This interview was conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strikes.
British actor Tobie Donovan never expected to see his TV dreams come to fruition so early on in his career, but with his dedication, positive outlook, and impeccable craft, it is not difficult to see why they have. A graduate of The Bath Theatre Company, Tobie envisioned his career trajectory to begin on stage, transitioning to film down the line. Calling it a “long, long term goal”, the actor certainly did not anticipate landing a role in one of today’s most beloved series: the LGBTQ+ coming-of-age romantic comedy drama series Heartstopper.
Upon seeing an open casting call for the character of Isaac Henderson, which gave a brief description of the role and left much up for discussion with the actor who would play him, Donovan instantly felt connected to the project. “It was so open and amazing,” he explained. “I’d never seen anything like it. And it felt like something I could do. I feel like if there was any project to put myself up for, Heartstopper would be the one. It aligns with so many things in my life.”
Being able to craft the character of Isaac with the Heartstopper team, which he accomplished through an extensive examination of the script and the creation of a mindmap tracking his story arc through Season One, Tobie returned to set for Season Two with a crystal clear idea of who Isaac is. And it certainly shows on screen.
Between working on Season Two, keeping fans up-to-date with behind-the-scenes footage on his social media accounts, and exploring his love for theatre with the Paper Cut production at Park Theatre London, Tobie Donovan has had a busy year. We feel extra lucky, therefore, that we were able to speak with him about Season Two, the differences between theatre and film, and his future goals.
Read the exclusive interview (warning: it may contain some spoilers)…
How have you been? I assume it’s been really busy with both Paper Cut and the upcoming release of Heartstopper Season Two. How’s everything been going?
It’s been great. It was quite busy when I was doing Paper Cut — I was juggling doing some press stuff during the day and shows at night. Like, we went to Pride during the day, and then I had to run away and go do two shows. But it’s good fun. It’s really exciting to be coming towards the release.
What initially drew you to Heartstopper and your character of Isaac?
The first thing I saw was the open casting call, which went out on Instagram. And, you know, I think a lot of actors see stuff like that flying about quite often. But I’d never seen one that felt like it was really something I could do until Heartstopper. It was just this super open brief. It was just like, “this character loves books, we don’t really care what he looks like, and we want to find the character with the actor.” It was so open and amazing, I’d never seen anything like it. And it felt like something I could do. I feel like if there was any project to put myself up for, Heartstopper would be the one. It aligns with so many things in my life.
So you were able to create the character alongside the writers?
Yeah, Alice [Oseman] was super open. For Season One, obviously, the scripts had all been written. But my character wasn’t particularly a big part of the first season, which meant that we could kind of use that first season to play around and figure out who this person was. So now when we come into the second season, Isaac is really comfortable in himself. For me, as an actor, I really went into Season Two knowing what I was doing a lot more. And I felt a lot more confident, which I think reads on screen. I think the performances are better.
Is it challenging to get back into character after stepping away and taking some time doing other projects?
Yeah, definitely. When we first went into Season One, you know, all actors have their ways of preparing. And for me, I had this mind map that I did. I came home from rehearsals one evening and just kind of blurted out everything that I thought was true about the character. And I got it on this mind map. And I sent it to Alice, and then we had discussions about it and worked different things out. Then coming into Season Two, I knew what was going to happen storywise, with the scripts, but needed to figure out how to get back into the character. And for me, that mindmap was super helpful. It reminded me like, “okay, this is his favourite colour; when he’s had a tough day at school, this is what his mom makes for dinner; this is his favourite lunchtime snack,” and just the things that aren’t important, that you will never know on screen, but the things that for an actor makes it feel really human and real.
Is that your typical process getting into character?
Yeah, I like to do that. I like to look at the script and go, “what do I know for sure? What is fact according to the script?” And then I write down a list of questions about those facts, like, “what am I going to discover through this process? What does the character not know at the start, but does know by the end?” And then from that I go, “Okay, if all of those things are true, what are the things that aren’t in the script that are going to make this person feel kind of tangible to me?” You wouldn’t really know when watching, but I find it really helpful to know things like what that person’s favourite colour is. I think it helps me step out of myself and step into someone else.
How do you use social media to connect with viewers and fans?
I think I’ve always sort of used social media to document my life for the people that I care about and who follow me, like my friends and family before anyone other than that followed me, when I had like 20 followers. So it felt really natural to just keep that gong. This whole process of making a TV show was so alien to me. I was kind of a deer in the headlights, but also a kid in a candy shop, so excited about everything that was going on that I just couldn’t really put my phone down. I was filming everything, taking pictures all the time. And so I had this big bank of stuff. And it would have been weird to keep it all from the world — it was such a cool experience that I wanted to share. Everyone watches the “what” of what we made, but I think it’s really interesting to see the “how”. I love to see that from other actors, it’s the movie magic.
I think it’s nice that people can engage with the series, but then also see us as actors that are representations of queer people in real life, when we’re not on the screen. I think it’s helpful for people to have that role modelling on and off screen.
How has that been for you? Has it ever felt like too much pressure?
There’s definitely pressure, especially coming into Season Two. With new storylines that we’re exploring with my character, there’s a definite pressure to get it right, so that people feel seen and represented on TV. But I think it’s a good pressure. I think if that wasn’t there, I’d be doing something wrong.
If ever it gets too much, which sometimes it does, I will just put my phone in another room and go and watch a movie or play my piano or do something that I enjoy. And I try to kind of forget about the rest of the world, which is sometimes a lot easier said than done. But I think most of the time, it’s more of a responsibility than a pressure. It’s a nice thing that we can have on our backs — that we are that voice that people sometimes need to hear. But yeah, if it ever gets too much, I’m quite good at compartmentalising.
After the success of Season One, was there a different energy going back into filming or even with the release coming up?
