Ronald Eaglesham Porter, better known as Ron Donachie, was born on April 26, 1956, in Dundee, Tayside, Scotland. He received his education at Madras College, St. Andrews and Glasgow University, where he earned an M.A. (Hons.) in English Literature and Drama in 1979.
After a year working as a navvy, Donachie joined the 7.84 theatre company for John Burrough's "One Big Blow", a play that featured a cast mimicking a traditional colliery band by singing in six-part harmony. The play's success led to the formation of the acapella band "The Flying Pickets", which achieved a Christmas number one in 1983. However, Donachie decided not to stay with the band, missing out on their success, which he later described as "one of my more brilliant career decisions".
Throughout the 1980s, Donachie was a prolific theatre performer across the United Kingdom, working in Britain's now largely vanished repertory system. This allowed him to act in many classical plays that are now rarely performed due to budget constraints and closed theatres. During this period, he appeared in over twenty plays at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre under the direction of Giles Havergal, Robert David Macdonald, and Phillip Prowse. He considers this the happiest, most fruitful, and most influential phase of his career.
In the 1990s, Donachie became a regular performer on British television, and did not appear on stage again until he was unexpectedly asked to join the National Theatre company for "Scenes From the Big Picture" in 2003. This marked the end of a thirteen-year gap in live performances. Since then, he has tried to return to the variety of his earlier years with regular live performances interspersing his television and film work.
Donachie is married to Fiona Biggar, whom he married on St. Patrick's Day 1989. The couple has two children: Naomi Porter, a student of Russian, German, and French, and Daniel Porter, who now performs in his own right under the name Daniel Portman. His sister-in-law is the costume designer Trisha Biggar, and his brother is the actor Stewart Porter.
