Jonathan Watton
Biography
Jonathan Watton is a Canadian actor, director, and cinematographer born in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. His exact birthday is not publicly available in major sources. He is one of three sons to parents Barbara Ledwell and Wayne Watton, both teachers, and his father introduced him to film at an early age by screening 16 mm prints from the National Film Board of Canada in the living room. After graduating from Memorial University's Fine Arts Theatre Program, he was cast by celebrated theatre director Michael Langham in his first professional stage appearance as a founding member of the Atlantic Theatre Festival. He is a recent alumnus of Norman Jewison's prestigious Canadian Film Centre Film Director's program. As an actor, Watton is best known for playing Dr. Darcy Garland in Murdoch Mysteries (2011–2013, 39 episodes) and Commander Matthew Calhoun in The Handmaid's Tale (2019–2021, 16 episodes). His film credits include Maps to the Stars (2014, directed by David Cronenberg, opposite Julianne Moore), Breach (2007, starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger), XX (2017, Sundance), Closet Monster (2015, TIFF), Spinster (2019, opposite Chelsea Peretti), The Calling (2014), and Sharp Corner (2024). On television he has also appeared in Supernatural, Masters of Horror, Reign, Lost Girl, Mayor of Kingstown (2021), Invasion (2021), Strays (2021), and Star Trek: Short Treks (2018, as a Federation Officer). Beyond acting, Watton has directed and cinematographed several short films, including Last of the Snow (2012) and The Pamplemousse (2013), which have screened at festivals around the world. In theatre, he has performed with Canada's preeminent acting ensembles The Shaw Festival and Soulpepper Theatre Company, and in 2018 he returned to the stage in the lead role of the critically acclaimed production of North by Northwest for both the UK and North American premieres.