It was a really different energy. I think with the first season none of us knew or expected it to be popular in the way that it was. We made a show that we all really loved and we were passionate about and thought queer people would see it and might rally around it and really enjoy it. But we never expected it to be anything more than that or to break out in the way that it did. So it was really overwhelming in those couple of months after the first season came out. We were all adjusting to what life looked like now that lots of people had seen our show. But then coming into Season Two, it was like we were getting the band back together. We all know each other so much more, so it was so much more fun and so much more special. But there is that pressure of the difficult second album, of like, we’ve set the bar quite high for ourselves, so we had to try and meet that. And also just being on set was so different. We would be shooting in Paris or locations in the UK and there would be fans waiting. There was security on set and barriers so that the fans couldn’t take pictures of us in costume and stuff. Dealing with leaks, saying hi to fans and taking pictures after work — we didn’t have to deal with that element of it at all in the first season because no one knew who we were. So it was a different vibe, a different experience, but equally as lovely.
Do you have a favourite memory from filming Season Two?
Oh my gosh, all of it! There’s one scene — it was me, Joe, Kit, and Will — there’s a scene of us all in the hotel room in Paris. And Tao comes in and he tells us this really exciting news and we all rally around him and give him loads of love and support. But for some reason, I think it must have just been a Friday afternoon, we were all just overtired and being so silly, like really unprofessional acting. As soon as the camera wasn’t on us, we were trying to make the other people laugh. We kept breaking the scene and making it not work because we were laughing through it. So it was not our most professional work, but I think in the show, it really reads that we’re genuinely so excited for Tao. So yeah, that’s one of my favourite memories — just being silly with my friends.
Similarly, do you have a scene that you’re most proud of that you could tell us a little bit about?
I don’t know how much I’m allowed to give away, but there’s a scene with Bradley Riches who plays James. Throughout the season, there’s a bit of a will-they-won’t-they with Isaac and James. And we share a kiss. And that is a scene that I’m really proud of. We lay the groundwork for that to happen, and so people are kind of anticipating the kiss. And the moments right before it are really youthful and sweet and tender. And you really want it to go well. And then it sort of doesn’t, for Isaac. Bradley was really great that day, he bought his A game. And so I was trying to match him. And I think it reads really nicely in the show.
What is it like watching a scene or episode back?
It is equal parts horrible and the worst thing ever, but also really sweet and nostalgic, because it harks back to a memory of being on set and how much fun that was — especially with the Paris stuff. But also I don’t really like watching myself. I’ll watch it once and then I’m good, I’ll hide behind my pillow every time it comes on. I think it’s just an actor thing. It’s very embarrassing.
To you, what is the difference between working on screen and on stage? Do you have a preference?
I don’t really have a preference. I really enjoy them both and I think they’re very different skills. The most recent thing I’ve done is this stage project, this show called Paper Cut, and it was at this really small, intimate venue in North London, and it was just such a different experience from the TV world where there’s so many people there at all times. And you have to make it feel intimate, to feel like you’re just in someone’s bedroom having a chat with your friends, but in reality, there’s like 30 people watching you. But there’s something about theatre… it feels more real. You’re still making it up — our play was set in New York and we were really in North London — but because you do it start to finish, it feels a bit more tangible than just doing a bit of a scene for TV. It’s also nice to have an audience and get that immediate feedback when you tell a joke and people laugh. Or they won’t laugh, and you’ll know to keep working on it.
With TV, the director will sometimes come and give you feedback after a take, and then you try and do it a different way. Whereas with theatre, you do it one way, you get that feedback straight away from an audience, and you can’t adjust it until the following night. So you get to sit with the self note for a little bit longer. And, on TV, you know, the audience won’t get to see it for sometimes a year or two year after you’ve made it. So there’s a lot of nerves and anticipation of like, “oh, gosh, I hope people like this,” that you don’t get with theatre, because you know straight away.
Speaking a bit more about Paper Cut, what drew you to that project and how did you get involved?
The director, Scott, emailed me and said that he was doing it and that he had a part that he thought was good for me. And so we had a little meeting and had a chat about it. And I just really love theatre. I started doing theatre, it’s what I always wanted to do. TV was the long, long term goal, and so to go straight into that was a bit like, “Fuck, what now?” So I think getting back to theatre and back to that route was quite important to me, and something that I wanted to really use as a learning curve. I’d learned so many things about the TV industry, but professional theatre wasn’t something that I had explored yet, really. And it was a short run, in a tiny theatre, so my mindset was that if it goes horribly wrong, only 90 people will see it every night for a month and then the world can forget about it. I don’t think it went horribly wrong, but that was my mindset going in — to really use it to kind of hone my skills as an actor and to learn more about the craft, as well as to play around and be silly. It was such a lovely cast that I really felt supported to do that.
Are you planning on staying in that world and doing more theatre alongside TV/film projects?
I think film and TV is the long, long term goal — what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. But I really hope that I’m able to pepper theatre throughout that and find space for it, because it makes me really happy. I’ve always wanted to work at the National Theatre and at the Almeida in London — those two venues are massively on my bucket list. So I hope I will get to do some more theatre. It’s nice with Heartstopper because in this job you don’t get a lot of job security, but with this for the last couple of years I’ve known the filming scheduling and been able to plan the time in between. I’m kind of using it to play around a bit.
That’s so fun and exciting, and so important to figure out what you like and what you don’t.
Yeah, exactly, and especially while we’re all still young and will hopefully have very fruitful, long careers… Why would I not use my early 20s to do some things that I wouldn’t do in my 50s?
What are some other long term goals?
I don’t want to I don’t want to jinx anything, but I am obsessed with Wes Anderson. So I would love, love, love to do a Wes Anderson project at some point. I’m manifesting that at the minute.