Željko Ivanek (/ˈʒɛlkoʊ ɪˈvɑːnɪk/; Slovene: ; 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, J.J. Percy Walker on Big Love, Governor James Devlin on Oz, Andre Drazen on 24, Blake Sterling on the short-lived series The Event, Emile "The Hunter" Danko in Heroes, and Leland Goines in 12 Monkeys. From 2014 until 2019, he starred as Russell Jackson in the drama Madam Secretary. He also had a recurring role as FBI Special Agent Jim Racine in the series Banshee.
For his active stage career, he has been awarded a Drama Desk Award and has been nominated for three Tony Awards.
Early life and education
Ivanek was born in Ljubljana, PR Slovenia, FPR Yugoslavia, to the family of Ferdo Ivanek, originally from Varaždin, Croatia, and Vojka nee Šimić. In 1960, Željko, his mother and younger brother, Ivan, immigrated to Palo Alto, California, where his father was working as a research assistant at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. His mother also worked at Stanford University as a project manager.
