He says, “I have certain techniques that I use along with a lot of imagery and music. It’s then easier to access the character and it’s also because I’ve been doing this for so long. I’m not a very academic person, I’m much more visual.”

Cross country

And portraying family characters are a huge deal for Marsan. “Terry is a fantastic role — he is the mother character of the family. Although tough — he’s a boxer and very stoic with his disease — it also has some feminine traits. He’s caring and maternal.” For the British actor, who works over a 1,000 miles away from home, the Ray Donovan cast has become a family of sorts in the States. “It can get really lonely and my friendships in the US have enabled me to cope with being away from my family.” Striving to maintain normalcy in his personal life, Marsan goes back home to his wife and four children, who live in London, as often as possible. “My life is just my work and my family. I don’t really have a big social life and try to keep things as normal as possible. I take the kids to school or read them stories before bed.”

Speaking up

Being a part of the industry in the spotlight of the #MeToo movement, Marsan weighs in saying, “It’s great that these stories are coming out in the open. It was inevitable. People are presenting their stories, the structures of power, the hierarchy.” As to the tangible effect on people thanks to this movement, he says, “I think we will begin to communicate our feelings more. There’s a move for men especially to express their feelings and be more articulate,” says Marsan who is also working on a number of feature films.

Along with White Boy Rick, which released in September this year , the actor has a slew of releases in 2019: Pedro Alonso’s Feedback , Lee Tamahori’s Emperor and Andy Serkis’ Mowgli, which is scheduled for a Netflix release next year. Marsan will also feature in the Fast And Furious spin-off, Hobbs And Shaw that also stars Dwayne Johnson and Vanessa Kirby.

Season 6 of Ray Donovan airs on AXN India every Friday at 10 pm